EmberCrowGeorgieSpider

Author: Ambelin Kwaymullina

Synopsis (book 1): Ashala Wolf has been captured by Chief Administrator Neville Rose. A man who is intent on destroying Ashala’s Tribe — the runaway Illegals hiding in the Firstwood. Injured and vulnerable and with her Sleepwalker ability blocked, Ashala is forced to succumb to the machine that will pull secrets from her mind.

And right beside her is Justin Connor, her betrayer, watching her every move.

Will the Tribe survive the interrogation of Ashala Wolf?

Find on: Goodreads | Bookworld | Booktopia | Book Depository

My Thoughts:

I absolutely LOVE this series!!!

I received the first book in this series for free as part of a ‘preorder this book and you get this book free’ thing that Dymocks was doing. Upon receiving the book, I was informed that it was, in fact, really good.

It most certainly was. And so when I saw the sequel in the bookstore, I bought it immediately. And I read it, and I loved it. And then I saw the last book, and I bought it and I read it and I loved it.

Guys, this series is awesome. It incorporates Aboriginal culture into a dystopian story and it is just so amazing, you people have to read it.

TribeQuote

And now, we have a guest post from Ambelin Kwaymullina. I asked if she could write about how Aboriginal culture influenced her when writing The Tribe Series.

I write what I know. People sometimes think that’s a strange thing to say about a series set hundreds of years in the future. But so much of the reality of Ashala and her Tribe is born out of how I, as an Aboriginal person, understand the world.

In Aboriginal worldviews, time is non-linear. So time does not run in a line from the past through the present and into the future; rather, it is simply part of the greater cycles of existence. On this view of time everything is in the now, and what is ‘past’ is not dependent on the passage of linear years but on the movement of the relationships that make up reality. For example, negative events can only be said to be ‘past’ when affected relationships have been resolved. Ashala comes to understand this view of time through her interactions with ancient spirits who are far wiser than she is. These spirits are one of the many forms of non-human life who contribute their knowledge to series – and this too is part of my reality as an Aboriginal person. In Aboriginal worldviews, everything lives, and it is unwise to assume your knowledge is greater than any other form of life.

The wisdom of non-human life is as much an integral part of the Tribe’s existence as it is of my own, and some of the animals that feature the series are based on real life dogs. One has recently passed, a golden retriever who lived to the grand old age of nineteen. In the books he is Nicky. We knew him as Chris, and (like Nicky) he was subjected to abuse before he came to us. He has now become part of what in the books is called the greater Balance, and the greater wisdom of those attuned to the cycles of the ever-turning world. Or as Grandfather Serpent tells Ashala, in The Foretelling of Georgie Spider: Night would follow day, and the seasons would shift, and all that was would live and die and live again. And the Tribe will endure forever.

Monday, 21st September The Loony Literate.

Tuesday, 22nd September Cassie the Weird

Wednesday, 23rd September Diva Book Nerd

Thursday, 24th September Inside My Worlds

Friday, 25th September Genie in a Book

thefirstwood.com.au | ambelin-kwaymullina.com.au