The Stone Key
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Book 5 in the Obernewtyn Chronicles series
Pages: 1000
Published: 2008
Age: 13+
When Farseeker Guildmistress Elspeth Gordie sets out from Obernewtyn to travel to Sutrium at the end of wintertime, she quickly learns that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. Captured by an old and vicious enemy, she is drawn deep into the heart of the Herder Faction, where she learns of a terrible plot to destroy the west coast. To stop it, Elspeth must risk everything, knowing that if she dies, she will never complete her quest to find the weaponmachines that destroyed the Beforetime. But if she succeeds, her journey will lead her to the last of the signs left for her by the seer Kasanda...
PLEASE NOTE: For North American and UK publication, The Stone Key was split into two books: Wavesong (book 5) and The Stone Key (book 6). Consequently, these countries have more physical books in the series.
Aurealis Award Nominee for Young Adult Novel (2008)
About the Obernewtyn Chronicles Series
Books in series order
- 1.Obernewtyn(1987)
- 2.The Farseekers(1990)
- 3.Ashling(1995)
- 4.The Keeping Place(1999)
- 5.The Stone Key(2008)
- 6.The Sending(2011)
- 7.The Red Queen(2015)
Reading age: 12+ years
This series should be read in order.
The Obernewtyn Chronicles is a science fiction and fantasy series set in a post apocalyptic world, long after a global nuclear holocaust, called the 'Great White', has scourged the land. There are no machines, cars, computers, or planes, and in their place are horses and carts. Modern technology and information have been lost. The 'Great White' didn't only bring a reign of primitive technology: it brought mutants, those with extrasensory powers. A new government - the Council - orders these mutants, called Misfits, to be burned, and has appointed a religious authority, the Herder Faction, to hunt them down. This is the world that orphaned mutant teen Elspeth Gordie lives in. The novels deal with themes of responsibility, duty, prejudice, discrimination, tolerance, and human and animal rights.

