A Review - On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
This entry was posted on Monday, November 12. 2007 and is filed under Posts by Rebecca Luella Miller,Fantasy,Reviews.
WaterBrook Press is unveiling yet another new fantasy author. This one may be familiar to some of you because he is also prominent in the music industry. I'm referring to Andrew Peterson, and his first novel, due to release in January 2008, is On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Book 1 of the Wingfeather Saga.
Overview. Undoubtedly this series will be classified as juvenile or perhaps as young adult fiction. That's unfortunate. Too often a story featuring a young person gets pigeon-holed, and as a result, some readers who would love it never find it. There is always the possibility that WaterBrook will handle Peterson's books as they did Donita Paul's DragonKeeper Chronicles, marketing them for All Ages.
In my opinion, much like C. S. Lewis's Narnia series, that term is more descriptive of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness than either of the other tags.
Yes, the protagonist is a young man—twelve years old, I believe. Yes, it has a very fun, light tone to begin with. But the world Peterson develops is dense, and often the tongue-in-cheek humor is for an adult reader.
The Story. (Here's the hard part of the review for me). On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness takes place in the Glipwood Township of the land of Skree, overrun by the foreign Fangs of Drang in The Great War ten years ago. The protagonist, Janner Igiby and his brother Tink and their sister Leeli live in fear, as do the other children of Glipwood, of the Black Carriage which might appear at night and whisk them away, never to be seen by their family again.
Janner's widowed mother and brave grandfather impress upon him his role as the eldest to keep watch on his siblings. He finds the job confining but takes the role to heart. Throughout the story, he trails first Leeli, then Tink into danger. In the end, as the Fangs of Drang target his family for special persecution, he learns just how important this role is.
That's more than I say in most reviews about the plot, and yet it is just the tip of the iceberg.
Strengths. Peterson's writing is delightful, from some beautiful descriptions to the humor and light tone of the earlier chapters, even as he built the world of darkness. His characters are interesting, and Leeli, at least, is especially engaging. A little crippled girl with gumption and no desire to be pitied or babied. She loved her little dog Nugget and would do whatever it took to protect him. The book is obviously the introduction to the series, and it gives a great feel for the good versus evil struggle and what's at stake.
Weaknesses. I had some issues with the plot—some things I wish had been and others I thought were not developed well or were somewhat implausible. I can't elaborate without doing spoilers, and I'm not willing to do that. Besides, what bothered me might not even be a blip on someone else's radar.
Recommendation. This is a fresh, imaginative work by a talented writer. I will certainly look for the following books in the series. I recommend the book to all fantasy lovers, especially those looking for works written from a Christian worldview.