Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Wingfeather Saga has been on my TBR list for ages, so when I saw that the books were being rereleased with new artwork, I snapped up this first book in the series. On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness introduces the reader to the world of Aerwiar and some of the inhabitants, as well as many of the dangerous creatures. I love the relationship between the children, Janner, Tink, and Leeli, as well as their mother and grandmother. I would love to be able to step into Books and Crannies (what an awesome name for a bookstore!) and talk about books with Oskar N. Reteep. Andrew Peterson has built such a wonderful fantasy world in this novel, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series to find out what happens next!

On the edge of the dark sea of darkness by Andrew Peterson is an awesome book that my children and I have fallen in love with. The characters are fun and witty! This is a real page turner with many heart wrenching moments and humor in between. We can wait to read the rest of the series!

This title stood out to me initially for the beautiful cover and I had to take a closer look! Im happy to report that the story does in fact live up to the awesome cover! Far off lands, scary unusual beasts, maps with hidden jewels family secrets... what’s not to like? I highly recommend this title to anyone that loves fantasy-adventure. Thank you to WaterBrook and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

(4.5 / 5)

On the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness live the Igiby family--12-year-old Janner and his younger brother Tink, little sister Leeli, and their mom and grandfather, known mostly as Podo. Their land has been conquered by Gnag the Nameless, who hails from Dang, across the sea, and who has sent his Fangs to keep the people in line. Through a series of connected events that all starts with a mischievous dog, the Igibys find themselves on the wrong side of the Fangs of Dang. When the Fangs come to realize that the Igibys have knowledge of the location to the jewels of the late King Wingfeather and the Shining Isle of Anniera, which are said to be the key to restoring Anniera and defating Gnag, the Igibys realize they will always be in danger.

This book was a lot of fun, with characters that are lively and entertaining and a lot of lore and history. The quirky nature of the narrative and even the names of various people and location had me chuckling more than once. Though it's children's fiction, it doesn't pull any punches, and reminds me of The Chronicles of Narnia, as well as Roald Dahl, to a degree.

Right off the bat, the explanation for the name of the world these characters inhabit gives you a sense of the writing style. The first person to exist woke up on the first morning, looked at a rock, and said, "Well, here we are." Thus, the world's name came to be known as "Aerwiar." Though none of the other names for people or places are really explained, and I did actually struggle a little muddling through so many when they came close together, this is a good example of the tone of this book.

Even with the whimsical nature, there is still some real peril. Fortunately, possibly because it's meant for kids, for the most part, the good guys prevail and the bad guys are defeated, at least in some way. I'm not saying there aren't some losses, but I won't say more because of spoilers.

One of my favorite things about the book were the hints that the author dropped throughout the book, giving little nudges about a big secret revealed near the end. Two big secrets, really but they were tied together. While I suspected pretty early on, and then decided I was definitely right still a ways from the reveal, remember that this book is meant for kids. I could imagine kids near my daughter's age, maybe a bit older, reading this and beginning to catch on, getting excited as they realized the truth.

It was fun and full of adventure, and I cannot wait to continue the series! I recommend this book for folks of all ages who enjoy clean, fun fantasy adventures. Also, you might see it labeled as Christian, and there are some references to a deity that many of the people believe in, but it is not overtly Christian. It may be a bit allegorical, again similar to the Narnia books.

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 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!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a blast to read. The characters are well developed and the story is a lot of fun.
A fantastic adventure for kids.

On the Edge of Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson was a lot of fun to read. I loved the descriptions of the made up characters and I could picture them perfectly in my head. This book is geared towards children but just as great for adults. I enjoyed the array cast of characters especially Peet.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing the ARC of this book for an honest review. I can't wait to get my own completed copy with illustrations and maps of all.

Always having to watch over his other siblings, Janner can’t wait to have his own adventures. The island has been defeated by the Skree, lizard like creatures, and Janner must be careful or he or his siblings, will end up in the black carriage, hauled away to never see their family again. Then his impulsive brother finds a map that he just has to follow. Will Janner be able to keep his siblings safe?
#ARC #Fantasy #Elementary

Take this review with a grain of salt. I am no Andrew Peterson fan. But my wife's family LOVES him. They truly adore everything he does. So when the opportunity came to review this fantasy book, I thought I'd give him another chance. I LOVE fantasy books and fantasy world-building. However, this book seemed to be written by a child. The made-up names of everything are ridiculous. The humor is not funny. I couldn't make it past chapter 3. This is not the skillful world building of a C.S. Lewis or a Tolkien. This is sugar cereal for kids, not the hearty, healthy, filling oatmeal of great children's literature.

