On the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness : adventure, peril, lost jewels, and the fearsome toothy cows of Skree

by Andrew Peterson

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

Colorado Springs, Colo. : WaterBrook Press, 2008.

Description

Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby experience many fantastic adventures while looking for a lost treasure.

User reviews

LibraryThing member omphalos02
Extraordinary story telling and wit infuse this tale with readability. This book seems to beg to be read aloud, and is at times both clever and mature, making it truly ideal for virtually all ages.
Three children live with their mother and grandfather in a cottage on the outskirts of a town called
Show More
Glipwood in a land named Skree on the world of Aerwiar. Skree is occupied by the evil forces of the Fang of Dang, and this book (apparantly more will follow) begins the adventure of their fight and discovery of who and what they are.
To bo honest, I did have a few (very picky) issues with some small elements of the plot ( and their original sources), but really, overall - a delightful and surprising read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ericaustinlee
This was an incredibly fun novel to read. The story was compelling and quite often hilarious. Peterson's descriptions are witty and just when you think his style might turn jaded, he presents something fresh. I especially liked his emphasis and imagery used to describe hope. Even though this is his
Show More
first work of fiction, Peterson has a natural ability to make you care about his characters, even the dog Nugget. Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to the next volume in the series!
Show Less
LibraryThing member lefty33
This is a fun, easy read with strong characters. At times I felt like there were more made-up (or renamed) creatures and objects than are really necessary, even for a fantasy work, but once you are immersed in the story, it becomes easier to accept nothing having a normal name.

Since this is the
Show More
first book of a series, it is largely an introduction to very promising future books. Though occasionally predictable (perhaps I read too many fantasy/kingdom books), I enjoyed learning the histories of the characters and look forward to seeing how their pasts will play into the later stories.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smittyvol
This is the most fun I have had reading a book in ages. Peterson is primarily a singer/songwriter. Being familiar with is music first, I see it flowing through the book with his wonderful story-telling, lyrical flow, and some playful silliness. I can't wait to read it to my daughter (currently 2)
Show More
in a few years.

The other reviews share the basics. I have to comment on two aspects:
1) It has footnotes! The footnotes either explain some aspect of the culture or reference a "historical" book. I loved this part.
2) The story does not rely too much on magic or mystical, avoiding artificial short cuts.

I can't wait for the next book in this new series!
Show Less
LibraryThing member davegregg
Imaginative settings and characters, exciting plot with compelling twists, strong morals — an excellent story!I listened to the audiobook version by Oasis Audio. I found the narrator a little slow and lumbering, and there are some places that should have been re-recorded. I had a little
Show More
difficulty staying engaged in the first part of the book because of this, but I think it is no fault of the author. Once the story picked up speed, I never gave another thought to the narrator. I became so absorbed into the plot that I never wanted to pause the audio.Peterson's story kept me begging for the next page and daydreaming about what comes next. I am chomping at the bit to read the two succeeding books in The Wingfeather Saga! FIVE STARS!
Show Less
LibraryThing member besure
Andrew Peterson has done it again. Well, for the first time.

I finally got the chance to read AP’s book which came out in 2008, but that I just recently got as a birthday present. I had put it aside for pleasure reading when some other projects got done; but I gave myself the liberty of reading it
Show More
now that I’m cooped up with dengue.

I have consistently appreciated everything AP’s produced musically since his first album fell into my hands during my sophomore year of college (I pride myself in being a fan before he got popular; that is, if he’s popular). He is sort of like a friend of mine: I have a fairly good idea of what he likes, what he gets enthused about, who his friends are, and what his family’s like (well, all this through the lens of his songwriting).

Now he ventures into young adult fantasy fiction, which is really no surprise given that he’s a huge Lewis and Tolkien fan and his kids are preadolescents.

I absolutely adored this book. It’s not a genre I’m particularly inclined towards, but there’s so much to love. AP’s done a fabulous job of painting a wonderful world and characters, but at the same time putting them in absolutely fearsome situations. At times I was frustrated by the story, because it was so dark and scary (although in a very different way than a novel by Toni Morrison is dark and scary). But it’s also quite funny. I laughed out loud several times, usually at AP’s footnotes.

Pick this one up. I’m certainly eager to read books 2 and 3 of the Wingfeather Saga.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lnommay
Book talk:
(This is book one in the Wingfeather Saga.)There is no problem understanding the literary device of foreshadowing if you read On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Even the title seems to be a hint of all the bad things to come in this story of the three Igiby children and their trusty
Show More
dog Nugget. This family, and all the people who live in the land of Skree, has a pretty good life, except for the constant fear of death and torture, that is. When the eldest Igiby, Janner, is allowed to take his younger siblings to the Dragon Day Festival by himself, he takes this responsibility seriously. In a village that must worry about the Black Carriage that takes children in the night, as well as giant Fangs of Dang, this is no small feat. Just when Janner starts to worry, he thinks to himself, "Nothing ever happens in Glipwood. Here we are at the Dragon Day Festival, and I'm a nervous wreck since the minute we arrived. Over nothing at all. What could possibly happen in just a few seconds?" It's not long before the Igiby family is in one constant battle for their lives. Family secrets, hidden jewels, a secret map, and an unknown hero that keeps saving them from the Fangs of Dang, are just a few of the things adding to the suspense. Thank goodness Pete the Sockman has Water from the First Well, and that Janner, Tink, and Leeli's mother is able to create her own recipe and make a fabulous Maggotloaf for a Fang named Gnorm!
(Most of the footnotes are not necessary to the story and could probably be skipped)
Show Less
LibraryThing member klarsenmd
Loads of fun! A great whimsical adventure for all ages.
LibraryThing member dkgarner95
I love, love, LOVE this book! Which, honestly, is kind of surprising because I don't usually go for stuff aimed at the preteen crowd, but, you guys, this was absolutely BRILLIANT!

