Glipwood, a pleasant little town where three children are growing up. They live on a small farm and have daily chores around the farm like baling hay and cleaning out the hogpig pen. They are home-schooled but occasionally get to go into town to help the owner of the bookstore. Their town has been taken over by the Fangs of Dang, cruel gator-like creatures that ruled for Gnag the Nameless.
The children are in town and Leeli and Nugett (her dog get into trouble when a Fang named Slarb tries to hurt Nugget and Nugget tries to bite him and Leeli hits Slarb with her crutch. The Fangs gather the children up and throw them in the jail. Non- stop adventure ensues from here with secrets and treasures and dangers galore. This is a rollicking fun read. Often humorous and very often edge of your seat exciting. There are so many characters and backstories that the author has added footnotes to explain some things. In the e-book version I read these were randomly placed and often did more to interrupt the story but in a hardback version I'm sure they are at the bottom of the page. The ebook version also loses most of the adorable illustrations or cuts them in half which is disappointing.

As part of the launch team, Waterbrook Multnomah and Penguin Random House sent me this complimentary paperback to review and I’d say: a great fantasy-adventure series for a family read aloud or for kids ages 10ish and up to read on their own. The story’s enemies, known as the Fangs, could be a tad scary for younger kids who may be more sensitive to harsh scenes and fighting sequences. I have a 5yo who would probably not like these monsters. 😬 Though, the bravery of the siblings in the story would encourage any young (or slightly older 🙋🏻‍♀️) reader. I really enjoyed this first book (giving it 4.5 stars), would say my favorite place in the book is the local bookstore, Books and Crannies, and can't wait to read the rest!

Middle grade fantasy is not my usual genre of choice, but I still found myself enjoying this adventure story of three siblings in the town of Glipwood. There is much to delight readers in the way of plot, but the values of sacrificial love, bravery, and strength are also woven throughout the tale. With the allegorical style of Narnia, the tenacity of the Vanderbeekers, and the silliness of Rhold Dahl, this is a must read for fans of adventure and imagination.

Last night, on time-change evening, I had a heavy heart and hamster-wheel thoughts. With an advance copy of <i>On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness</i> freshly loaded on my e-reader.

I’ll be honest: I was most interested in sharing this series with my nine-year-old nephew. Happy that the new illustrations were likely to pull him into the books I’d enjoyed for the first time in their original form, now four years ago.

But good fiction is good medicine, I say, and soon I was sucked into the story, chuckling and laughing out loud at the toothy cows and other silly, slapstick creatures inhabiting Aeriwar – as well as the three very true-to-life children – fears and longings, squabbles, insatiable stomachs and all –who inhabit the pages of this book.

Some of my very favorite books are middle-grade fiction, and this one is joyously whimsical with a dash of teary-eyed. It’s silly and serious and suspenseful, and best of all, while it acknowledges sorrow as real, there are moments of wonder as well. Best scene of all for me last night: standing on a mind-bogglingly tall cliff at the very edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, hearing music from such an unexpected source. And remembering (balm to my sore heart) that God sings over me.

In a podcast, Andrew Peterson described how whenever he got stuck in the writing process, he’d read the latest chapters to his own three children – and it shows. This isn’t a story written for how someone imagines children to be; it’s written for real people – some of whom happen to be kids.

Andrew also said he’d ask himself what his 12-year-old self would want in a book: and it’s there: sometimes slightly gross humor, sometimes silly, sometimes epic, and sometimes downright scary. This series might not be the best choice for more sensitive kids – but it’s just right for kids who want to become a little more brave.

Janner, Tink and Leeli wrestle with child-size sorrows: Leeli’s lameness and the loss of their father, whom they don’t remember. They also move towards adult understanding of their own foibles, the nature of trust and bravery, and how to respond to the occupation under which they live.

But this is not a navel-gazing book: it’s crammed with near-escapes and rash escapades, and there are plenty of questions to answer. How can Tink keep up with his ever-growling stomach? Why are siblings so annoying? What is the mysterious manor they’ve been warned against visiting? Why won’t their mother and grandfather talk about their father? Can they really be trusted? Who is Peet the Sock Man, really? And most of all – what are the Jewels of Anniera?

Like few authors I know, Andrew Peterson “gets” the paradox of living with joy and sorrow all jumbled together. He expresses the homesickness we have for something beautiful, mysterious, and yet familiar. And even – perhaps especially – in a book for children, he communicates a sense of hope.

Good fiction really is good medicine.

