Ambelin Kwaymullina

“There will come a day when a thousand Illegals descend on your detention centres. Boomers will breach the walls. Skychangers will send lightning to strike you all down from above, and Rumblers will open the earth to swallow you up from below. . . . And when that day comes, Justin Connor, think of me.”

This is a dystopian YA sci-fi by Indigenous Australian author Ambelin Kwaymullina of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Ashala Wolf is one of the Illegals living in Firstwood, persecuted for their powers. She is captured and taken to the detention centre of Chief Administrator Neville Rose for interrogation. She fears for her life and the survival of her tribe and feels torn by the betrayal of the double-crossing Justin Connor.

This is a pacey, gripping read. It has echoes of Indigenous spirituality and culture, and touches on the ugly history of Australia and the Stolen Generations. The character of the villain Neville Rose references Chief Protector of the Aborigines, A.O.Neville. The powers reflect elements of Indigenous spirituality. This was an enjoyable read.… (más)

This is the second story in the YA dystopian sci-fi series The Tribe, by Australian Indigenous author Ambelin Kwaymullina of the Palyku people of the Pilbara.

The book begins with Ashala recovering from the events of the precious book and having fled the tribe to run with her wolf-pack. She then discovers her friend and tribe member Ember Crow has disappeared to Gull City and not returned. Ashala embarks on a hazardous mission to rescue Ember, while battling with her own faulty sleepwalking ability.

The story is again action packed and features twists and challenges. Ashala grows as a leader, fuelled by her passionate love for her tribe. I loved the references to Aboriginal spirituality and history, with the Stolen Generations overtones and abilities that connect with Indigenous stories. I found I was slightly less engaged than in the first book and my one issue would be why would you use a Canadian audio-narrator for this story when you could use an Australian Indigenous one? Personally I would love to hear Shareena Clanton read this. Overall another great read.… (más)

Representation: First Australian character
Trigger warnings: Fire, imprisonment
This was a book that was part of the library reading challenge of the month. Two of the goals were to read a science fiction book and/or a book from a First Australian author.

6/10, looking back at this I actually enjoyed it however I must say that I've definitely seen some better dystopian novels out there and I don't think this holds up well anymore more than a decade after it was published though I do admit there was a solid concept and the execution was alright I guess, where do I even begin. It starts off with the main character Ashala Wolf or Ashala for short and not too far into the book she was captured by Neville Rose and sent into a prison where she spends most of the book there and even that I've seen in other books I've read before and since then. Ashala meets some other characters whose names I forgot and she learns what it is like to live in the prison and I must tell you it isn't a very great place to live especially with the main antagonist and he wants to destroy Ashala's tribe which essentially means killing her as well and I didn't want that to happen but why would he do that in the first place I don't really know but it might have something to do with racism or something along those lines. Towards the end of the book Ashala and the other characters think of a plan to escape and they do that by burning the prison down and freeing the other prisoners which was very action packed and ended this on a high note.… (más)