STORMCHASER (EDGE CHRONICLES / BOOK 2).

STEWART, Paul And Chris Riddell.

ISBN 10: 0385600046 / ISBN 13: 9780385600040

Published by Doubleday,, London,, 1999

About this Item

Hardback. Dust Jacket. 8vo. First edition. First impression. Illustrated throughout by Chris Riddell. ISBN: 0-385-60004-6 Pages: 394 Fine in fine dust wrapper. Seller Inventory # A89591

Bibliographic Details

Title: STORMCHASER (EDGE CHRONICLES / BOOK 2).

Publisher: Doubleday,, London,

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hardback

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Since his childhood in the DeepWoods, young Twig has always longed to soar above the forest canopy and explore the sky. Now a crew member on his father's sky pirate ship, the "Stormchaser," his dream seems fulfilled. But a much higher destiny awaits Twig. The lofty city of Sanctaphrax--built on a giant rock, floating high in the sky--is at the point of disaster. The city's future is dependent on stormphrax--a valuable substance available only from the heart of a Great Storm. And only the "Stormchaser," with Twig onboard, could risk entering a storm. . . .

Review:

This second book of The Edge Chronicles tells a new, self-contained story independent of, although rooted in, the exuberant fantasy bestiary and travelogue of Beyond the Deepwoods.

Young hero Twig is now reunited with his sky-pirate father as the lowliest crew-member of the flying sailship Stormchaser. In the fanciful physics operating at the edge of the world some stones can defy gravity, like the flight-rock that lifts Stormchaser. Thus the academic community of Sanctaphrax is built on a floating mountain chained to the ground of Undertown below.

Thanks to a tortuous history of corruption in high places the demand for chain-manufacture is forever increasing, leading to massive industrial pollution--because Sanctaphrax's precious, magically superheavy "stormphrax" ballast is gradually being stolen for alchemical use, and Stormchaser undertakes the dangerous mission to find new supplies at the deadly core of a Great Storm. But nothing, absolutely nothing, works out as expected in this madly twisting plot.

Twig's companions are beset by spies, traitors, memorable villains and the living dead and there are perhaps more deaths than might be expected in a "children's" novel, but Stewart's compulsive storytelling, perfectly complemented by Riddell's fine-lined illustrations, makes it all goodstuff. --David Langford