Cloud Wolf

CLOUD WOLF by Paul Steward & Chris Riddell
The Edge Chronicles
Doubleday (Transworld)- 2001
ISBN 0552547492 - Paperback

Reviewed by Rachel Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy a UK Copy

Quint is the young untried son of fearsome skypirate captain Wind Jackal. He is anxious to prove himself in battle and is thrilled when the chance arises to raid the greatest leagueship of all – the vast Great Sky Whale. His father doesn’t want him to endanger himself but nothing will do for Quint but find a way of boarding the ship. Somehow things aren’t going to go how Wind Jackal planned!

I am not normally a reader of children’s fiction – Harry Potter aside – but I just can’t put these books down. Published for World Book Day and priced at just £1 it is a reasonably priced introduction to the Edge Chronicles. I would say that it will appeal more to existing fans of the trilogy (it is set about thirty years earlier and is the start of a new series) than be sure to hook more fans who don’t already know something about the world in which it is set. However if (like me) you are getting withdrawal symptoms after having read the last Edge novel and have read all four Harry Potter novels why not give it a go? After all if you don’t read it when the second and full-sized part comes out in the autumn (Curse of the Gloamglozer) you won’t know who Quint is or what it is all about!

This series is a rare gem of modern juvenile literature in that it manages to entertain from beginning to end without being twee or preachy and is both thrilling and robust enough to appeal to children (and adults) of many ages and both sexes.

The other books in the series are Beyond the Deepwoods, Stormchaser and Midnight Over Sanctaphrax. Miss them at your peril!