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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Stand-alone Prequel, April 17, 2005
This fourth book in the Edge Chronicles series is actually chronologically the first, and although long and sometimes complicated, it is the most exciting to date. Having met Twig in the first book, we are now whisked back in time to when his parents first meet, and although the wrong sparks fly at first, the strength of their characters draws them together as they face the most terrible threat to Sanctaphrax. Packed with intrigue, treachery, adventure, courage and emotion, the story revolves around the distracted Linius Pallitax, the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax, his brave apprentice Quint, son of a sky pirate captain, and Maris, his neglected daughter. Quint and Maris must brave the mysteries and horrors of the stonecomb that lies deep within the floating rock, to discover the terrible secret that Linius has been harboring. With each visit, the Most High Academe has been growing weaker, and there are terrible secrets hidden within the ever-changing tunnels. While it is not necessary to have read the first three books, a little background is always helpful, and I would recommend reading at least book one before this one. A little stretched out in places, brilliant in others, the stage is now set for an incredible book five. Amanda Richards, April 17, 2005
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
middle range of the series, June 20, 2005
The Edge Chronicles have been a pretty inconsistent series, I've found, with the books varying greatly in interest and quality. Gloamglozer falls in the middle of the four books, but falls more into the positive than negative range. The fourth book in the series, Gloamglozer is actually the first chronologically, going back in time to tell the story of how Quint and Maris met before they married and had Twig--the hero of the first few three books. The first book suffered from its shallow, episodic nature. The second book, Stormchaser, was a large improvement over the first, with more focus and depth. The third book, Midnight over Sanctaphrax, was also better than the first, but somewhat of a regression. Gloamglozer improves on Sanctaphrax, but still falls short of Stormchaser, which remains the high point so far of the series. Like Stormchaser, Gloamglozer is a more focused book. Rather than involving an episodic journey through sometimes imaginative, sometimes padded geography, it stays in Sanctaphrax the entire time. Quint is apprenticed to Linius Pallitax, the High Academe of the floating city of Sanctaphrax. Linius has some sort of terrible secret that has him disappearing for long periods of time, giving strange tasks to Quint and ignoring his daughter Maris. The secret also seems to be taking a near-fatal toll physically and emotionally on Linius, so much so that Quint and Maris join forces despite some early antagonism to try and save Linius and Sanctaphrax (they now worry Linius' secret may put the city at risk). All of this takes place amid the cutthroat politics of the floating city as various factions plot against each other and the High Academe. As mentioned, the plot is much less episodic and remains tightly focused in terms of geography (set only in Sanctaphrax) and plot (Linius' secret). Strange creatures make important appearances, but there are so few of them that this book doesn't fall into the "look-at-the-cool-monster-I-made-on-this-page" trap that sometimes befalls the earlier books. That said, the two major monsters here are somewhat pale and anticlimactic and never really serve to raise the intensity of the book, no matter the author's attempts. The suspense with regard to Linius' secret is handled well for the most part, but the book seems a bit over-long, letting the suspense dwindle away somewhat. Despite the length, neither Quint nor Maris, nor for that matter any of the characters with one possible exception have much depth to them or have much emotional impact on the reader, a problem that runs throughout the series. In the end, Gloamglozer is a fast read and a decently entertaining one, but like the series as a whole, never manages to take that next step into truly engaging fantasy, with story and characters that grip you. The books show flashes of gradual improvement, though it's disappointing that the last two have not been as good as the second one, but the potential is there and if the author continues to fill in stories and backgrounds of the same few characters, perhaps they'll take on that added depth the series needs. Tepidly recommended.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic series - now it all makes sense, October 21, 2005
My nine year old son devoured this series. We started out reading them together when he was eight and it was a sad day for me when he decided to read them on his own since I enjoyed the series as much as he did. I am now reading them on my own too. He just finished the fourth book when we moved to Paris two months ago. My son was confused by book four since it did not follow the adventures of Twig but seemed to focus on completely different characters. It became all clear to me when I saw the books printed over here in Europe by an English publisher. It turns out that there are three series within the Edge Chronicles which have already been released in Europe: 1) Featuring Quint The Curse of the Gloamglozer (released Sept 2002) The Winter Nights (released Sept 2005) 2) The Twig sequence Book one: Beyond the Deepwoods (released Oct 1999) Book two: Stormchaser (released Oct 2000) Book three: Midnight over Sanctaphrax (released Sept 2001) 3) The Rook Barkwater sequence Book one: The Last of the Sky Pirates (released Sept 2002) Book two: Vox (released Sept 2003) Book three: Freeglader (released Sept 2004) The author, Paul Steward, is British and met illustrator, Chris Riddell, when their sons attended the same school. In 1990, Paul gave up his teaching career to write full-time and to look after his son. You can see all these books on Amazon UK site.
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