Cover ?| ?Archive ?| ?Crime ?| ?Fantasy/SF ?| ?Popular ?| ?Historical ?| ?Comics ?| ?Non-Fiction ?| ?Children's ?| ?
Table of Contents ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The Edge Chronicles
?
Reviews
?
Feature Articles
Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree
Harcourt Children's Books - Special Supplement
Elizabeth Chayne's Reading Room
?
Stories and Serials
Phyllis Owen: A Soft White Cloud Chapter Three
Paul Norman: Heraklion ~ Outcast
?
Dark Tower Comics Covers Gallery
?
?
?
?
?
?
The Edge Chronicles
The Edge Chronicles is a fantasy novel series written by Paul Stewart and illustrated by Chris Riddell. Originally published in the United Kingdom, the series has since been published in the United States as well.
Setting
The series is set on the Edge, which appears to be either a huge cliff jutting out of the clouds, or an island floating in the sky.
The Edge is made up of many different environments, the first of which is the Edgelands, the very northern and southern edges of the cliff. It is a barren rocky place forever clouded in mist. There, people may stumble into the Twilight Woods, fall over the edge of the Edge itself, or find the gloamglozer, the most feared of the demons in the Edge. It borders the Mire to the east, the Twilight Woods to the north and south, and the Deepwoods to the west.
The second is the Deepwoods, the forest which many woodland creatures, both peaceful and deadly, call home - including the hero of the first three books of the Chronicles. It is the largest area of the Edge; a seemingly endless panorama of teeming life in so many diverse forms. In the "Second Age of Flight" (Rook's time), there are a few settlements apart from the normal villages and tribes. There is the Foundry Glade, the Eastern Roost, the Goblin Nations and the Free Glades. The Free Glades consist of The Ironwood Glade, which is next to the South Lake and the Great Lake. Near the edge of the Great Lake there is the Lake Landing, which is near the Waif Glen where the Reckoning takes place and where only the invited can get in. Next to the great lake there is the Woodtroll Timberyards, and in the North Lake there is Lullabee Island. At the very edge of the Free Glades, there is a cliff, which is full of caves where cloddertrogs reside. And most important of all, there is New Undertown. New Undertown, as well as many of the villages, are only seen in the last three books.At the western end of the Deepwoods, after the Nightwoods, or Waif Country, is a giant cliff which leads to the bottom Riverrise. Behind the waterfall that is there, there is a staircase, which leads above the clouds, to the top of Riverrise. In the middle there is a pool, which the waterfall at the bottom flows from. Around it, there are hundreds of trees and flowers, making it seem like a huge garden. Another site in the Deepwoods is the Great Shryke Slave Market. There creatures of any kind can come to buy or sell creatures they had captured and sell them as slaves. The whole market is owned and operated by the shrykes, a bird-like race of creatures who live on the Edge.
Third comes the Twilight Woods, a place of decay and immortality which gives off a strange force that makes anyone who enters forget themselves and be lost forever in daydreams and nightmares. It is a place that robs intruders of their senses and faculties, but never grants the peace of death. Great Storms are attracted to the place to release great bolts of lightning that hit the earth in solid form, as the revered substance "stormphrax", and despite the risks many venture there in search of the powerful crystals. Because perpertual twilight exists there, the Stormphrax is slowly ground down into a powder, called phraxdust. This powder can purify any liquid, making it safe for drinking.
Next is the Mire, a bubbling brownish-white land coated by ooze that resulted from the dumping into it of waste and sludge by nearby Undertown. It is a place of hidden blow holes and sinking quick-mud, and seems perfectly uninhabitable - except for the creeping monsters that hide in the waste. In the Rook trilogy, there exists a great road over the Mire, controlled by birdlike shrykes. At the very edgen in the north, cliff-marble was once mined for the buildngs of Sanctaphrax.
Undertown is to the east of the Mire. It is the capital of the Edge. Holding a diverse population, the city is still less than prosperous in many areas, and shanties are pressed tight to its outskirts. Undertown is built on the banks of the large Edgewater River, which splits the city in two. This is the centre of commerce on the Edge, a place of merchants and pirates - each trying to undercut the other. It was destroyed in the book [[Vox]]by a dark maelstorm created by the titular character Vox Verlix.
When pieces of New Sanctaphrax fell between the Twig and Rook trilogies, the most uptown district of Undertown was destroyed, creating Screetown. It is as uninhabitable as the Mire; only rubble ghouls, which suck the moisture out of everything they encounter, leaving it completely dry, can dwell here, as well as the mysterious Ghosts of Screetown.
An enormous buoyant rock is the site of the scholarly city of Sanctaphrax, which teaches students a variety of subjects - mainly concerning the weather and how to predict it. There are Colleges of Raintasters, Cloudwatchers, Mistsifters, and so on. Other scholars also come here to pore over the many texts here for study. Very little use is made of the knowledge acquired in Scantaphrax; it is largely the home of pedants, each of whom attempts to outdo or destroy his fellows. Sanctaphrax is attached to Undertown by a huge metal chain to prevent its floating away. In Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, the chain holding down Sanctaphrax is cut, and the city floats away. It is replaced by New Sanctaphrax, a second giant rock, which in later books has given in to stone sickness, causing it to sink and almost rot away. It is now supported by a forest of support beams, maintained by thousands of slaves.
The final part of the Edge is the Stone Gardens, at the very eastern area of the Edge. The Gardens are where buoyant rocks slowly "grow" from the surface, and eventually float away into the sky. The Garden is guarded by the white ravens, which keep an eye on the cultivation of the strange stones. These stones are used to build great flying boats known as sky-ships; without the stones, transport on the Edge would be a very limited affair. Later in the series, the Stone Gardens are infected with "stone-sickness" - a degenerative disease that brought to an end the "First Age of Flight", (some believed that it occurred because Cloud Wolf had some how infected the Mother Storm) which in turn brought about many other changes to the Edge.