What an amazing book! I've never read anything quite like it. It's full of humor, originality, fun, danger and tears.

Peterson is a master world-builder. There wasn't a thing that happened that I couldn't see, clear as day, right before my eyes. The creatures in his book, most of which are wholly invented (some of which are normal creatures given a twist), are reminiscent, at least to me, of J.K. Rowling's list of made-up creatures from Harry Potter. Some of them, toothy cows and thwaps included, are both scary and funny at the same time.

I was also very impressed with the character arcs of each person in this story - even the more minor ones. Each person was real, and their "realness" came through, even in the setting of such a quirky, fantasy kingdom. Just let me say ... I wish Podo was MY grandpa!! I love him :)

I've heard other reviewers say that the use of strange names was a turn-off, but I found it rather endearing. Those names (of both people and animals) went such a long way in giving me a "feeling" for this world. Peterson's writing style in general is so wonderfully his own that, as a writer myself, I just had to smile to myself many times while reading. So well done!

The final twist, near the end, wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was very effective all the same. I absolutely can't wait to read the next 3 in this series!! The meaning beneath, for Christians, and the pure entertainment of the stories, are both elements that make these books ones I'm sure I will have to own soon.

My son absolutely loved this book, he found it fun, interesting and engaging full of wonderful imaginative characters. I enjoyed it myself, and pretty much smiled through it. I will be buying copies for use in school.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange of an honest review !

Well, well , well let me start by saying that this was truly a surprising read. this is considered a "Christian" book which to be honest is not obviously so when reading it. As an atheist myself I did not have a problem on the religion side of it, though there is the mention of "Maker" and themes such as forgiveness and faithfulness.

Now let's talk about the story itself, it was very entertaining. I had a great time reading it and the writing style made it a quick and captivating read. This is a war story which being fan of history always makes for a great reading time (for me), I did have a little problem with certain events and dialogues as I couldn't understand why certain things had never been mentioned or talked about before that point. The author also has a very distinct humour which might not attract everyone, some of his humour did fall flat at certain times in my case.
Story wise, while this is not a perfect story by any mean, it is a very interesting book. I would also highly recommend it to younger readers that are delving or starting to read YA as this book doesn't contain any graphic or coarse language.

Overall while I had a good time I will not personally continue this series, though I would recommend it to younger readers as I believe I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I had read it when I was around 10 years old.

3/5 stars
-Bookarina

This middle grades fantasy series opener was released in 2008 but was recently listed as a digital ARC on NetGalley, so I assume it will be re-released at some point in the future. The standard fantasy elements are there—evil kingdom overthrows and now rules a people group harshly, hope of a better future lies with unlikely hero(es), unusual creatures, etc., but several things are likely to make this one popular with a variety of grades 5-8 readers: The length is not intimidating but is long enough to develop characters and setting, humor is sprinkled liberally throughout and some of it subtle enough to strike a cord with gifted readers, and the revolting habits of the evil ruling class will provide enough squeamish moments to spur the interest of many in the target age group. Book 1 of The Wingfeather saga is free of profanity and sexual content of any kind and the violence is completely appropriate to the genre and to its intended readers. Peterson’s novel gives strong male and female characters who all have aspects of their personalities that need improvement, the villains are easy to dislike, and there were more than a few surprises along the way.

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 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.

his book was very slow to get started. It felt like it did not get anywhere in regards to actual plot and it was a little all over the place to begin with. But when the book ended, I found myself intrigued and wanting to continue on to the second book. For me the first half of the book was a 2-star read and the second half was closer to a 4. Therefore I landed comfortably on a medium 3!

I really liked both the world-building and the characters in the book. I mean, an ex-pirate grandfather and three very wild children who all have their own quirks? Sign me up! The grandfather might have been my favorite character of all, either him or Peet the Sock Man (which is such a funny name). What fell flat for me when reading it was that it felt like a very long buildup. Almost like a prequel to the actual story that will begin in book 2. However, I think this book will be a lot more fun for younger readers. I imagine it is a perfect book to read with your children, with illustrations and footnotes so you can teach your children about all the things that make up this fantasy world!

