Customer Reviews

The Edge Chronicles 4: The Curse of the Gloamglozer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

The edge series is a great set of books i recommend that all grandparents read them to their grandchildren

this book is fantastic it has a very good texture of drama/suspense/action and exitment i highly recomend it to anyone that likes good books

I haven't read it all yet -I'm actually about to finish the last couple pages. It was interesting, getting to know Twig's parents, amd alot of fun. This book is exciting and you get to explore Sanctafrax and the Stonecomb quite a bit. Quint and Maris don't hit it off too well at the beginning and take a while to finally develop their impending freindship. They have to work together (of course) to get Maris's father out of a scrape. All their efforts are in vain and everything seems to go down hill. Maris and Quint meet with many troubles of their own and barely get away with their lives -quite a few times- even to the last chapter. Nevertheless, the story ends happily enough. I'm ACHING to read the next book in the Quint saga. This book is an absolute MUST.

I really liked the Twig series within the Edge Chronicles (his hair is adorable, though I wouldn't want it myself). He was smart, brave, determined. . . actually Twig was a little TOO perfect. He hardly makes any mistakes and is always aided by unbelievable luck, so it's a little refreshing to have a character or two that honestly makes mistakes.

Quint doesn't quite have the same spunk as his son, but his adventures with Maris are fascinating. It adds a whole new dimension to earlier novels, including "Beyond the Deepwoods." The core beliefs are questioned (Is Sky really better than Earth? Why did the Gloamglozer come to Twig of all people?). The history of Snactaphrax is written. Best of all, Quint resembles Twig a little, though his hair isn't as kooky.

This is a must-read for Edge Chronicles fans. It isn't QUITE as good as the previous three, but I guess nothing but Twig would get pretty boring after a while. Don't worry: we met him again in book five, even though he has changed a lot by then.

Two teenagers, a floating rock, and one remarkable story. What happens when the Most High Academe's apprentice and daughter befriend each other? Romance, death, and spine tingling adventure. In this 4th installment of the series The Edge Chronicles 4: The curse of the Gloamglozer, Quint, the son of sky pirate captain Wind Jackal and apprentice to the Most High Academe, has witnessed something so horrible and heart shattering that he will never be the same. He saw all of his family, except for his father, die in a fire right before his eyes. Little did he know that worse things were to come. Quint learns that the Most High Academe is hiding something deep within the floating rock called Sanctaphrax on which they live. A monster, a shape-shifter, a demon? What is it? When Quint starts making risky choices, he will endanger not only his own life, but the lives of millions of creatures that live on The Edge. And as if that's not enough, he sets the Most High Academe's creation free and almost loses his only love, Maris(the Most High Academe's daughter) to another chilling creature with a taste for blood. What will happen next? This book is thrilling, but can be graphic at times. It is beautifully written and astoundingly remarkable. I loved it!

The book starts off with Linius Pallitax, the Most High Academ of Sanctaphrax, a city filled with schools that study the different elements of the sky, recieving a message that his old friend the sky pirate Wind Jackal is coming. Wind Jackal brings with him his son Quint, who is the only remaining family member of the sky pirate captain, after a fire killed the rest. The two fathers talk and the two children, Quint and Linius's daughter Maris, go into the Palace of Shadows to waste time unti the parents are done. Quint tries to light a lamp, but, having flashbacks, burns his hand. Wind Jackal and Linius return and tell them that Quint is to stay at Sanctaphrax, becoming the Proffessor's apprentice, since he has injured his leg.
So the adventures start, and Linius wakes Quint in the middle of the night to run an errand for him. He is sent to the Great Library, a huge building, where the shelves are designed like trees, with categories leading up to twigs, with barkscrolls hanging from them. After nearly falling to his death, he gets the scrool and returns. The next night, they travel through Sanctaphrax to the low-sky cages, where they go down the side of the floating rock the city is built upon. the proffessor goes into the "stone comb," and returns hours later looking terrified, dazed, and drained. Maris, already angry for having to deal with Quint, becomes even more angry, and they fight outside their school. When night comes, Quint is brought along with the proffessor again, but this time travels in, following the proffessor, marking his way with chalk. He eavesdrops on the proffessor, and then leaves. On his way back, he is attacked by a huge red creature, called a glister. He barely escapes, and then waits for the proffessor. Linius returns, looking worse than last time, with one ear barely hanging onto his head. He tells Maris what happened, and the next night, they set off into the stonecomb themselves. They start on an adventure that leads into a fight with the giant glister, then a rescue by an earth-scholar named Bungus. They then set off back home, but Quint sneaks off to go find the chamber. Maris returns with Bungus to the Palace of Shadows, and go to Linius to find out what he has been doing.
When Linius moved in the Palace, the spindlebug that tends to the house shows Linius a secret room, full of carvings from the earth-scholars. There he found out about the Ancient Laboratory. He researched and finally, after a long time, decided to go down and see it for himself. Apparently, the Laboratory had been abandoned long ago, due to an experiment, where the scholars attempted to create life, went wrong. LInius found it, and became even more obsessed in his work, neglecting all his duties as Most High Academe, and his daughter Maris. Linius spent many hours in the lab, and finally decided to try the experiment for himself. The scholars had taken a glister and tried to create life, but instead created the rogue glister which now haunts the stonecomb. Linius tried this same experiment, and ended up creating a gloamglozer. The gloamglozer is an ancient creature of legend that lies and deceives, and feeds off emotions, such as fear. He tried to destroy it, and then tried sealing it. And now, Quint was about to release it. So Maris and Bungus go back down after Quint, with Bungus perishing in a fight with the glister. Maris finds Quint unconscious, having been hit by a piece of glass from the gloamglozer. They return to the surface, and go to the Palace of Shadows to try and save Linius before the creature gets to him first. They arrive, and see the palace on fire...
This is a great book, and anyone who is a fan of fantasies, such as Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, will love it.

The book The Curse of the Gloamglozer was written by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. This is the fourth book in the The Edge Chronicles series, which has eight books total. The book was a wonderful, action-packed tale and the author set a suspenseful tone for the story. There was adventure and mystery around every corner, literally. This book was about a character named Quint, who is apprenticed to the Most High Academe, or ruler, of Sanctaphrax. Sanctaphrax is a floating city high on a rock, attached to a great chain miles off the ground. This ancient city is inhabited by scholars who gossip among each other and are not above resorting to using treachery or even murder if you are not careful. Quint runs errands for the Most High Academe and he is quickly growing to be his friend and closest confidant in the coming danger. But as the errands get harder and more dangerous, Quint eventually ends up in a place where life-threatening and gruesome monsters put him and his friends in mortal danger. By far, this book is the most eventful and exciting of the eight in The Edge Chronicles, and the readers also get to know a little about the parents of Twig, the main character from the first three novels. I would recommend this book and the companion novels in the series to teenagers, mostly 10 to 16-year olds, who adore adventure novels and series that are similar to the Harry Potter books. This book was very good, and I know that anyone who reads it will love it, and like me, won't be able to wait for the next installment in the series.