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Andrew Peterson wove a beautiful cloth throughout this book. Reading "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness" will bring a mixture of emotions, from laughter at the librarian's hysterical book quotes, to deep sadness for the characters losses. We all long for a good story; with conflict, and triumph, with brokenness and healing, with laughter and tears.
Whether you are a kid, or an adult, "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness" will give you an amazing story, that is clean, moving, entertaining, and humor-filled! All ages will find themselves lost in this beautiful story.

** “And the thing before us is to wait in this old cottage without giving up hope. Even if hope is just a low ember at night, in the morning you can still start a fire.” **

WaterBrook is re-releasing Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga featuring new cover art and illustrations, with the first two novels coming out on March 10 and the next two in September 2020.

In the first novel, “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness,” we are introduced to the World of Aerwiar, its creation, and its lands — including the harsh land of Dang, ruled by Gnag the Nameless and his minions the Fangs, and Skree, which is occupied by the evil Fangs.

We also meet Janner Igiby and his family: mother Nia, brother Tink, sister Leeli and grandfather Podo. They live in their cottage on the cliffside in Skree, learning their lessons, farming the land, and occasionally traveling into town to visit the bookstore.

But when the evil Fangs start coming after Janner’s family in search of the Jewels of Anniera, he cannot fathom why or how his family would know of the jewels’ whereabouts. And as Janner and his siblings keep getting into dangerous situations, he can’t understand why the jewels are worth risking his family’s lives for.

“On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” is a fun, yet intense fantastical story filled with all sorts of twists and turns, kidnappings, jailings, a haunted house, dragons, and dangerous and imaginative creatures. Peterson does an incredible job of creating a new world, filled with creatures like hairy bomnubbles, toothy cows and snickbuzzards, as well as foods like totatoes and greenions. He also develops amazing characters — lovable, goofy and down-right creepy.

Peterson also brilliantly fills an incredibly entertaining story with some amazing concepts, like overcoming betrayal; being poor in heart is no good; “there’s a time to set sail and a time to stay put”; we can’t live in fear; accepting responsibility and one’s true identity; having hope; and the healing power of The Maker.

Fans of the fantastical worlds created by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, The Spiderwick Chronicles, or Matt Mikalatos’ Sunlit Lands series will love these stories.

I received a pre-release digital version that did not contain the all-new illustrations, so I cannot offer an opinion on them or how they differed from the illustrations in the original printings. The few images I have seen, though, have been stunning. But this book was incredible and I look forward to reading about Janner and his family, and the adventures that await them.

Five stars out of five.

WaterBrook provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

This book is so good, I don’t even know what to say! I thought it was perfect.

On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is the first book in The Wingfeather Saga. It is an adventure, fantasy story that begins we an evil conqueror who rules the lands with fear and hideous creatures. In this story, three kids gets into trouble with one of the soldiers and things started snowballing after that. One after the other, misfortune seems to find them and just when you think the skies are clear again, evil comes to knock on their door again.

I am now a huge fan of this high adventure story because (1) the plot gave me rushes of thrill like a rollercoaster (2) the writing was fun and I especially love the footnotes which had a touch of humor (3) I was relieved that none of the characters annoyed me with their dumbness. Don’t judge me. I really hate it when the main character is so dumb I feel like ripping the pages from the spine. Not that I don’t enjoy it once in a while though still feeling annoyed. I mean.. it is a change that I welcome.

Besides all that, all I can think to say is that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the sequel. It was an amazing middle grade read.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from WaterBrook & Multnomah through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

An excellent story is one that makes you a part of it. It draws you in, it's as if you are there in the middle of the action and you are involved with the plot and you feel a connection to the characters. On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness was all of the above and so much more.

It was easy to enter the world of the Glipwood Forest with Janner, Tink, Leeli, Nia and Podo and more of an excellent and eccentric cast of characters. I was immediately transported to the house on the cliff, fighting the scourge of thwaps and fearing the Fangs and the coming of the Black Carriage. I was there on Dragon Day, in the prison and the bowels of Anklejelly Manor. I felt the fear of prison and being captured, I felt the wonder of discovery and mourned as the town was destroyed before my eyes.

Janner longs for more than what his little village provides. There is no adventure for just a boy. There is nothing exciting going on like ever to him. His world is small and it's all he's ever known and he's looking for more. More anything really that will let him prove his maturity and manhood. Ultimately, he has to decide who he is and what he is supposed to do and what his purpose in life is. However, is it what he would have chosen for himself? Can he be who he was meant to be? What about the others? Aside from fulfilling their destinies, will they survive to?