The world Peterson created is PHE-NOM-I-NAL! And all of his characters --- The Igibys and Podo the (retired) pirate and
Show More
Peet the Sock Man (PEET!) and Nugget --- are so loveable my heart nearly burst with all the warm fuzzies. Well, except for those blasted Fangs of Dang, because evilness.

I can't remember the last time I smiled so much while reading a book! On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is silly and fun, and is full of adventure and fabulous messages --- I highly recommend it to readers of ALL ages :)
Show Less
LibraryThing member krau0098
I was really excited to read this book. It looked like it was going to be a fun and unique adventure fantasy read. It started out that way; I really liked the beginning of the story but then it lost me along the way. It became boring and predictable.

The first part of this book was very fun and
Show More
looked like it was going to be a very tongue in cheek sort of fantasy adventure. However, it started to loose me midway through when the kids never left their hometown. There was pretty much no adventure in a book that looked like it was building to something fantastic.

Initially the books looks like it’s going to be about Janner going on a great adventure...it’s not. It ends up being more about Janner’s grandfather holding a grudge and learning to forgive and about the Jewels of Anniera.

Additionally the book was so completely predictable that I just couldn’t believe it. I figured out right away the mystery behind the Jewels of Anniera and was incredibly disappointed to be right. The “twist” at the end is just something that has been used as a plot device in soooo many middle grade novels. It felt absolutely tired and I was incredibly disappointed.

I went into this book with big hopes and they were dashed part way through. The book looked so unique and ended up being boring and predictable.

Peterson puts footnotes throughout to expand on the world he’s created. That’s a creative way to expand on the world but has been done many times before (Philip Reeve does it in some of his books and I know there are many others). I am personally not a fan of this either. I think it distracts from the story too much; your attention is constantly jerked away from the story by some boring and miscellaneous footnote.

Overall this was an okay book. I enjoyed the beginning but though the second half was predictable and boring. I think it might have more appeal to middle grade readers who haven’t read as many of these types of books as I have. Part of my issue was that I expected great things going into this book and it just didn’t deliver. I won’t be continuing with the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sylliu
A rollicking, fun fantasy of the three Igiby siblings, Janner, Tink, and Leeli, who get caught up in an ancient quest for treasure, battles against evil creatures, and family secrets. The story is told with wit and humor and plenty of word play, action, made up names, and even footnotes. It may be
Show More
hard for some readers to follow the densely woven fantasy world (typical sentence: "Farther south, the Plains of Palen Jabh-J were as safe as they were beautiful, except for the rat badgers that slithered thought the tall grass (a farmer from South Torrboro claimed to have seen one as big as a young meep, which is about the size of full-grown chimney, an animal that stands about as high as a flabby)") but once they figure it out, they'll enjoy the wild ride.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. First, I love the cover! Wow, when I saw that I just had to read this!
The book didn't let me down either. I tried to think of what the book reminded me of but it really is in
Show More
a class by itself. It had a bit of Terry Pratchett, Lord of the Rings, touch of Narnia, and just a bare sprinkle of the Wizard of Oz.
I thought it was going to be just a kid's book but boy was I wrong. This would be great to read to kids but teens, young adults,and adults will find this charming. There is action, great characters, crazy creatures, a great adventure, humor, and a dose of morals.
I almost bought the audible book for the grandkids so they can listen when they want, I still might. This is a series the kids will truly enjoy!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Constant2m
Three siblings live with their mom and grandfather in a small town where everyone knows everyone. The town, and actually the entire region, is being oppressed by evil, despicable creatures who occasionally throw children into the black carriage where they are taken off, never to be heard of again.
Show More
Ugh.

This is one of those books that I kept hearing about and it sounded interesting, so I gave it a try. Generally, this is exactly my genre, but I struggled to finish this one. There were a lot of make-believe/unknown types of characters and descriptions that make it difficult to get through and while the kids were the main characters, it didn't feel like a kids book to me. Maybe it would be better read aloud or as a movie. There is a fun twist at the end and a reminder to not judge others based on their appearances.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley and have reviewed it willingly.
Show Less
LibraryThing member oceancat
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is about three siblings living outside of a small town that is, you guessed it, on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. The town, and indeed the whole country, are ruled over by ruthless lizard people, the Fangs of Dang, who came from across the sea nine
Show More
years ago. The story begins when Janner and his siblings get on the wrong side of a Fang. I expected things to take off from there but they really didn’t. In fact every couple chapters something would happen and I would expect the plot to finally get going but... it didn’t. The whole thing could have been shortened to a couple chapters and stuck at the beginning of the second book and nothing would have been lost, because nothing really happens for the majority of this story. Minor skirmishes, small adventures, all leading up to- what? We don’t get to find out until the last few chapters. I feel like I’m seriously missing something because most of the reviews are amazing but I would probably have to read the rest of the books to find out and I’m not going to do that. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MollyGroff
I really liked this book! At first I was like...is this ok? What is this book? It's a very fun adventure with funny (though very dangerous) animals!

Language

Original publication date

2008

Physical description

284 p.; 23 cm

ISBN

1400073847 / 9781400073849

Barcode

498

Pages

284
Page: 0.5785 seconds