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Publisher:
Doubleday (Random House) |
Release
Date: September 2002 |
ISBN:
0385602006 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
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it at Amazon US
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Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Fantasy / Juvenile |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewer
Notes: |
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The
Last of the Sky Pirates
The Edge Chronicles
By Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
Apart
from Harry Potter, I do not normally read juvenile fiction. However,
following being given the first Edge Chronicles novel to read, I
have ensured that I have read and reviewed every single subsequent
book, and look forward to their appearance. Set about thirty years
after the last book, stone sickness has put an end not only to the
floating city of Sanctaphrax, but also to sky travel and the days
of the sky pirates and league ships are long gone. Now what remains
of the great library lies in the sewers beneath Undertown and young
Rook Barkwater dreams of traveling to the Deepwoods to study banderbears.
But he is too lowly to be chosen as a librarian knight - or is he?
When the unthinkable happens, he sets forth on an amazing adventure
that will bring him face to face with many terrors and wonders,
as well as a chance at putting right some wrongs and meeting more
than one living legend.
Stewart and Riddell do it again! Once
more I marvel at a story for children that has plenty to recommend
it to adults as well and wonder why they aren't making films of
these books instead of just Harry Potter. Girls play more of a part
in this story, but with all the horrible monsters and hairy goings
on (and I don't just mean the wig-wigs) any boy can be caught reading
this without fear of being labeled a sissy! Although you really
need to have read the earlier four novels (plenty of tie-ins with
former tales), each novel is a separate story in itself, and each
story has plenty to recommend it and set it apart from the others.
Profusely illustrated by Chris Riddell, as always with a picture
on nearly every page, this is a rare gem of modern juvenile literature;
a thrilling and robust series that ought to appeal to a very large
range of people. When is the next one coming out?
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