I return to you, my lovely readers, with a lesser known story that’s just too good to ignore.
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Rideell
This story combines all the elements of a fantasy world, from sky-pirates and terrible monsters, to quaint villages nestled in the Deepwoods. All of this is combined with several familiar characteristics of history as it progresses through the Ages of Flight. Watch the world of the Edge evolve and grow over the course of ten books with Twig, Quint, Rook, and Nate, whose stories are deeply intertwined. Learn who’s who and the relevance a creature born hundreds of years ago has in Quint’s lifetime, and how Nate must deal with it in his.
I love this series and I have ever since I picked it up in middle school. There’s never a dull moment and the text is perfectly mirrored in the wonderful ink illustrations that dot every other page, providing a glimpse into the four boys’ lives. Stew and Riddell take their readers on a breathtaking journey into the world they have written, providing just enough information so people know what is going on but aren’t overwhelmed by it to the point where they lose sight of the story.
In each tale, Twig, Quint, Rook, or Nate, brings to life an amazing character that many can relate to: a boy trying to find his home, a boy trying to protect, a boy trying to change his life, and finally a boy who wants to protect his home. This combination of universal ideas with a fantasy-fiction flare snatches up readers and doesn’t let them go until they finish.
This series is one of the longer ones, with ten books in all of various lengths, out of order to allow the reader to piece together how the characters are connected. It takes time to get through all the books with busy schedules, but it’s well worth it to drop off the Edge and see what’s in store.