Beyond the Deepwoods: 1 (Edge Chronicles) - Softcover

Stewart, Paul; Riddell, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440420873 ISBN 13: 9780440420873

Publisher: Bluefire, 2008

Synopsis

Young Twig lives in the Deepwoods, among the Woodtrolls, but he isn't one of them. In a brave attempt to find out where he belongs, Twig wanders into the mysterious, dangerous world beyond the Deepwoods. He meets a collection of odd companions, such as his wise guardian, the Caterbird; the Slaughterers, a peaceful race who butcher animals for their livelihood; and the vicious, bile-swilling Rotsucker. Always watching out for the horrible Gloamglozer, whose presence haunts the thoughts of all the inhabitants of The Edge, Twig steadfastly pursues his quest until he discovers his roots, not among the trees, but in the skies. . . .

About this title

Review:

Here is a tale of fantastic lands at the edge of the world, where certain rocks float in the air and the feared Deepwoods are crowded with extraordinary trees and creatures. Paul Stewart tells the story with considerable input from Chris Riddell's copious and wonderfully detailed line drawings of fabulous creatures, often reminiscent of Tenniel's or Mervyn Peake's grotesques. Overall the narrative has a familiar shape, as the young lad Twig who's been raised by woodtrolls learns that his destiny lies elsewhere, and blunders off through the Deepwoods to find teeming horrors, unexpected friends, comic menaces, enslavement as a pet, his true parentage, and the nature of his feared nemesis the Gloamglozer. It's all told with joyously inventive relish, and the cavalcade of life never slows: sky pirates, smelly halitoads, hover worms, slaughterers, hammelhorns, caterbirds, skullpelts, bloodoaks, gyle goblins and their Grossmother, spindlebugs, milchgrubs, banderbears, wig-wigs resembling carnivorous tribbles, the very disgusting rotsucker, and more--each illustrated in loving detail. Though generally reviewed as a novel for children (like Stewart's previous books), Beyond the Deepwoods is more grown-up than many a routine "adult" fantasy series, and has the kind of compulsive readability that makes Harry Potter a treat for older readers too. Twig's saga, "The Edge Chronicles", continues in Stormchaser. -- David Langford

Review:

PRAISE FOR THE EDGE CHRONICLES:

"Sure to please the Potter fans."
-Detroit Free Press

"The narrative will cast a spell over readers from the beginning with its utterly odd, off-kilter sense of logic and a vocabulary that is equal parts Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll."
-Publishers Weekly

"Good fun." -Kirkus Reviews

"Stunningly original."--The Guardian (UK)

"A richly inventive fantasy . . . one of the most exciting collaborations between a writer and illustrator for a long time."--The Literary Review (UK)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bluefire
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0440420873
• ISBN 13: 9780440420873
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288