The Keeping Place (The Obernewtyn Chronicles, #4) in Aussie Readers

Aug 10, 2010 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, fantasy-sci-fi, young-adult, series, post-apocalyptic, aww2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After the Battlegames, the Misfits have retreated back to Obernewtyn. They have learned a valuable lesson there, that they are not fit to fight and that they need not offer themselves as a part of the Rebel’s uprising against the Council. They’re a peaceable people and they have realised that living their lives the way they do, secluded in the mountains, protected by the weather that cuts off the pass and the rumours about Obernewtyn itself, might be for the long term.

The Rebels have other ideas After the Battlegames, the Misfits have retreated back to Obernewtyn. They have learned a valuable lesson there, that they are not fit to fight and that they need not offer themselves as a part of the Rebel’s uprising against the Council. They’re a peaceable people and they have realised that living their lives the way they do, secluded in the mountains, protected by the weather that cuts off the pass and the rumours about Obernewtyn itself, might be for the long term.

The Rebels have other ideas it seems and they request an urgent meeting with Rushton, Master of Obernewtyn to request once again, the Misfit’s assistance, which Rushton gently refuses in accordance with what had been decided at Guildmerge. When Rushton doesn’t return from this meeting in time for the Moon Fair, a celebration that Obernewtyn goes all out for, Elspeth Geordie is disappointed but not overly concerned. After all, any number of things could have delayed him on his way back to Obernewtyn. She is kept busy running Obernewtyn, performing the duties as Master in his absence but when someone discovers one of the messenger birds that Rushton took with him, dead but with a message saying “We have your leader, aid the rebels or else” the peace Obernewtyn has found, is broken.

Elspeth and several others travel to Sutrium to meet with the Rebel leaders and find out what they want. As well as dealing with the loss of her bondmate and the potential scenario that they may never find him, Elspeth has to make decisions regarding the Misfits and their future, something she’s not ready for. She also has her own tasks to undertake that are related to her quest to destroy the weaponmachines from the Beforetime and also her sleep has been disturbed for some time, the culprit being the young girl Dragon, who lies in a coma, a coma that Elspeth had to put her in in order to save her. It seems that trapped deep within Dragon’s disturbed mind are some answers that Elspeth seeks but she must walk the dangerous dreamtrails to find them, where hurts can be inflicted. Here the Destroyer looks for her and she must avoid that danger in order to continue on her quest.

The Keeping Place is the fourth novel in the Obernewtyn Chronicles and perhaps the one that I’m the least familiar with. It’s size is daunting, I’d forgotten just how big a book it is and how much story it contains. It’s never been my favourite volume, perhaps because of all of the dreamtrails stuff but I have to say that I really enjoyed this re-reading and re-familiarising myself with key parts of the story that I had forgotten because I do tend to ignore this book whenever I do re-read bits and pieces of the series. Now that I’m reading them all and in order, I see just how much information this book gives in terms of Elspeth’s task as the Seeker. Here she must find the signs left to her by a Beforetimer who foresaw her and Elspeth is again guided by the Agyllian birds who speak to her through Maruman or through her dreams.

I know Elspeth is preoccupied with both who has Rushton and also her task as the Seeker but I was surprised just how much it seemed to surprise the Misfits that Malik and his band of rebels betrayed them. It isn’t that long since the Battlegames and his hatred isn’t hard to recall. Even though some of the other Rebel leaders accept the Misfits and even welcome the assistance they can give them (for example the Rebels know there is a traitor somewhere, feeding information to the Herders and they want the Misfits to attempt to find these traitors using their abilities) but Malik has never harboured anything other than outright loathing and disdain for any of them. And the fact that he suddenly had a plan that included the Misfits didn’t really seem to ring enough warning bells for me at all and I think that had Elspeth not been so distracted by thoughts of who had Rushton and where he was and what was happening to him and also the thoughts about finding the signs left for her, she might’ve better seen through Malik to the treachery that lay underneath. I don’t really think that Elspeth is equipped to rule (and she seems to accept this, she knows she’s prickly and hard to approach and she’s not good at speaking in public, etc). She seems to be selected as Master of Obernewtyn in Rushton’s absence because of her phenomenal abilities and also perhaps because she and Rushton are now finally bonded, it does seem natural that she would rule when he is not there. But I’m not sure that this role shows her strengths.

It’s interesting how my feelings towards characters are changing as I re-read these. I always liked Dameon but now I’m seeing bits and pieces of his character, sharp words, double meanings, a sullenness I haven’t noticed before that I admit, could perhaps be influenced by my reading of The Sending. I never much liked Matthew after Obernewtyn, especially for his cruelty to Dragon but in re-reading I find that his story interests me greatly and I really want to be reunited with him in the final novel, The Red Queen and see what lies in store for him and Dragon when they return her to the land of her people. I always spend a lot of time thinking about things after I finish these books, little bits and pieces and clues that the book has divulged. Although this book leads us to believe that Ariel is the Destroyer, I don’t believe this is true, I don’t think I’ve ever believed that and I’m pretty sure that I’ve read Carmody has said in interviews that he isn’t the Destroyer. Elspeth thinks he is. I have a couple of guesses for who I think the Destroyer might be and I tend to go back and forth between them.

I’m doing myself a favour and starting The Stone Key early in October – it’s a whopper at close to 1000p and the last 2 months I’ve had to rush through the books, getting them read on the last couple of days of the month. The Stone Key is also a book I’ve only read probably twice since it’s publication so there’s bound to be a lot of things I’ve forgotten in there. ...more

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