The Farseekers

Lore & Background

The story begins two years after Obernewtyn, with the community thriving under Rushton's legal ownership, disguised by a rumor that Obernewtyn was destroyed in a firestorm. The community is organized into six guilds: Healing, Futuretelling, Coercing, Beasting, Farseeking, and Teknoguild. Elspeth serves as guildmistress of the Farseekers. The front doors containing the map of the weaponmachines have been destroyed. An expedition is proposed to recover an untouched Beforetime book cache and rescue a person with strong mental abilities, with a safe house to be set up in Sutrium. The cat Maruman falls into a coma, and inside his mind an Agyllian voice reminds Elspeth of her promise to destroy the weaponmachines.

Reader's Guide

The novel has been positively received, with Library Journal stating it 'blends graceful storytelling with appealing characters' and Publishers Weekly calling it 'better than its predecessor.' Criticisms include a lack of intricate character development compared to Obernewtyn and occasional overwhelming complexity. The plot involves a journey through the White Valley, Druid's Camp, Tor mountain, Rangorn, Aborium, and a Beforetime ruin, with Elspeth ultimately being flown to the Agyllian eyrie before returning to Obernewtyn. The novel was selected as an Honour Book for 'Book of the Year for Older Readers' in the 1991 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards.

Did You Know?

• The story includes a character named Dragon, a wild girl capable of causing horrific visions with her mind.
• The protagonist Elspeth learns of her destiny to find and destroy the weaponmachines which caused the Great White.

The Expedition and Its Stakes

The novel centers on a multi-guild expedition departing from Obernewtyn, a hidden sanctuary for Misfits, toward the lower lands. The stated objectives are twofold: recovering a cache of untouched Beforetime books and rescuing a person with exceptionally strong mental abilities. In practice, the journey becomes far more layered. Elspeth, guildmistress of the Farseekers, carries a private burden—a promise made to an Agyllian voice encountered within the mind of the comatose cat Maruman—to find and destroy the weaponmachines responsible for the Great White. The group travels through the White Valley, Druid's Camp, Tor mountain, Rangorn, the city of Aborium, and a Beforetime ruin, before returning via a secret pass. A prophecy tightens the timeline: they must be back before the winter pass closes, or Obernewtyn will fall. Along the way, they are captured by Henry Druid's armsmen, escape via rafts into mountain rapids, and navigate the politics of a major city where Jik is nearly sent to Herder Isle for interrogation.

The Guild System and Community Life

Two years after the events of the first novel, Obernewtyn has grown into a functioning, if clandestine, society. Rushton, now the legal owner of the site, has spread the cover story that the place was destroyed in a firestorm. The community is organized into six guilds, each with a guildmaster or guildmistress, a guilden as second-in-command, and a warden as third. The guilds specialize in distinct Misfit abilities: Healing, Futuretelling, Coercing, Beasting, Farseeking, and the Teknoguild, which studies pre-Great White technology and machines. Elspeth leads the Farseekers, whose members can project mental probes outward. The front doors bearing a map of the weaponmachines have been destroyed, removing a key piece of knowledge from the community's grasp. This structure gives the novel a rich social framework, with guildmerge meetings where leaders deliberate on matters like the joint expedition proposed by Elspeth and Pavo, and the establishment of a safe house in Sutrium to monitor the Council's movements.

Critical Reception and International Reach

Published first by Penguin Books in Australia in 1990, The Farseekers went on to reach readers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Portugal. Its critical reception was broadly positive, with the Library Journal praising its blend of graceful storytelling and appealing characters. Publishers Weekly went further, declaring the sequel superior to its predecessor. The novel earned an Honour Book designation for Book of the Year for Older Readers in the 1991 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, a significant recognition in the Australian literary landscape. However, not all feedback was uniformly glowing. Some reviewers noted a lack of intricate character development and flagged the novel's complexity as a potential barrier for younger readers. Despite these criticisms, the book's international publication and award recognition cemented its place as a notable entry in young adult fantasy of the early 1990s, and it remains a touchstone for fans of the Obernewtyn Chronicles.

Elspeth's Destiny and the Weaponmachines

Beneath the surface-level adventure of rescuing a Misfit and recovering a library, The Farseekers is driven by Elspeth's personal confrontation with a destiny she did not choose. During a moment of crisis—when the cat Maruman falls into a fitful coma—Elspeth enters his mind and encounters the voice of an Agyllian who reminds her of a solemn promise: she must find and destroy the weaponmachines that caused the Great White, and she must do so alone. This revelation reframes every subsequent event. The destroyed front doors that once held a map of the weaponmachines mean the community has lost its primary lead. Elspeth's journey through the lower lands, her encounters with the wild girl dubbed Dragon who can project horrific visions, and her navigation of political dangers in Aborium all exist within the shadow of this larger, solitary mission. The novel thus operates on two registers: the communal survival of Obernewtyn and Elspeth's individual, fated task, creating a tension between collective need and personal destiny that defines her character throughout the series.