After the Stone Gardens the Edge cliff finally ends and the Edgewater River endlessly tumbles over into the yawning void of Open Sky below.
List of Main Characters
The Family
- Wind Jackal
- Quintinius Verginix
- Twig Verginix
- Rook Barkwater
- Tem Barkwater
- Maris Pallitax
- Linius Pallitax
Sky Pirate Crews
Galerider
The Galerider is an old sky pirate ship- at least sixty years old in Clash of the Sky Galleons. By the time she is lost to Open Sky, she has seen at least four Captains- Hurricane Razorflit, Rain Quarm, Wind Jackal and finally Cloud Wolf.
- Ramrock (Stone Pilot))
- Garum Gall
- The Stone Pilot(Maugin)
- Tem Barkwater
- Quintinius Verginix(boy)(captain's son) (later captain)
- Wind Jackal(captain)
- Maris Pallitax
- Hubble the Banderbear
- Sagbutt
- Spillins
- Filbus Queep
- Thaw Daggerslash
- Steg Jambles
- Ratbit
- Duggin
Stormchaser
The Stormchaser was originally built for Quint when he became a Knight Academic and was assigned to chase the next Great Storm. However, thanks to Vilnix Pompolnius's policy of banning stormchasing, she was unable to fulfill her true purpose for twenty years. During this time she was captained by Quint, now Cloud Wolf. Her first Stormchasing voyage was to be her last, as the storm was more powerful than any other since the arrival of the last Mother Storm. Cloud Wolf ordered his crew to abandon ship but stayed on board, and was carried out into Open Sky, and the Mother Storm itself. There, she and her master were slowly absorbed by the storm.
- Captain: Cloud Wolf
- Stone Pilot: The Stone Pilot (Maugin)
- Quartermaster: Slyvo Spleethe
- Lookout: Spiker
- Fighter: Muggbutt (Flat Head Goblin)
- Hands: Tem Barkwater
- Hands: Stope Boltjaw (probably the Stope in The Winter Knights)
- Holds the deck together Hubble
- Ships Boy: Twig
Edgedancer
Paid for by Mother Horsefeather and built to Twig's own specifications, the Edgedancer made only one ill-fated voyage. Twig flew it over the edge and into Open Sky in search of his father. But shortly after he discovered Cloud Wolf, the Mother Storm destroyed the ship. The wreckage bombarded Undertown and the crew were scattered across the edgeworld. Twig later became captain of the Skyraider.
- Twig(Arborinus Verginix) (captain)
- The Stone Pilot(Maugin)
- Tarp Hammelherd
- Goom the Banderbear
- Spoole
- Woodfish
- Wingnut Sleet
- Bogwitt
Other famous Sky Pirate Ships include the Maelstrom Seeker, captained by the mighty Ice Fox, the Thundercrusher, known for its uniquely powerful catapult and the Fogscythe, which boasted a huge wrecking ball.
Villains
Rutus Pentaphraxis (High Leaguesmaster) Ulbus Pentephraxis
- Vilnix Pompolnius
- Vox Verlix
- Hax Vostillix
- Gloamgloazer
- Orbix Xaxis
- Screed Toe-taker (Screedius Tollinix)
- Daxiel Xaxis
- Thaw Daggerslash
Allies
- Professors of Light and Darkness
- Xanth Filatine
- Cowlquape Pentaphraxis
- Felix Lodd
- Varis Lodd
- Magda Burlix
- Bungus Septrill
- Phin
- Raffix
Animals and plants of the Edge
One of the elements the series is known for is its interesting array of plant and animal life, described in such detail and accompanied by line drawings.
Works in the series
Here is a list of all of The Edge Chronicles so far in the chronological storyline order, with original date of publication. There will be twelve books in all.
The Quint Saga
- Cloud Wolf (January, 2001). ISBN 0-552-54749-2
- The Curse of the Gloamglozer (September, 2002). ISBN 0-552-54733-6
- The Winter Knights (September, 2005). ISBN 0-385-60720-2
- Clash of the Sky Galleons (October, 2006). ISBN 0-385-60721-0
The Twig Saga
- Beyond the Deepwoods (October 1, 1998). ISBN 0-385-40967-2
- Stormchaser (November, 1999). ISBN 0-385-60004-6
- Midnight Over Sanctaphrax (September 3, 2001). ISBN 0-552-54675-5
- The Stone Pilot (March 2, 2006). ISBN 0-552-55439-1
The Rook Saga
- The Last of the Sky Pirates (September 1, 2002). ISBN 0-385-60200-6
- Vox (September, 2003). ISBN 0-385-60461-0
- Freeglader (September 2, 2004). ISBN 0-385-60462-9
References
- The Edge Chronicles Maps (September 2, 2004). ISBN 0-552-55125-2
(There is some debate over where The Stone Pilot is placed in the chronology, as although the story is set in a certain time period, the narration of the story is told from the persective of a later time period in the canon.)
The last book, The Wrath of the Gloamglozer, will reunite all 3 main characters according to the authors. What they mean is obscure, as the 3 protagonists live in different ages.
There will also be a collection of four short stories tentatively named by the authors as "The Lost Barkscrolls." This will include both the previously published World Book Day stories "Cloud Wolf" and "The Stone Pilot" along with one story about Keris, Twig's daughter and Rook's mother, along with one other that will lead into book No.10
Gateway is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Hosting is by Flying Porcupine at www.flyingporcupine.com - and web design by Gateway. Submitting to Gateway: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Gateway, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Gateway please contact me at Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: