What if the world really were flat? Paul Stewart and Chris Riddle have created such a world, rich with dynamic illustrations. This world, known as The Edge, features weather that is far, far more elaborate and complex than the weather of our world. In fact, the weather is so complex that an entire city of academics has been built for the sole purpose of studying it and trying to understand it. This magnificent city, Sanctaphrax, sits atop a giant rock full of air pockets, which enable it to float in the sky. The gigantic Sanctaphrax rock is prevnted from from floating away entirely by a massive anchor chain that affixes it to the center of a seething urban mass called Undertown. (That and a mysterious substance called stormphrax.).Sanctaphrax itself is rife with intrigue and political subterfuge, and its denizens have to be on their toes all the time, because everyone tries to get ahead of everyone else. The most dangerous conflict is between the sky-scholars, those who study the weather and its intricacies, and the earth-scholars, the now-marginalized academics who are interested in studying the land of the Edge and its flora and fauna. The leader of Sanctaphrax, of Most High Academe, is Linius Pallitax, a well-meaning individual who wants to bring the squabbling to an end. Linius's downfall, however, is his curiosity, which leads him to dabble into things better left untouched, much to the consternation of his daughter, Maris.Enter Quint, the teenage son of a sky pirate (In this series, the pirates are the good guys, while the merchants' leagues they prey upon, are rapacious and greedy bad guys.), a noble and loyal lad whose entire life has been spent on one of the glorious sky-ships that traverse the atmosphere, kept aloft by floating rocks that are basically miniature versions of the Sanctaphrax rock. Quint's father, the sky pirate captain, Wind Jackal, is best friends with Linius Pallitax, and allows himself to be convinced by the Most High Academe, to give the boy the best education possible and to be Linius's assistant. Quint nobly goes about his duties and develops a tense, but rather romantic relationship with Maris. He soon discovers, however, that Linius is in over his head with his dangerous experiments, and he makes common cause with Maris in an attempt to save the Most High Academe from himself. I have read this book and its sequels twice and I find it rich in description, character development, and mystery. I particularly love the many illustrations, which help animate the narrative. The world Stewart and Riddle have created is rich and diverse, with many different races of goblins, trolls, gnomes, waifs, trogs, elves, and the academics themselves, who are vaguely human in appearance, though their race doesn't seem to have a name. This book and its sequels are primarily aimed at pre-adolescents and adolescents, but even much older people will appreciate its richness, and find it light-hearted fun to read.
I didn't enjoy this enough to give it 3 stars (two might have been more accurate) but I gave it the one extra star for creativity alone.This world has one of the most usual yet detailed world-building I've ever come across. Unusual as in Lewis Carroll's worlds or Salman Rushdie's super-artsy-fantasy-story (like this or this) level of unusual, but unlike those books, the "Edge world" is much less arbitrary. Despite the whimsical nature of the world, it is clearly thought out, as clearly established rules, and is complete with politics of the different group of people who inhabit it. This particular installment takes place in the floating city of Sanctaphrax, where all the academics live. There's the "Most High Academe" and the "Next Most High Academe" and they all have their castles and little research hubs. There's a huge "fountain hose" school for all the kids. And then are all sorts of creatures like "wood-elves" who work as nannies and "spindlebugs" who are like butlers. The academics pursue "Earth-studies" or "Sky-studies" and Sky-studies have just come to be regarded as so much superior that anyone researching Earth science is ostracized. There are libraries organized in this most interesting way ever and then there are snippets of some of the branches of Sky-studies like "stormchasing" and "mistcatching" which are all very entertaining.There are other good things about the book. The main characters, Quint and Maris started out quite interesting. Maris is the only child of the Most High Academe who is constantly vying for her father's attention and she is very unhappy when he takes on Quint, the only living son of his sky-pirate friend as an apprentice. Her initial animosity towards Quint is quite well-realized but later as the plot comes around full-force, very little development happens to their dynamic and they just sort of become good friends. To that end, Quint as a character was also not as well developed as Maris was initially, but I suppose there is more focus on him in later books. I also really liked the illustrations in the book which made the characters more cartoony as opposed to focusing on making them pretty, which fit the tone of the book quite well.However, when we talk about the actual plot, I don't have a whole lot to say. It was pretty standard. Quint and Maris investigate Maris' father's very secretive research which leaves him in a catatonic state and then they have to deal with the consequences of what his research has created. It wasn't particularly interesting and I was quite bored with the main plot. Once we stopped exploring the world of Sanctaphrax or exploring the contentious dynamic between Maris and Quint, the book stopped being all that interesting. I don't think I will continue with the series, because there was very little to compel me to, but I won't say never either. At either rate, this is by all means recommended for children. :)
Do You like book The Curse Of The Gloamglozer (2005)?
I enjoyed reading this book. It’s a scary, suspenseful mystery. The plot isn’t anything complicated, but the parallel between Linius’s story and Quint’s own adventure is nail-biting. The creatures are wonderfully creepy (an eye-sucking blood-red monster and the ever-so-evil gloamglozer) and imaginative (a see-through butler bug! Little shards of flashing light! A lemkin!). The book takes place on an old site to the Edge Chronicles(Sanctaphrax) but there is still an element of newness (the stonecomb, the Library) in it. It’s not the best Edge book in my opinion, but it’s enjoyable.But the plot is so simple it can be explained in about five sentences. It's incredibly linear and I felt Stewart could have done a lot more to beef it up a bit. But perhaps I had issues with the plot because I’ve never liked the Quint books as much as the others. The Curse of the Gloamglozer, while enjoyable, is mediocre compared to some of the other books in the series.Read more book reviews at http://leafsreviews.wordpress.com/
—Elizabeth
I love this series! I love that there are so many different ideas being brought into a YA/children's series. This series introduces a young girl. Although people have said she's annoying or whiny. I didn't get that sense from her. Every book has that annoying whiny girl. There were times she annoyed me and there were times that others in the book annoyed me. I definately cannot wait to see what happens in these books. This book didn't have as disturbing things happen to the characters. Which was good but it's very action packed and very well written. Another thing that I love about it, is the way the illustrations go along with the story. It's not telling the story and it's not like the pictures aren't necessary. They will show a picture of an unknown creature so you get a little better idea of what it's supposed to look like. This really is one of the better fantasy series out there.
—Cindy
A fun young adult read--and even more notably, one that is truly appropriate for young adults and even children. Stewart steers clear of sex, profanity, and even violence for the most part (what violence there is tends toward the action variety rather than out-and-out gore). The characters are not terribly compelling, but then they aren't the main point of the story anyway. Stewart has created a complex and elaborate and incredibly original universe full of fascinating creatures and places. Libraries full of scrolls on wooden trees (in an amusingly literal depiction of the "branches" of knowledge), a floating city over the Edge (of what, you ask? It is not entirely clear), and flying rocks are just a few of Stewart's more inventive creations. Though the plot was decent enough, I found myself wanting to learn more about the world Stewart created than the people that lived there or the things that happened. Still, to leave a reader wanting to read more of his writing is more than many YA authors can boast.As for the illustrations, they do contribute to the overall feel of the book, and provide the reader with some much needed context in such an otherworldly setting. Riddell's drawings have a decidedly Silversteinian quality, and he is at his best drawing places and non-human creatures (which might be hard for readers to visualize without assistance)--his "people" are less impressive. A short and easy read, even if it's not terribly deep or meaningful. But if you're looking for a good, clean, fun read for a young (or young-at-heart) adult, this is a worthwhile find.
—Alexis Neal
