Stormchaser

It's been a good while since I read the first book in this series, but I didn't have too many difficulties picking things up. This really is the far side of the world from Alan Garner's increasingly atmospheric and enigmatic style of fantasy. This is a sturdy, intricate piece of world-building, fully grounded and downright anti-romantic in its, for a narrow sense of the word, realism. There's the geography, all connected, the flora, the fauna, the city, the academic extension to the city, the economics, the politics, the corruption and crime and bustling throng of diverse species, there the mad science that's indistinguishable from magic and here's danger, madness and death - often hideous and bloody - around every corner: basically show more it's Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar and Jack Vance's Dying Earth and you could probably talk knowingly about George RR Martin for kids if you really wanted to.

Some really quite amazingly horrible stuff happens in the course of this adventure. There's is intrigue and betrayal, but there are deaths and murders and mutilations that were either shocking or gratifying in a book for children, I'm not sure which, and it's probably both. The writing makes sure it all goes down easily, however - a tad too easily, perhaps. One is invested in the world and in the story, but never quite the characters. The kind of smooth clarity of the prose that explains complex ideas and gruesome deaths with deceptive simplicity tends to describe characters and their emotions and personalities without ever quite making them really come alive to the reader.

Not that that'll stop me sailing off into the next one. show less

Here's what I liked about this book: the names! the characters were funny and clever and so close to real - such as the flatheads - that I'm not 100% sure they're not real. I like the way the problem is set up - it's a vicious circle, rather like the world we know today, but simplified. I like the unexpected but logical turns which the story took. But most of all I like the attempt to imagine nonviolent solutions, and so I'm creating a new shelf for this kind of imagination which we need so desperately. (pages 323-324 and 363-367 illustrate the point.)

Probably one of my favorite fantasy adventures. The Edge world is incredibly original, detailed, and endless. Twig is a great hero with great growth. I also love the Stone Pilot, though he was honestly cooler before we found out who he really is. I love ALL the characters in this book, and the fact that so many of them end up dead just about brings me to tears.

The plot is awesome too. Political intrigue, daring quests, psychotic madmen, beguiling forests... This book has just about everything a fantasy adventure nut could ask for. Not to mention the superb art.

I was really feeling this volume, much more so than the first. The illustrations are amazing, and the story was gripping and even though there were a whole bunch of tangent stories stuck in there, and they were a little distracting, everything came together in the end, and the strong central plot really pulled me through. The imagination is also fabulous, things like things we know, but different. And that whole idea of a garden where rocks break through the earth and then float off into the sky is incredible. And that's just one of the clever inventions in this series.

(For the whole series): I blasted through all of these the first time I read them. Stewart and Riddell created an amazing world, where rocks float and there are a bunch of different humanoid beings running around, each with their own outlook on life and way of living. You can read them in published order or reorganize them into internal chronological order, as some of the characters turn out to be the grandparents of other characters. Either way, a good rollicking read with characters you might actually care about. The pen-and-ink illustrations top it off – interesting, complex, and perfect for the story.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Stormchaser
Series: The Edge Chronicles
Author: Chris Riddell & Paul Stewart
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: Children's SFF
Pages: 402
Format: Kindle







Synopsis: Twig is now reunited with his father, who promptly leaves him behind to go have a grand adventure. Twig ends up saving the adventure, the academy, the town and becomes a ship captain in his own right. My show more Thoughts: I just lost my whole review of because of one ill advised, not meant to be, swipe of my touchpad on my laptop. I liked this, more than the previous book. It wasn't so random, had Twig acting like the young man he is and ended with the bad guys getting theirs while Twig got a sky ship and a crew. Now I am looking forward to more of this series. " show less

many creature creations

I like that there weren't the typical LOTR troll and elf fantasy archetypes, but a variation unto themselves. The nine year old me would love to tromp through the deepwoods, pirate with Twig, and battle Screed for his Looty-Booty.