This is a must read book. I say that as a person who was never allowed to read fantasy growing up (it was considered evil or something...). I took a chance on this book since I love Andrew Peterson's storytelling through music, and I'm so glad I did. When I started reading, I honestly wasn't expecting to be horribly impressed and that I would have to force myself to finish it and read it to my kids since two of them love this genre. I couldn't put the book down myself. This book has helped show me that I can enjoy fantasy and that yes, it does have a place in the world. That even a book, not rooted in the "real world" can teach us. I learned so much about my identity and that I can be who I was created to be despite my upbringing. Because of that, I rank this book among my top favorites of all time. This book will speak to you if you let it. And it might even help heal you of the wounds of the past as it did me.

Note: I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t really tell you how I feel about this book. I liked it, it was a fun read. But at the same time it didn’t grip me, and I just didn’t care. The plot was underwhelming, the characters nothing special, and it was very tropey at times.

On Goodreads this is a very well loved book and I get it. Just like I get people loving the Dark Materials books, whilst I didn’t really care for them. This is a charming read and brings a feeling of nostalgia, whilst also being a fun adventure story. It ties to be funny and witty with the footnotes, but again it didn’t quite work for me and I ended up skipping those.

I think the world and the creativity and imagination put into it was great, and I look forward to seeing more of that (I did also receive book 2 through Netgalley). Also, there were dragons. So I am sold.

Overall, I can see this work for its target audience, which of course is its main purpose. However, I feel a true great middle-grade book should be just as much fun for an older reader, and it just wasn’t. Not for me at least.

Oh I had such high hopes for this rereleased middle grade. Unfortunately it just could not quite live up to it.

On the Edge can be considered a Christian fiction. While the religion is not mentioned at all it is clear that it does take from the Christian religion. The start of the book starts with the creation and that screamed Adam and Eve to me. But more than that there are a lot of references to the maker (but no religion of specifics mentioned). As well as the themes of sacrifice, faithfulness etc and the squeaky clean nature of it all.

One of the first things that struck me about this book is the use of footnotes. I do not recall having seen footnotes in middle grade before. Footnotes are an acquired taste in adult fiction so to put something like that in a middle grade book is daring to say the least. I also don’t think it worked at all. As an adult I found them particularly uninteresting to read as they felt very dry in tone. Offering some information but referring to things and books we often didn’t know anyway. You can easily skip them though. You will not miss anything relevant to the story.

Adding on to that, the book has a rather slow build up. It says it is an action adventure story but the action portion was rather small in comparison to the page count. And at a lot of points I think communication between the children and adults could have moved the story better forward instead of what we got.

Some kids could be appealed by this of course. However I notted my rating below 3 stars because of the treatment of one of the characters. Peet, a side character, seems to have mental health problems and a disability. The town treats him bad. But even more so, the main characters treat him bad. As if he is stupid when he has shown clearly that he is smart by the things that he does and has created for himself. It left a bad taste in my mouth. And even when he rescued his children 3 times over, the grandfather still couldn’t even bother to say thank you.

So all in all this is not a book I would recommend very easily for a middle grade reader.

I have heard good things about this book for a while, and I was on the fence about reading it because other than Harry Potter I’ve never been big into the fantasy genre. I couldn’t get into the book at first because a friend in college forced me to watch Lord of the Rings and this was giving me those vibes, but once I was absorbed into this story I really enjoyed it. It was quirky and balanced the fun with the serious really well. The whole book seems to be a series of battles/fights, but the character development and fun twists keep you engaged and keeps the plot from being monotonous.

This is a re-release of the first book in Peterson's popular Wingfeather Saga. Joe Sutphin's illustrations are spot on! I will be buying the hardcover editions of these books and will re-read with my grandchildren. Do yourself a favor and add these to your reading/purchasing list.

I DNF’ed this book at page 156 of 278, so I feel like I gave this book a real shot, but I just couldn’t continue anymore.
This book felt so messy. There was so much happening that everything felt a bit half done..
The beginning of this book lacked information for me. Very shortly different parts of the world were named/explained, but only in like one paragraph. For me that is too short to really understand how all these different parts are related. It also shouldn’t have to be a problem necessarily, if these parts are explained a bit better when they are actually used in the story. They were not. So when they sad ‘ooh from the north’ (just saying something here), I would have no idea what was in the north, but I was expected to know.
As I said the plot was just chaotic. When moment they were kidnapped, then 5 pages later it was all good again. Then there were dragons, some character randomly starts singing, and then it is all over. Why are they kidnapped? By who? I mean it is mentioned, but not really explained.. Why are there dragons? Why is this girl singing? Where do these dragons com from? Why are they here only on this day? I needed some explanation..
It just felt all over the place. By the time my mind was with one action scene, the book already moved on..
I just couldn’t deal with that, and just had to stop reading the book..

