 The Edge Chronicles:
Beyond the Deepwoods
(David Fickling Books)
by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
Reading Level: ages 9-12
In short order, Random House has published three attractively bound,
affordably-priced volumes of a new series called "The Edge Chronicles." By
"new" I mean new to the US. "The Edge Chronicles" is a popular British
import, with five titles already published. Beyond
the Deepwoods,
reviewed here, is followed by Stormchaser and Midnight
Over Sanctaphrax.
Twig is a runt of a woodtroll who just can't fit in. He's a slow developer,
he doesn't like the food, and he's always straying from the path. A
familiar setup for a kids story, right? Well, sort of. With Twig, there's
a difference. Turns out he's not a woodtroll at all, but a human child
who was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a woodtroll family. One
can assume that the story arc of the series will be Twig's coming of
age and finding his true identity.
In the introduction, the authors build a detailed world in which the
stories take place. It is essentially a world where anything
can exist, from sky pirates to an evil creature called the Gloamglozer.
This is a world full of promising possibilities. It is also a convenient
world for fantasy writers who want to pull whatever they need out of
the woods whenever they need it. How the writers manage this world
makes the difference between a good read and a great read.
If this first volume is representative of the series, these books
will appeal to those readers who want action to fill every page from
top-to-bottom and margin-to-margin. When Twig is in danger, his woodtroll
mother tells him the truth about his past and sends him on a path through
the forest to the safety of cousin's village. What ensues is a series
of adventures that befall the hapless Twig as he strays from the path
and becomes lost in the dangerous Deepwoods. And I do mean a SERIES
of adventures. Each chapter is its own story, populated with throwaway
characters and creatures, and a close-call-of-the-day. While each new
encounter is imaginative in its creatures and locals, there is just
no development of character and the through-story elements seem to
be absent for very long stretches of time.
As I mentioned earlier, how the writers manage their world makes the
difference between a good read and a great read. This writing team is
full of good ideas, but they are not selective. For instance, they introduce
and dispose of a lovable character, the banderbear, in short order. They
create three interesting Deepwoods societies in any of which Twig could
spend a book's-worth of time. If they would have developed two or three
of Twig's encounters to their fullest, this book could have been a Gulliver's
Travels rather than just an action adventure.
— KB SHAW, Publisher, Spectrum - Member SCBWI
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