6.5/10, seems a bit slow paced. ( )

What an incredible find. I'd never even heard of Isobelle Carmody when I picked up this audiobook, and I just picked it up from the library shelf in a hurry, wanting anything that might get me through my bus rides until I had time to look properly.

I couldn't possibly have chosen better. This book is amazing. I seriously want to read more of Isobelle Carmody in future. She walks the tightrope between "realism" and fantasy and walks it brilliantly, creating hair-raising suspense. I was enthralled all the way through and the characters rang vividly true. And the narration was pretty good as well, giving very believable life to the words. ( )

Nicely suspenseful story, a group of school fellows band together to stop an evil force infecting the land.

The evil appeals to most people, because it is couched in terms of order, safety, and homogeneity - almost making this a fascist dystopia, complete with curfews, and militant youth orders. ( )

Review (teachers)
http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr-indexes/ya-32.html

Detailed review and critique (teachers)
http://www.misrule.com.au/gathering.html

The principal is known as ‘The Kraken’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken
http://www.unmuseum.org/kraken.htm

insert under Kraken (octopus) picture
Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a creature off the coast of Angola.

Insert under other picture
An illustration from the original edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

Review by students
http://owl.infosys.utas.edu.au/reading_room/books/4.html

a very short biography
http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A%2B3N

Many links here:
http://users.tpg.com.au/welwel/ausauthors/authc.htm

author profile at Penguin
http://www.penguin.com.au/

a list of books and awards
http://www.sprint.net.au/~chomberg/ic.htm

The Obernewtyn Chronicles:
1. Obernewtyn (1989)
2. The farseekers (1990)
3. Ashling (1995)
4. The Keeping Place (1999)
5. The Sending (2006)
All won awards, except The Sending?? (check)

The Legendsong saga
1. Darkfall (award)
2. Darksong
3. Darkbane

The Gateway trilogy
1. Billy Thunder and the night gate (award)
2. The winter door
3. The firecat’s dream

Scatterlings (lots of awards)
The gathering ( lots of awards)
Greylands (awards)

Carmody’s site
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/index.php

author’s tips for short story writers
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&...

The gathering was the first time Carmody used a real-world setting. In an interview, Carmody describes how close the book’s setting was to her own at the time. Read the interview here:
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&...

About the author at interview by Australian magazine
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&...

interview with author about Quentaris Chronicles and writing in general:
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&...

review by year 8 student (short)
http://www.carmody-online.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&f...

review by a year 10 student (choose Australian titles, then scroll down to ‘I’ for Isobelle and click on The gathering:
http://goldcreek.act.edu.au/yara/

Themes: Good vs Evil; personal demons; Fascism and world society references;

Summary
Nathaniel and his mother have just moved to Cheshunt, an Australian seaside suburb overwhelmed by the stench of its abbatoir. Nathaniel is unhappy about moving house so often, and his resentment of his mother develops throughout the novel, as does his resentment of the bullying in his new school. Through Nathaniel’s narration, the reader learns that beneath the quiet exterior of Cheshunt lurks something darker and more sinister.

The school is victimised by a bullying student patrol controlled by the fear-inspiring headmaster, who tries unsuccessfully to convince Nathaniel to join the school’s youth group, The Gathering, as a sign of cooperation and conformity. Nathaniel accidentally discovers a secret group of students known as The Chain, mysteriously chosen to fight a deep evil in the town, an evil headed by the headmaster, Mr Karle.

The gathering is full of secrets and mysteries, both on a personal level for Nathaniel and other characters, and with regard to the town and its history. The story is a thriller about the forces of good and evil, set in a real town with real people but with an obviously fantastical plot.

Biography

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia’s most well-known and popular authors of fantasy for young adult readers. When she was just 14 years old she began writing the first book of The Obernewton Chronicles which was later shortlisted for the 1988 CBC Australian Book of the Year Award. Many more of her books have won awards

Carmody became a writer despite her family background. She was one of ten children with all the responsibilities of an eldest daughter whose parents worked. The family lived in a housing commission area of Geelong where boys usually ended up working in a factory and girls got married. Carmody broke out of the mould and studied Literature and Philosophy, working as a journalist before deciding to risk everything for full-time writing. Her risk paid off and she has been writing successfully ever since. ( )