I will continue on to read book 2, because I want to see where the story might go. But if I feel as bored throughout book 2 as I felt for long parts of this one, I will simply have to face the facts. This is intended for a slightly younger audience. They will find joy where I find a lack of deeper plot and more complex story-lines. I absolutely recommend this for the youngest ones, and for families!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

Toothy cows! Cave blats! Quill diggles! And let us not forget the ever ominous horned hounds… *cue ominous howling*
Several years ago, a friend recommended that I read the Wingfeather Saga. So, I borrowed the first two books from my local library and read them with much enjoyment and laughter. Sadly, I wasn’t able to read the rest of the series, as not a single library in my state had the third and/or fourth books.
Imagine my delight when I discovered through NetGalley that the author was re-publishing the series with even cooler covers! (And in hardback!) I just had to read them again.
On The Edge of the Dark Sea Of Darkness was just as funny, and intense, and heartbreaking as I remembered. I can’t recall if anything within the story has been changed, but the book is packed with humor and oddities that will keep you glued to your seat and your ribs aching. On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness breathes with originality and heart, and makes an excellent story for both children and adults alike.
Reading this second edition of the novel has made me fall in love with Glipwood Township and the Igiby family all over again.

NOTE: I received a complimentary ARC copy from the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes only. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Very exciting from the get go. I loved all the characters (including the bad guys!) and can’t wait to find out what happens to them all next!

The author has a very creative mind and I am in awe of the ability to come up with stories such as this one! The writing style was really good, it just was not a story for me. I think that kids would find it to be a lot of fun and would have a great time getting lost on an adventure such as this one!!!

2.5-3 stars.
It's been a very long time since I read any middle grade books but I've recently added a few to my shelves that have been well praised by many book lovers, and when I saw the cover for this book I immediately wanted to read it because it's simply a really attractive cover (yes, I'm judging a book by it's cover so hard now)! I was a little disappointed to learn it was a MG book and not a graphic novel but I decided to request the book anyway because the story also sounded good, and I enjoyed the excerpt I read of it.

That said, while I was generally entertained by the book, I also found myself unexpectedly bored for certain periods, and thinking that the story was going on for a lot longer than anticipated. I was also unsure about the use of the footnotes. While some of the footnotes were interesting, I found that even if I didn't read them, I wasn't missing out on anything other than a humorous story or anecdote. I'm also wondering if footnotes are something young readers (especially middle graders) would appreciate? I don't recall ever reading a book with footnotes in it when I was younger unless it was non-fiction or a textbook, and as an adult reader, I'm still not always a fan of footnotes; unless they really added key/important elements to the world building and the story itself.

I think one of the things I struggled with was not being able to form a connection with the story overall and in particular with the characters. I liked the Igiby family well enough--Janner, Tink and Leeli were interesting characters--but I just didn't feel as invested in their journey as I hoped to be. Perhaps my favorite characters in the story were Peet and Nugget (the doggo, reasons for which go without saying. He's a loyal companion to the Igiby children, particularly for Leeli)! Peet was a courageous side-character who suffered from (what I can tell) possible mental health issues and a disability. He was pitied in town and was treated pretty awfully by the Igiby heads of house (Podo and Nia) for a reason that only becomes apparent at the end, but to me never justified the unfair treatment of his character. While I started off liking Podo’s character, his awful treatment of Peet was so distasteful and made me like him a lot less (it says a lot about a person’s character IRL just as much as in a book)! The Fangs of Dang were obviously awful characters we were meant to hate and the author did a great job of stoking those feelings against these characters. I thought the disability rep with Leeli’s and Podo’s characters was really great. Leeli was such a strong female character that had a fierce independent streak. I loved that her disability didn’t stop her from having adventures and getting up to mischief with her brothers; her disability was normalized (as in, it didn’t hamper her in any way) and it was nice to see that being shown in books to such a young audience.

As this was an ARC, most of the illustrations and maps were not yet included, so that was also a little bit disappointing because the illustrations that were already included in the story were pretty amazing! I can only imagine how much fun these illustrations will be to look at once it’s done (and in color too)! Overall, while I was really pulled in by the premise of this story, I found it a bit difficult to get into and that’s what made me remove stars. I wish that the pacing was more consistent but it was still an enjoyable enough read. I think many young middle grade readers would enjoy it too!