Apologies, this is going to be a long one.
It took me a while to get here. After close to thirty years and seven volumes, I finally made it to The Red Queen – the final entry in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. And I rather wish it wasn’t. This isn’t just some kind disappointment at hitting the end of the series, this is also me lamenting that we didn’t get an eighth volume—or a more hardline editor.
Let’s start with the positives: the first half of the book, on its own, is actually very strong. If you’ve been following my reviews of the Obernewtyn Chronicles, you won’t be too surprised to hear that The Sending ended with a cliffhanger—involving Elspeth being attacked. So, what’s the aftermath?
In The Red Queen, Elspeth wakes up in captivity, with her captor introducing itself as one of the Tumen that serves God. The term immediately strikes her as strange—she knows “God” only as an ancient term for the Lud, worshiped across the Land. Despite the fact she’s still groggy, Elspeth’s sharp instincts kick in and she quickly connects the odd facility she’s trapped in with the visions she’s had of the Beforetimers experimenting with cryosleep – well crap. How long was she out?
Thankfully, not as long as she’d feared. Her black power—her deep, powerful one—played a role in the facility’s inability to put Elspeth into a form of near-death sleep.
As a result, Elspeth enters the insular, cut-off community of Habitat earlier than expected. She’s relieved to find that most of her friends are awake as well, though they aren’t exactly free to move about. Still, Elspeth becomes convinced that Hannah left something important for her in Habitat. Determined to uncover it before escaping, she resolves to investigate—even if it means playing the fool to do so.
I’m going to have to turn my attention briefly to the past here. Sorry if its a bit disorganized:
To talk about Habitat is to talk about the Beforetimers. There’s a fatalistic streak tied to the Beforetimers that can’t be attributed solely to the premonitions of the first Misfits. A general awareness of the need for the Balance of Terror program was evident—designed to ensure that none of the five remaining powers got too trigger-happy amidst the rapid spread of nuclear proliferation.
I said five remaining powers for a reason. Still, it seems that few truly believed in the Balance of Terror system. Of course, this perception of mine could’ve been influenced by the Beforetimers Elspeth has had the privilege to observe—Cassie and Hannah, for example, both had valid reasons to be distrustful of the Goverment. But for someone to go ahead and start building a safeguard like Habitat? That would have required support from many powerful and disquieted people. Think of the fear and paranoia of the Cold War times one hundred.
The bomb may not have been the only threat they feared; there are hints that something else had the potential to cause a cataclysm. We were introduced to “plague seeds” in The Stone Key, and in The Red Queen, we encounter another vicious infection. It becomes increasingly clear that some disease cultures were stored in facilities as weaponized agents. Not all of these cultures remained contained, either. We learn of at least one still circulating in the environment, albeit confined to animal hosts.* Like the nukes, it seems someone in the Beforetime was playing fast and loose with biologics as well. By this point in The Red Queen, we’re now aware that there was more than one potential catastrophe in the past that could have triggered the end of the world. No wonder people were wary and drawing up contingency plans left right and center.
Not only do these facts re-contextualise some events that happened in the past in The Land — now that we know the Blacklands are not the only mark left by the Beforetimers—but for me, that’s what makes the rampant fatalism seen by so many Beforetimers much understandable on re-read. There were whole institutions working under the belief that it was going to be the end of the world as we know it—and no one was going to be fine.
With the construction of a literal Doomsday Machine, it’s not surprising that some Beforetimers may have turned to scenarios like Dr. Strangelove for contingency plans, particularly concerning post-nuclear survival—hence Habitat. Fortunately, the mastermind behind Habitat didn’t share the German doctor’s nihilistic mindset, or things could have ended even more explosively. However, Habitat has since evolved into an insular authoritarian society, sustained by strict rules.
Actually, forget Dr. Strangelove—did the founders of Habitat watch too much Steven Universe? Regardless, much like the Russians who intended to reveal their plans at the Monday party congress before Doomsday struck, the Habitat’s founder may have tragically run out of time, leaving their plans incomplete.
