Obernewtyn #5

Wavesong: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 5by Isobelle CarmodyYou know, one of the fun things for me to do while reading this series is try and figure out when, exactly, the cover art will fall within the story. The titles and "animals" on the cover are mentioned briefly many, many pages into each story. In this case, I knew the ship fish (dolphins to us) would appear at some point but when? That was the question. For instance, Ashling (book 3) was mentioned far beyond the middle of the story when it was explained to Elspeth. The entire time I was reading up to that point I had no idea why the book was named as such.A constant in my mind as I read each of these books is how intricate they all are. Strategic, political, descriptive. My mind boggles as I read the stories and wonder how one person could have all of this in their head and have it so clear on the page. It's not like these are little books either! 500 pages is a good run!In Wavesong, Elspeth is captured at one point by the um, extra-rebellious rebel Malik. Malik is one baaaad dude. In fact my hatred for him is so strong that I had this knot in my stomach while reading the part about Elspeth's capture. I almost had to put the book DOWN as I was starting to feel sick from the hate and anger that he was inspiring inside me. How much do I hate this man? How awesome is it that the author is able to write a character so full of hate and malice (ha! Malik? Malice! I'll bet that's not a coincidence!) that I react so violently to him? He's one of those mega bad dudes who always seems to get away with things, too. Boy does that get my goat! (Bahhh!)Another thing that I enjoy about the series is the references to the past, our future and how what would be new to us (better computers, worse weapons - stuff that we're only just creating NOW) is past to them. I have no idea what year this series is to take place, but it is obvious that it is after what we think our future will be. And yet, it's the computers that were our downfall and life in the Land now is simple like our past was. Confusing? Sort of, but only because I suck at trying to explain it. There are words from our current language that they discover, but are written oddly, as they write it as they hear it. Government, for example, is spelled govamen. It's interesting the way Carmody breaks down the language and races and world as we know it for those in the far, far future to discover.I honestly feel I should be discussing and analyzing themes and ideas from these books. I think this would be a cool series to study in school. The entire series in one semester. Of course, perhaps then I would not like them as much as I tended to dislike anything I had to pick apart and analyze in literature.As I write this post, I have a little less than 150 pages to go in the final book. I am eating it up, but at the same time, procrastinating from reading it so as to not finish it as fast. After all, there is no news of when the next book will be released. Although in this one there are TWO more titles listed at the front of the book - The Sending and The Red Queen. I shall keep my eyes and ears peeled for news of those!The Obernewtyn Chronicles

1. Obernewtyn
2. The Farseekers
3. Ashling
4. The Keeping Place
5. Wavesong
6. The Stone Key
7. The Sending - early 2010?? I hope!
8. The Red Queen - NO CLUE!