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Title: Edge Chronicles 1: Beyond the Deepwoods (Edge Chronicles, The)
ISBN: 0440420873
Author:
Paul Stewart
Chris Riddell
Publicate Date: 2008-05-13
Publish: 2008-05-13
List Price: $6.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.24
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.08
Amazon Merchant Price: $6.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Great for kids
I bought this book to read to my 5 year old son. He loved the book, and promptly asked me to order the next in the series.
The wonderful pen and ink illustrations, strange beasts, humor, and action make for a great read aloud experience.
The series is perfect for any child who loves imaginative stories and strange places.
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2: A fun, fast moving adventure story
This is a fun read with great detailed illustrations. The story of Twig and his adventures as he leaves his adopted Wood Troll family and travels through the Deepwoods is jam packed with unusual creatures and characters. There is some angst as Twig feels deserted by everyone, but do not expect much meditation here. There is just too many predicaments to get out of.
I have read more of the series and it just gets better and better.
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3: It's Bound to be Good!
There's something about the binding of certain books that leads one to judge a book by its cover. Something tactile in the unequally sized pages that - instead of shouting "sloppy, shoddy workmanship!" as one would if odds and ends of scrap material lined every ridge of a brand new automobile, one tends to rifle through the slightly mismatched pages for the sheer enjoyment of that feeling. Something of mystery, enigma, and power in the ragged edges of the page - as if one was uncovering a secret tome with deep wisdoms hidden within, and certainly not browsing through a commercial publication at a well-stocked bookshop.
Before a word has been read, you're already wandering into a fantasy land.
I could not imagine reading Lemony Snicket without just such a binding - the words would be the same and would still have their considerable charm, but the work would still seem diminished in a paperback format.
I actually think Beyond the Deepwoods would stand up to that challenge marginally better - but that's not a decision I would like to have to make.
I was absorbed in this work from the moment I first picked it up, caught and bound by the binding as it were, and no less ensnared by Chris Riddell's artwork. As everyone knows, it is not wise to judge a book by its cover, and so I skimmed through the book itself (the uneven pages demanded this, of course.) Line drawings abound, and really help bring you into the Edgelands. Certainly, when reading the actual words, the spell that has been cast thus far is not broken.
It is a simple work at its core - a boy on the verge of becoming a young man, in search of his parentage - but that does not detract. It is not that key plot that I focus on, it is the trappings and wonder of the world itself that is fascinating. I could visualize the flora and the fauna, and found myself enjoying the environment through which the aforementioned boy travelled more than anything else. Perhaps that could be explained by my own interest in things natural that surround me, but I tend to think a good part of that came from the style of writing itself. Like the binding itself, and like the light comic touch to the illustrators pen, the words helped to build the world and allow me to immerse myself in it.
And that, I believe, is the point of any work of art.
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4: Not much substance
I can't speak for the entire series, only the first book. It starts great, introducing a strange new world filled with dangerous creatures and flying ships. Unfortunately, the strange new world is about all this book has to offer. The main character ("Twig") is interesting, and has a lot of potential, but doesn't develop at all over the course of the book. Twig's journey has a great beginning, but much of what happens doesn't amount to anything beyond a series of oddly patched together action sequences. Even then, it's difficult to understand how the world is connected geographically. Possibly these have a larger meaning in the scope of the series, but for this book, they seemed like a tiring substitute for an actual plot. There's no progression - Twig stumbles from one random danger into the next. The reader could literally skip all but the first and last chapter and still get the main plot of the book (which in itself is a fairly tired, somewhat hackneyd feeling cliche for this genre).
Hopefully the series gets better, but why spend time on something that appears so thrown together when there are other great series out there that have wonderful character development and plot substance?
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5: The Deepwoods have been entered
This book is very surprising, and leaves you on the edge of your seat. This story is about a boy named Twig, who learns that he was droped off in a village, and has to go through the Deepwoods before the Gloomglazer comes and kills him. There is alot of action in this story , but the main setting is in the Deepwoods. While in the deepwoods Twig strays from the path and meets strange and scary people he has never known about like the Goblins, wig wigs, and huge spiders. While he gets droped down a well, and get chased by unwelcome guests. But in between all this my favorite part is when Twig meets a Bander bear, and they become friends. That is until a very bad accident. There are alot of problems in this story but, the biggest problem is trying to make it out of the Deepwoods,by watching and making sure not to get attacked by Gloomglzers. In the end Twig gets tricked by a Gloomglazer, and also Twig gets help by an old friend. Yhe end of this book keeps you guessing. I reccomend this book to kids who like adveture.
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