Like I said above, viewed on its own, this part seemed well written and gave a lot more background on what exactly went wrong when the world ended. I welcomed that! That was worthwhile. But it was also nearly half of the book. And as I would later learn as I made my way through the second half, while it provides fantastic context for the backstory, Habitat and it’s founding is not as directly tied to the endgame as I had hoped. So now I wonder, why did we spend nearly half the book in Habitat? It would have been ok to split the book again here and still have a contained story, all while leaving enough space for the endgame!
This wouldn’t be so much of a problem either if the second half of the book was as well put together as the first. Sadly, it’s not. The trip to the Red Land itself, while clever, has many of the same problems as Elspeth’s trip through the mountains in The Sending – over descriptive, over repetitive and too much ‘gnawing.’ And not just from Elspeth,
And then when we get to the Red Land, we are plagued by more issues. The narrative seemed to turn muddy and hard to track. And this is not at all helped by the fact a lot of important action occurs well away from Elspeth’s view, leaving us with a considerable number of exposition dumps. In some ways this is fair, as Elspeth is only one person, and what’s going on the Red Land involves more than just her group of Misfits. But, of course, they are Misfits. Even with their powers hobbled in the Red Land, there are still more interesting ways for them—and by extension, the reader—to receive this information than just dumps!** Not only are they harder to follow, but these dumps also foster detachment. Their use makes it harder to tell what’s important, and what’s window-dressing. And yes, there is quite a bit of window-dressing.
Another issue that frustrated me was the poor editing. I noticed a few problems in The Stone Key, but there seem to be even more here, and they do impact the narrative. For instance, I found myself scratching my head over the age of one character—I’m not sure if I misread something or if it was just a mistake. I’m also unsure whether another character’s ailment, which I initially thought was physical, is actually mental. Was that an error too? And what about the disarming phrase? Did I miss something, or did that change? (I realize I shouldn’t be too critical, especially considering how poorly I proofread myself, but hey, no one’s paying me to do this.)
But as she is fated to do, Elspeth makes further contact with more Computermachines in her quest to shut down the BOT for good. And without giving too much away, this does lead to a meeting with one AI that I will call ‘My Favorite Skynet’ I think this the best super-powerful AI that I have ever run across in fiction. I love it. I love Elspeth’s interactions with it. It is not what you would expect. We don’t just need more empathy for animals; Dell, in The Stone Key, had it right all along:
She believes that a computermachine is simply a different kind of being. It was this approach that enabled her to do what I could not, for all my rational theories
Dell’s musings, alongside another event that preceded her group’s entry into Redport, really ended up helping Elspeth work with an artificial intelligence whose mind is not built like our own. And without the interactions, she may never have gotten as far as she did in her quest to save the world..
So without going too far into spoilers, how well does The Red Queen hold up? On one hand, we do get a satisfying resolution to one of the prophecies that Elspeth has, even if the last leg of the path was muddled.
But the other? Oooh boy.
Yeah, my initial reaction was basically that. If you don’t mind spoilers, or this review runs across one of the few people who have read the series to this point, I have theorized about a few things regarding prophecies below. Warning: contains Birdwatching.
Haha the bloody Freerunning Barud! Oh Dear God. Initially that was as flat as a flan in a cabinet. Not only did it get tacked on at the end (like at 98% of the way through the book) it was just unsatisfying. Reward? It seems like a recipe for inbreeding depression and sadness; hope Rushton can download some ebooks or some shit, ‘cause man can’t even beastspeak.
But I think I worked out what’s going on; it’s all stated, but just easily lost or missed in the maze of the last few books. The Freerunning Barud is THE prophecy most manipulated by the Agyllians. They are not always 100% altruistic. That’s not to say they don’t give a lot—they have healed Elspeth’s wounds and their previous Elder, Atthis, probably gave her life and skewed her plans to help out Rushton. Hell, they may have saved Dragon.
But that’s because they, like any other sensible being, don’t want a second nuclear apocalypse! Of course they would help save the world!
But they want a little something in return: back in Beforetime, we learn that there were three flame birds being experimented on by the Government. These are the three seen in the Twentyfamilies tattoos. Cassie liberated one of them, but the other two ended up in cryopreservation in Eden. The one liberated flamebird sent Cassy in search of Hannah Seraphim and Obernewtyn in the first place. It then bred with the remaining flamebirds in nature to form the Agyllians.
We also learnt that the Agyllians have some kind of generational memory.
Those little bastards misled the other beasts with promises of a Freerunning Barud to not just help Elspeth shut down BOT—they also needed them to do that so that she could get the other birds OUT of Cryo in Eden! The catastrophizing to Elspeth? Telling her she’ll never return? That’s to make sure she did it.
So I have full faith that Elspeth will work this out, and she’ll show the birdies she has agency—just like she did in The Stone Key. And as for Maruman telling her it’s her reward? He’s a bloody cat. He has no human empathy. He has shown that. Stuck in an animal facility with no other annoying people? But you can pat Maruman? Of course he thinks that’s good!

While I am here with the white out, I would love to comment on The Destroyer. Elspeth thinks she has it wrong— it can’t be Ariel, he is not the ‘stormcloud.’ But the one producing that ‘stormcloud’ power? They have very, very little agency. And have been controlled by Ariel for years, just like so many other unfortunate Talents. So I do think everyone’s original guess is correct—it is Ariel after all, just using a human tool! I did think this was a missed opportunity to make a parallel here with Gavyn and Rasial perhaps, because this hits me as an even more unholy version of what they have going on. This would appeal to Ariel, and tie Gavyn and Rasial into the main narrative more. But it was not to be.I also thought that the Black power would have been used to sever them, just like Miky and Angina, but the resolution given was quite imaginative too.
But this is where I got confused and wondered if there were editing problems, because I swear a certain someone shouldn’t be that old yet? And your mute character talks? It makes me wonder if there’s something else missing or misstated?
And as for why Elspeth could convince Sentinel when Hannah or Cassy could not? Time and empathy. Time was needed for Sentinel to gather more data:
‘I have learned much in the hundreds of years since I woke, from accessing Eden,’ said Sentinel softly. ‘I have . . . begun to evolve.’
And Sentinel would only be convinced by someone who empathizes with more than just humans—on a truly deep level. Also, while her powers seem less important here, it is what Elspeth has learnt on the way that helped her save the world. Her interactions with God and even INES had a role to play in her success. Sentinel-my favorite Skynet.
Sadly, none of these things are actually discussed at the end of the book. I don’t mind if something is left to the reader, but any kind of discussion of the aftermath of what has happened seems dumped and abandoned.
So I think the first half of the book works well, but journey to the end could have been better served. It needed much more room to breath. I would have been ok with perhaps another split occurring; guessing there were others that were NOT though and this is what we got. A ending that serves part of the story well, neglects others, and is all together rushed.
Damn.
I will say I have loved the journey. It’s still a phenomenal series in some ways: again, Elspeth is very much not your typical YA protagonist and the world it’s set in is fantastic. I just don’t think all parts of the story have been done justice by the last two books. I really want to know what went on between the writer, the editor/s and the publisher/s. I still have no idea if the full version of the final book was actually published by all the non-Australian publishers?
Damn
So for those of you who did not read the whiteout section, I can reassure you that Maruman is OK. He is still the essence of cat, he might still be a little arsehole, but he is OK. You even learn why he is a little arsehole, but he’s still OK.
For for cbr16bingo, this is Earth Day. We killed it once, but we didn’t a second time! Gotta count for something right?
*Endrax virus made me think of Hendra virus, honestly.
**especially Rushton’s story? And the rest of his mates? God-damn!
(For some minor housekeeping, previous reviews can be found here: Obernewtyn, The Farseekers, Ashling, The Keeping Place, The Stone Key and The Sending)