Motherstone

The O Trilogy #3

by Maurice Gee

Susan Ferris is at home when a new evil force comes to O which she and her cousin Nicholas Quinn must conquer

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, School, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Maurice Gough Gee was a New Zealand novelist. He was one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and having won numerous awards both in New Zealand and overseas, including multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the UK, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Robert Burns Fellowship and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. In 2003 he was recognised as one of New Zealand's greatest living artists across all disciplines by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, which presented him with an Icon Award.
Gee's novel Plumb (1978) was described by the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature to be one of the best novels ever written in New Zealand. He was also well-known for children's and young adult fiction such as Under the Mountain (1979). He won multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and in 2002 he was presented with the prestigious Margaret Mahy Award by the Children's Literature Foundation in recognition of his contributions to children's literature.

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susan and Nick are on their way back to Earth when they are ambushed by former Priests of Ferris. Their goal is to create a weapon that will burn any who oppose them and Susan is a welcome hostage. Having been prevented from going home, Nick and Susan realize that the weapon the Priests are creating will destroy O. They decide that they cannot return home before bringing peace to O.

What a disappointment – the O books were fine reads but I kept hoping for more than just fine. When I got around to the third and final volume, I really thought the series was finally coming through. It seemed as though the weak points were taking a back seat and strong points got to shine. Unfortunately, this did not last until the end of the book which brought it back down to the standard of its forerunners.

But let us start with the good: I thought the tension was well done throughout the first half of the book. The dangers they were facing seemed more threatening than those of the previous volumes which made their worries and fears all the more believable. There was more than one villain and they were all quite capable.

Most of all I liked that Susan befriended a bloodcat. The bloodcats played different roles in each of the books and I enjoyed their portrayal. I think it was well done how, even though it befriended Susan, it remained in its wild and untamed state. The point of view shifted more frequently between Susan and Nick which finally gave Nick some more moments to shine. And that is something I certainly appreciate as Nick is the more likeable of the two. In general, the book was well set up, had good pacing with good characters and good scenes.

My main issue is that it tries to be too serious and dramatic. Around the second half of the book, the narrator is permanently pressing on how serious, how evil and how awful everything is. But I, as a reader, do not feel convinced. The first thing that threw me off was that Susan said the main villain is just like Hitler. Now that is, in my opinion, a very extreme suggestion. I do not want to be told that the villain is like Hitler – if anything I need to see it for myself. It feels very simplistic to say that this villain is the worst of the worst but not giving you any insight as to how or why.

The same problem kept occurring throughout the story. We are told a certain situation is so serious and dangerous but I cannot see or feel it from the context of the story – it is only the narrator permanently pushing it down my throat. And Susan. Susan was really pushing it in this one. Yes, she is the chosen, but her whole manner of being so stuck up about it and always excluding Nick and talking about how only she can do anything was driving me up the wall. Just like the narrator, she kept moping about how utterly awful everything is - but I just could not feel it.

If Susan and the narrator were not so desperate about trying to convince me of things that simply were not there, the book would have had a much better feel. I can appreciate a character’s fears and feel for them – even if it is a smaller fear. But excessive outbursts over a mouse running through the kitchen only damages a character's credibility.

To sum it up: tone down the drama and preaching and it will be a very fine read. It is a real shame for the potential. Especially because it introduced some nice and unique plot twists – the ending in particular. The ending was quite different from what I would expect from such a book and I thought it was well done. Only that, again, Susan and the others were talking about how utterly awful the ending will be and I felt pretty disappointed when I found out what it actually was.

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why is it that all evil men in this series have names that start with 'O'? I don't believe it's a coincidence. Anyway, this book is even darker than the two others, as Susan, Nick and their friends from O fight to stop the Armaggeddon. But in the end, only the humans of O themselves can stop tragedy from happening - and only at great loss to themselves. I thought it an extremely sad book, and there definitely is some sort of warning in it for us. It was written in the 1980's at a time where the world was still fearing what the cold war would lead to. So perhaps this book was meant as a reaction to that threat and as a message to the Americans and the Russians? Your guess is as good as mine, but I found it a bit too realistic not to have some sort of message implied.

[Hayden Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good end to a series of books that started well below par with teh halfmen of o, tackles the underlying concept that to improve western society the core philosophies of society need to change and how both sides of an argument think the same with neither being right, good or evil

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. I found the book very thought provoking, its a great story with a lot of layers and wonderful characters and ideas.

[Sophie Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because I finally almost worked out what the continent looks like.

[Mindbait]

The conclusion to Gee's Halfmen of O trilogy. This final story is somehow simultaneously smaller and more intimate, but epic and world-shaping. It wraps up the series nicely revisiting some elements from the first book.

I know I've said it before, but I really hope that someone gets around to making movies of this trilogy. The stories are great but also have potential to be expanded somewhat with some battle scenes put in or whatever. The stories work well together but are all fairly different in tone, especially 'Motherstone'. Some of the characters are quite recognisably NZ, but I'm sure if it had to be Americanised (which it presumably would if enough money was going to be chucked at it to realise it) that should work well enough too.

I actually found a video of Richard Taylor from Weta talking about how they really wanted to make the movie (though that was 1 years ago, so maybe it has fallen by the wayside).

[Chelsea Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful end to the Trilogy. Each book has managed to take the reader on a totally new adventure, with Priests of Ferris and Motherstone mixing the original Halfmen of O characters with new friends and new villans.

Prompt:
52 Summer Challenge 2022: Fantasy

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was alright but was not better than the first.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

9

[Laura]

I bought and read this book today for a test I have tomorrow. I enjoyed this book more than I did the first one. I don't think it was better written or that it had a more interesting storyline, I think I just I just chose to enjoy it because I had to read it in one day and didn't want it to be a completely dreary experience. this made me want to read more fantasy books.