*I voluntarily read and reviewed ARCs of these books. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

DNF @ 2%

2%, really?? That's it?? Yeah, okay this is one of those situations where I can tell really quickly this isn't the one for me, so I'm not going to review it.
Look, I could tell the book was trying to be funny. I was even trying to narrate it in my mind with a dude that does these semi-serious, but truly trying to be funny set ups, yet I couldn't get it to work. I didn't even get to the book, I was still in the Brief Overview/Background sections. The nameless bad guy named.... -- and Life is great except for ___ (aka everything sucks)-- and they looked like humans! except for scales, tails, etc. (again aka everything was different).

I recognize this is supposed to be funny and not taken seriously at this point. I should have known from the title, but at this point I think I missed the "of Darkness" part because if I had noticed that redundancy originally I wouldn't have requested this one. I would have known from the start I probably wouldn't like it.

So, yeah, this is a me thing and I'm sure this type of humor will work for some people and for the younger crowd.

In the land of Scree, there lives a family of three siblings, a mother and a grandfather in a cottage. Janner is the oldest son, Tink, the middle son, Leeli the youngest daughter and their trusty dog Nugget are eager to o to town. They are ruled by the Fangs of Dang as they won the Great War. The Fangs are lizard creatures that drip posion. They don’t like humans and will punish them at the slightest infraction of their laws. Janner and Tink go to the bookstore to help the owner by carrying crates of books into the store. They are rewarded with the opportunity to borrow three books each for helping. Tink doesn’t know what type of books he would want as he is more into drawing than reading. The bookstore owner takes him to the art section and leaves him to go back to his office. As Tink looks at the books, a scroll falls out which he looks at and discovers that it is a map. When the owner and Janner find him in the store, Tink quickly shoves the scroll up his sleeve. The three siblings get into trouble with the Fangs. On top of that happening, the ruler of the Fangs wants the mythical jewels of Anneria. The jewels are said to posses great powers. The family escapes and are on their way north to escape the Fangs. Will they be successful?

Reading this marvelous fantasy novel was enjoyable. The story has everyday adventures throughout the novel. There is mystery, secrets, and danger galore. Included in this story are “historical footnotes” at the end of each chapter which were good to read but found distracting. I ended up reading them after I read the story.

A fantasy war story which invokes the likes of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. The Christianity shines through pretty hardcore in this. I feel so much so that a reader should be told. I would put a Christian label on it in my library.

Andrew Peterson is a writer/musician that is very well known among his following. I had not heard of the Wingfeather Saga prior to this but have researched and found he has quite a following throughout the years. This is a rerelease of the series in a hardback cover with new illustrations. While this is not my normal genre of book, I truly enjoyed the story and can see where it would definitely be a hit with a preteen and older crowd.

The stories are action packed and full of adventure. Janner, Tink, and Leeli are the main characters of this story. These children are very brave and able to tackle any obstacle that comes their way. Along their journey they meet many friends and foes. There are many areas where I was on the edge of my seat just reading. I can't wait to see how their story ends.

I highly recommend this author and this series for anyone who loves fantasy and adventure. I am honored to be selected by the publisher to review these works on netgalley. All opinions are mine.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is the first book in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. Originally published in 2008, this reformat and re-release (with new illustrations and content) from Waterbrook, due out 10th March 2020 is 304 pages and will be available in hardcover format (other editions available in other formats).

This is part one of an epic fantasy which reminds me in a lot of ways of the scale of the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings. While it's admittedly not as well written (how could it be?), it does have a similar scope and reach. The author has a tendency to break the fourth wall often (asides to the audience are ok, but it's a device which in my opinion should be used quite sparingly). The footnotes are copious and extensive, and I found them a little tiresome.

The subject matter is largely a battle between good and evil, light and darkness, and a willingness to defend one's beliefs. Although often listed as a Christian selection, I read the book and didn't find -overtly- Christian doctrine or beliefs. It could certainly be read without the reader feeling catechized. The book is appropriate for all ages and there's no rough language or disturbing content.

The eARC which I received for review did not include the new artwork, maps, or addenda, so I can't speak to the quality of those. The cover art is lovely however, and I hope the new reformatted content is as well done.

Four stars. This would make a good selection for a family read, bedtime read, classroom or library circle read.

A youth is separated from her mother.
She must go to the mysterious adventure, where she faces adult situations.
And along the way she is met by many new characters.
Will she make it?

This is an interesting book that definitely has some how to train your dragon book vibes. Some of the coincidences throughout the book that seemed to help the narrative go along could be annoying at times, but that's coming from a reader older than the intended audience so if course thay has to be taken into consideration. I really do love the cover art which is something I don't normally say in book reviews but it has to be said here. It was overall a fun lighthearted book with the right amount of action in there which is why I would love to carry on with the series.