by Paul Stewart, Illustrations by Chris Riddell
David Fickling Books, June, 2004.
Hardcover, 400 pages.
ISBN: 0385750706
Ages Young Adult
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When we last saw Twig in
Beyond the Deepwoods, he had
just found out that his father is the sky pirate named
Cloud Wolf and they are joyfully reunited. Twig is
trying to learn the ways of being a sky pirate by
serving aboard his father's skyship called the Stormchaser.
But trouble is never far away from the irrespressible Twig,
and in Undertown danger and intrigue are always close
companions. Twig learns that his father wasn't always an
outlaw. Once he was known as Qunitinius Verginix,
"the finest Knight Academic in a hundred generations."
The Professors of Light and Darkness, who live on the floating city of
Santaphrax, held Qunitinius in high regard. But a betrayal led to
Qunitinius' leaving the sacred city to become a pirate. Now, the
corruption in Santaphrax has placed that city and
Undertown in grave peril. Cloud Wolf must undertake a dangerous
mission to find the valuable Stormphrax which keeps the city
from floating away and purifies the water of Undertown. But
intrigue and treachery are afoot and the mission is in grave peril.
Twig has grown up a bit from the first book in the series, but
his judgment still leaves much to be desired. The addition of the
sky pirates and the floating city of Santaphrax add another layer
of complexity and interest to this very entertaining story. It appears that this
will be a multi-volume series, and that Twig will feature in at least
one more tale. And that's good news for readers.
Stormchaser (The Edge Chronicles: Book 2) is available for purchase on
Amazon.com
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This review was published in the July-August, 2004 of The Internet Writing Journal.
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