What do you think?
Rate this book
Tajore Arkle
Tajore Arkle is a world filled with sand and dust. Sweetwater is collected from seeps in dark caves where Manna, the major food source, also grows. Anya is too young to work in the quarry collecting stone like her parents, and she and her sister Zue are responsible for collecting the supplies.
Zue is the only person with whom Anya shares her dreams. They are strange dreams; dreams of a blue sky and blue water and birds and animals that no one has heard of. Zue warns Anya to keep these dreams to herself so that she will not be teased. Anya follows her advice until one day she warns others of the accident in the quarry. People laugh but when the accident happens Anya is accused of causing it and is ostracised until a trader comes to take her to 'the mountain'.
On the mountain Anya meets others like herself and is welcomed with open arms. She soon learns to understand her dreams as 'memories' of another time. She meets Ib, the only other young person on the mountain. Convinced of the existence of a third 'pastseer' like themselves they journey to 'the rift', a wasteland which circumnavigates the planet, to find this third person. Poisoned by the plants that existthere anyone who travels into 'the rift' dies. Anya and Ib are certain their friend has found a way to live in 'the rift' unharmed and plan to find her and bring her back to 'the mountain'.
Zue is the only person with whom Anya shares her dreams. They are strange dreams; dreams of a blue sky and blue water and birds and animals that no one has heard of. Zue warns Anya to keep these dreams to herself so that she will not be teased. Anya follows her advice until one day she warns others of the accident in the quarry. People laugh but when the accident happens Anya is accused of causing it and is ostracised until a trader comes to take her to 'the mountain'.
On the mountain Anya meets others like herself and is welcomed with open arms. She soon learns to understand her dreams as 'memories' of another time. She meets Ib, the only other young person on the mountain. Convinced of the existence of a third 'pastseer' like themselves they journey to 'the rift', a wasteland which circumnavigates the planet, to find this third person. Poisoned by the plants that existthere anyone who travels into 'the rift' dies. Anya and Ib are certain their friend has found a way to live in 'the rift' unharmed and plan to find her and bring her back to 'the mountain'.
289 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Jackie French
321 books869 followersJackie is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator and the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014-2015. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, and writes across all genres - from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction. In her capacity as Australian Children’s Laureate, ‘Share a Story’ will be the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 19, 2010
Growing up, this was - and remains - one of my favourite novels. A highly original YA fantasy, Tajore Arkle is a stand-alone story about Anya, a girl who has memories of a world other than her own, the evils of prejudice, and the value of friendship. The opening lines have never left me:
"See, Zue? It's a picture of an eagle flying through the rain."
Zue laughed. "What's an eagle, Anya? What's rain?"
And if that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will.
"See, Zue? It's a picture of an eagle flying through the rain."
Zue laughed. "What's an eagle, Anya? What's rain?"
And if that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will.
April 19, 2013
(3 1/2 stars)
Tajore Arkle is a world of sand, dust, red skies and relentless work. Anya lives on an insulated village where folks wake up to work in the local quarry and go to bed at end of the day with hardly any breaks in between. They eat Manna, their only food source, and drink the nutritious sweetwater collected in dark caves by the children who are too still young to do quarry work. It’s a bleak world, a hard life but everybody knows this is just how things are.
But Anya dreams. She dreams of impossible things: of blue skies, clear water, rain, animals and foods no one has heard of. She knows her dreams make her different and she mostly keeps them to herself – until one day she dreams about danger in the quarry, tries to warn the villagers and when a terrible accident happens, everybody blames her. The villagers ostracize Anya, her family turn their backs on her and eventually she is sent away to the mysterious Mountain, never to return.
On the Mountain, Anya meets other dreamers like herself and is, for the first time in her life, welcomed with open arms. She comes to learn that she is a Pastseer like everybody else on the Mountain and that her dreams are memories of a past long gone. There she meets Ib, a fellow Pastseer whom she has a profound connection with.
She keeps dreaming though and her dreams show her a girl who seems to be in danger. Anya is convinced that the girl is alive right now and in the Rift, the no-go area that surrounds Tajore Arkle. Everybody tells Anya that those are impossible things: Pastseers do not dream of the present and nobody could be living in the poisonous Rift.
Tajore Arkle proved to be a fascinating read from its opening pages and Tajore Arkle itself is an incredibly thought-out, imaginative world.
But what exactly is Tajore Arkle? Anya’s dreams show a world similar to our own but is Tajore Arkle in its past or its future? Or is it something else altogether? As Anya travels around Tajore Arkle and comes to know more about it, including things she never thought possible, those initial questions are answered but become almost irrelevant in the great scheme of things.
Because beyond those basic questions about the setting and the background of the novel what is really fascinating is the novel’s exploration of different cultures, peoples and especially how social practices are related to history and to the land itself. It was great fun to see how the people on the Mountain used their knowledge of the past as tools and how the peoples in Tajore Arkle adapte that knowledge to their present circumstances in creative ways.
One of the biggest points in the novel is the existence of completely insulated communities, set in their ways and how does this isolation affect the lives of its peoples. One of the questions that Anya asks herself is whether the insulation of those communities (including that of the Pastseers of the Mountain) is what causes people to fear them or is the fear and prejudice simply a reaction result of their own isolation. The answer is not simple or straightforward but I enjoyed seeing Anya confronting the status quo and the idea that “this is how things are”.
I especially love how this questioning is framed as a deeply personal choice and something that works for Anya without making those who don’t question or who are happy with their way of life lesser by contrast. In that sense, Anya is a wonderful protagonist, someone who dares to dream (literally and figuratively) and who learns not to take things for granted. I loved how she was eager to change and how arguing for her beliefs was a learning curve.
My only real “problem” with Tajore Arkle is how short it is and how certain parts read more like a summary rather than a fully developed story. There is certainly enough material in this one story that could have been better developed. Regardless, I really enjoyed this and it was really good to see how this older title featured a bunch of strong, well-developed female characters too.
The bad news is that the book is out of print. Boo.
Tajore Arkle is a world of sand, dust, red skies and relentless work. Anya lives on an insulated village where folks wake up to work in the local quarry and go to bed at end of the day with hardly any breaks in between. They eat Manna, their only food source, and drink the nutritious sweetwater collected in dark caves by the children who are too still young to do quarry work. It’s a bleak world, a hard life but everybody knows this is just how things are.
But Anya dreams. She dreams of impossible things: of blue skies, clear water, rain, animals and foods no one has heard of. She knows her dreams make her different and she mostly keeps them to herself – until one day she dreams about danger in the quarry, tries to warn the villagers and when a terrible accident happens, everybody blames her. The villagers ostracize Anya, her family turn their backs on her and eventually she is sent away to the mysterious Mountain, never to return.
On the Mountain, Anya meets other dreamers like herself and is, for the first time in her life, welcomed with open arms. She comes to learn that she is a Pastseer like everybody else on the Mountain and that her dreams are memories of a past long gone. There she meets Ib, a fellow Pastseer whom she has a profound connection with.
She keeps dreaming though and her dreams show her a girl who seems to be in danger. Anya is convinced that the girl is alive right now and in the Rift, the no-go area that surrounds Tajore Arkle. Everybody tells Anya that those are impossible things: Pastseers do not dream of the present and nobody could be living in the poisonous Rift.
Tajore Arkle proved to be a fascinating read from its opening pages and Tajore Arkle itself is an incredibly thought-out, imaginative world.
But what exactly is Tajore Arkle? Anya’s dreams show a world similar to our own but is Tajore Arkle in its past or its future? Or is it something else altogether? As Anya travels around Tajore Arkle and comes to know more about it, including things she never thought possible, those initial questions are answered but become almost irrelevant in the great scheme of things.
