Why I Love the Edge Chronicles

I’m not going to sugar-coat things here, I LOVE to read. I’m a huge fan of fantasy/adventure, and as of now, I’m reading the first book of The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. However, I’m writing this to lavish praise on The Edge Chronicles, a series of books written by Paul Stewart with illustrations from Chris Riddell. For those who don’t know, The Edge Chronicles is a series of books divided into three sagas, they are as follows:

The Twig Saga
1. Beyond the Deepwoods
2. Stormchaser
3. Midnight over Sanctaphrax

The Quint Saga
1. The Curse of the Gloamglozer
2. The Winter Knights
3. The Clash of the Sky Galleons

The Rook Saga
1. The Last Sky Pirate
2. Vox
3. Freeglader

There are also two standalone books in the series: The Immortals and The Lost Barkscrolls. However, I’ve yet to have read them. The series as a whole takes place on a large floating continent high among the clouds known as The Edge. In the world of The Edge, there exists many fantastic creatures, such as the Hammelhorn, a large buffalo-esque beast, and the Prowlgrin, large sphere-shaped beasts whom the Knight’s Academic use as steeds. In The Edge, there’s Sanctaphrax, a large, floating rock which houses a marvelous city comprised of scholars who spend their years studying the skies above. There are the Mistsifters, Raintasters, Cloud Watchers, and much, much more. Underneath this floating city, there’s a large town known as Undertown. To put it simply, it’s the “Jersey” of the Edge. Beyond Undertown, there’s The Mire, a vast expanse of muddy landscape that functions very similarly to our deserts here on Earth. Beyond that, there’s the Twilight Woods, a forest which slowly eats away at your sanity the more you stay, and to make it even worse, you are immortal as long as you’re in the woods, meaning you’ll literally spend all of eternity as a raving, delusional lunatic who suffers from severe hallucinations. There’s the Edgelands, a barren, lifeless wasteland where the Gloamglozer makes his home. The Gloamglozer being an evil monstrosity who lures people to their deaths and feeds upon their souls afterward. And finally, there’s the Deepwoods, a massive forest that houses some of the deadliest, if not THE deadliest plants and animals known to all on The Edge.
I’ll say this, I REALLY love the world-building in The Edge Chronicles. I don’t know why, but I think The Edge itself is such a cool world. I get excited whenever I turn the page and discover some fantastic creature or landmark. But, if there’s one thing I like the most about the books, it’s the gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations by Chris Riddell. Seriously, I love to gawk at some the drawings scattered throughout the books. My favorite illustrations are in Clash of the Sky Galleons and in Freeglader. In the former, there’s a two-page illustration of a great Sky Ship, and in the latter, there’s a drawing of a war council between goblin chiefs who plan to wage war on the Free Glades, which exists just beyond the Deepwoods itself. The characters I find to be very likable, my favorite being Rook Barkwater, the main character of the three books of the Rook Saga. As you might have guessed, each of the three sagas are named after the hero of those three books. They are:

Twig- A Fourthling (The Edge equivalent of a human) who was adopted by a clan of Wood Trolls, and after a run-in with a Sky Pirate, he must survive the horrors of the Deepwoods, and learns that in the Deepwoods, it’s eat or be eaten.

Quintinius Verginix- The Son of a Sky Pirate who’s left to stay in Sanctaphrax by his father, and now must learn how to be a scholar amongst scholars.

Rook Barkwater- A humble librarian who lives in the sewers beneath Undertown, and must learn how to become a Librarian Knight.

Obviously, there are many more characters, but I really don’t wish to give away too much to those who are interested in the series. I hope you understand, and I highly recommend them. Cool world, interesting characters, lots of suspense, exciting battles, and gorgeous illustrations await to those who are interested in picking up the series.