'She dreams of plane crashes, earthquakes, tsunamis, bloody coups. She dreams of the stallion sweeping down the hill ... . P. 197'.

Early on in this book, author Kathryn Gossow had instilled into me as a reader a sense of 'foreboding'. But like Cassie trying to clarify her visions, I struggled to discern what the feeling of impending doom was about? Would it concern Paulo, or Athena, or a secret in the family, or Cassie herself? The possibilities thicken and darken and thunder down on Cassie's life like the ominous horse in her nightmares.

Cassandra: A princess of Troy and priestess of Apollo. She was cursed to utter true prophecies but to never be believed.'(Wiki)

Cassie seems like an ordinary girl who gets bitten by a snake on a farm in Queensland. Her little brother predicts a drought, she grows to be a grumpy teenager troubled by visions, she scowls at her mother in the ordinary teenage way, she worries about her great-aunt and her Poppy .. Wait a minute. Bitten by a snake? Visions? Her brother foretells a drought?

'The Snake: Some versions of the legend have Cassandra falling asleep in a temple, where the snakes licked her ears so that she could hear the future. According some versions, Cassandra had a brother Helenus. Like her, Helenus was always correct whenever he had made his predictions, but he was believed.' (Wiki)

She clumsily attempts to fit in with the cool kids, she experiments with alcohol and dope, her visions worsen. She tries to make one true friend, Athena, who introduces her to the Tarot. ('Her thoughts swirl with colour and the patterns and the meanings of the cards'. P. 77). She 's keen on a boy named Paulo .. Wait, wait. Athena? And 'Paulo' .. or 'Apollo'? Didn't Apollo's priestesses take hallucinogens to enhance their visions?

'Apollo: Many versions of the myth relate that Cassandra incurred the god Apollo's wrath by refusing him sex, after promising herself to him in exchange for the power of prophecy.' (Wiki).

What if you could foresee people's futures, for instance, that one kid on the school bus will die of bowel cancer, another will briefly shine on the stage but never become famous? A wonderful ability, yes? What if you fill with dread but you cannot make out why. Your visions swirl without a clear meaning. The Thing happens. You feel guilty. If you had warned people, and if they had believed you, surely you could have diverted the accident or illness or mistake from happening. Is this a 'super-power' or a curse?

This can be read is a 'coming of age' novel in the sense in that it concerns teenage insecurities and self-doubts, the cruel cut and thrust of cliques and friendships, and the tensions within families. But I think you will also soon be reading it, as I did, mindful of the big questions about fate and destiny, and mulling over the extent to which every one of one's own decisions cuts away previous possibilities and opens up lines of new one. ( )

This book was amazing. I was immediately drawn in to Cassie's world, the vivid imagery and breadth of detail allowing me to see and feel as she did. It was like I was watching it all unfold right in front of me. Not only does Cassie have to cope with all the usual stresses involved in being a teenager, she has obscure visions and dreams of the future. I was particularly enthralled by the way the visions were described, seeing their immediate effect on Cassie, and how they were regarded by those around her. Unlike her brother's perfect ability to predict weather changes, her visions are difficult to interpret and slippery to pin down. Betrayal and tragedy strike, pushing Cassie to her utmost limits, and it is up to her to seize back control of her destiny.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or ever has been a teenager. They will not be disappointed. ( )

Cassandra by Kathryn Gossow is a modern take on the myth of Cassandra of Troy, a woman who had the gift of prophecy but was cursed so that no one would believe her.

Cassie Shultz lives on a farm in remote Queensland. She is plagued by, in waking dreams and momentary visions, flashes of the future. Cassie struggles to understand these visions. Her gift and any attempts to explain it to others or to warn them result in her ridicule, and her being labelled as a “freak” amongst her peers - even her parents treat her as being a bit odd.

The novel opens with Cassie as a young child – she crawls under the house to play and is bitten by a snake. (There is a link here to one of the interpretations of the Greek myth regarding Cassandra. She and her brother fell asleep in the temple of Apollo were said to have been found surrounded by serpents in the morning.) Gossow’s portrayal of the young Cassie is very good. There is obviously a complex family dynamic happening around her that Cassie does not fully understand and this depiction is engaging.

Later, when Cassie is a teenager, she has all the attendant growing pains that most teenagers do – she is uncertain of her place in the world, desperate for friends, desperate to feel loved and desired and yet her visions have isolated her. What is worse is that her brother has a knack for predicting the weather and is labelled as a prodigy! The section where Cassie is a teen is particularly well written. Gossow evokes her loneliness and longing with seeming ease and Cassie is a character that evolves beautifully as the story progresses. There are moments where you’ll loathe the teen brat and others where your heart will ache for her.

I honestly didn’t think that I was going to enjoy this book. The reason for it was very simple – the novel is written in the third person present tense, which is unusual. I think for majority of authors this is a problematic choice in that it, at least for me, serves to remind readers of the presence of a narrator and that we are being told a story. This irked me and often repeatedly pulled me out of the story rather than immersing me in it.

However, I kept reading and I was very glad I did because by the end I thought the choice, stylistically, suited the tale. Cassie goes through her life as a spectator, unable to change events and is isolated from those around her, so choosing the third person present meant the reader almost walked in Cassie’s shoes. We were the same powerless observer of her life that she was and this served to heighten the tragic elements of the story. By about half way through the book I had become accustomed this stylistic choice and was enjoying so much else about Gossow’s prose, that I was immersed in the novel anyway.

This is a book with a broad appeal. I’d label it as a YA crossover novel – though I think the notions that many automatically attach to the YA category would do it a disservice. It’s part coming of age story, part fantasy, part Aussie battler family drama dealing with the grim reality of life on the land.

Simply put it’s great new Aussie fiction.

Four Stars. ( )

I found this book intriguing, gritty and absorbing. Cassandra has a lot going on; she's dealing with all the normal teenage issues of wanting to be accepted and loved; while also trying to understand her gift of prophecy so that she can stop bad things from happening. There was some beautiful prose and I particularly liked the faster paced rhythms the author created to help us get inside Cassie's head.

The author put us in the setting. I was there and could see the farm, the river, the hill.

I loved the themes; tarot cards, family, dreams, intuition, tea leaves... magical and mind-bending, and well contrasted against the harsh Australian backdrop of a chook farm.

I gave it five stars as it was different and brave and the author did well to tackle the complex themes of fate and mythology through the eyes of an inquiring and often troubled teen. ( )

Cassie Shultz might live on a remote farm in Queensland, but she bears on her young shoulders a gift more akin to the ancient times of Greek myth. The consequences of possessing the gift to predict the future are artfully explored in this coming of age story by Kathryn Gossow. Portents mount, but like the tragic Cassandra in Greek myth, Cassie's warnings fall on deaf ears. The portrayal of family and friendships is raw and honest and the picture of life in an isolated community vividly drawn with immaculate prose.

The present moment blurs without warning into the future each time Cassie’s strange prophetic gift comes to visit. The author so deftly spun me out of reality and then back again that it felt like she was conjuring up some secret magic of her own. Questions such as how much of our future is fate and how much is of our own making arise naturally from Cassie’s dilemmas and left me with much to ponder. ( )