Because beyond those basic questions about the setting and the background of the novel what is really fascinating is the novel’s exploration of different cultures, peoples and especially how social practices are related to history and to the land itself. It was great fun to see how the people on the Mountain used their knowledge of the past as tools and how the peoples in Tajore Arkle adapte that knowledge to their present circumstances in creative ways.
One of the biggest points in the novel is the existence of completely insulated communities, set in their ways and how does this isolation affect the lives of its peoples. One of the questions that Anya asks herself is whether the insulation of those communities (including that of the Pastseers of the Mountain) is what causes people to fear them or is the fear and prejudice simply a reaction result of their own isolation. The answer is not simple or straightforward but I enjoyed seeing Anya confronting the status quo and the idea that “this is how things are”.
I especially love how this questioning is framed as a deeply personal choice and something that works for Anya without making those who don’t question or who are happy with their way of life lesser by contrast. In that sense, Anya is a wonderful protagonist, someone who dares to dream (literally and figuratively) and who learns not to take things for granted. I loved how she was eager to change and how arguing for her beliefs was a learning curve.
My only real “problem” with Tajore Arkle is how short it is and how certain parts read more like a summary rather than a fully developed story. There is certainly enough material in this one story that could have been better developed. Regardless, I really enjoyed this and it was really good to see how this older title featured a bunch of strong, well-developed female characters too.
The bad news is that the book is out of print. Boo.
April 16, 2012
This was my absolute favourite book growing up. I never had my own copy, but I borrowed the same copy from the library so many times I could recognise the creases in the pages.
There was something special about Tajore Arkle that just captured my mind and kept it there for days. When I think about this book, although it's quite fuzzy for me now, it's more like I'm looking at old footage than recalling a story I read. The strange world French invented as escapism for herself was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I loved the characters and wanted them to be real.
I want to reread it again as a grownup, to see if it still has the same magic for me, but it's hard to find. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on a copy please let me know!
There was something special about Tajore Arkle that just captured my mind and kept it there for days. When I think about this book, although it's quite fuzzy for me now, it's more like I'm looking at old footage than recalling a story I read. The strange world French invented as escapism for herself was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I loved the characters and wanted them to be real.
I want to reread it again as a grownup, to see if it still has the same magic for me, but it's hard to find. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on a copy please let me know!
December 28, 2025
I've read and loved a lot of Jackie French books in my life, but I really struggled to connect with this one.
March 16, 2017
This was one of my favourite books growing up; my signed copy was one of my prized possessions and I re-read it many times. I could probably give it sole credit for instilling me with my love of fantasy novels, even though it's not a classic fantasy novel.
August 12, 2014
I read this way back in my teens years and I loved it. I read it several times during those years and it is a story that has always stuck with me even when I forgot the actual title of the book. The red sky, the dreams, the rift, the mountains. I love the whole Tajore Arkle world and wish there were more books. I have so many vivid images and memories from this story, I just wish I knew where my copy was so I could re-read it again.
One of my teen favourites.
One of my teen favourites.
October 9, 2010
I have read elsewhere that Jackie French wrote this book based on her memories of an imaginary world that she created as a young child. The story is seems to live beyond its pages because the world of Tajore Arkle is so vivid. A wonderful read and highly recommended.
July 3, 2013
I absolutely love this book. I read it in grade four and have wanted to buy it ever since.
Anya's world is beautiful, with a red sky and red sand, it's the best place for a story like Tajore Arkle to unfold. If you haven't read it, please do!! XD
Anya's world is beautiful, with a red sky and red sand, it's the best place for a story like Tajore Arkle to unfold. If you haven't read it, please do!! XD
April 25, 2008
The kind of world I would love to create one day as an author. Simply a fantastic book, full of wonder and fantastic characters.
May 8, 2009
Purely original and amazing. You really wish it never ended.
April 21, 2022
Original, clever and compelling. I loved this when I was younger. Jackie French is a very talented writer.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews