Review : The Rook Trilogy by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

Title : The Rook Trilogy Author : Paul Stewart Reading Dates : 12 Apr - 19 Apr 2011
The Edge Chronicles - The Rook Trilogy
The Last of the Sky Pirates Vox Freeglader
From Amazon :
The Last of the Sky Pirates Rook Barkwater lives beneath Undertown, the bustling city of the Edgeworld. He dreams of becoming a librarian knight and sets out on a perilous journey. In the heart of the Deepwoods, Rook encounters a mysterious character - the last sky pirate ... Vox High in the crumbling Palace of Statues, little more than a prisoner of the all-powerful Guardians of the Night, Vox Verlix plots and schemes ...Rook Barkwater finds himself embroiled in Vox's scheming. He must stop him or the Edgeworld could fall into total chaos ... Freeglader Undertown is destroyed! Gnokgoblins, waifs and cloddertrogs huddle by the ruins, preparing for a mass exodus to the Free Glades. Rook Barkwater knows the journey will be full of peril. Dangers are everywhere, and in the Goblin Nations, the tribes are massing for war. Can Rook and his friends preserve freedom in the Edgeworld?

Book Review of The Rook Trilogy.
Of the 3 books in The Rook Trilogy, the one I like best is The Last of the Sky Pirates which unfortunately doesn’t say much for the book.

The Last of the Sky Pirates

The thing that strikes me about the first book is how excruciatingly slow it is. A part of the problem could be because this is the first Edgeworld book I’m reading, but it’s not the first book in the series. The other could be because the author spends so much time on world building that I’m virtually drowning in details which do not seem to have any relevance to the story. Which is why I’m of the opinion that the story would have done better with a good bit of trimming to get things moving.

The part I liked best about the book is the ending, when The Last of the Sky Pirates actually puts in his appearance. Then, all of a sudden there’s plenty going on with hints of exciting things to come.

But this is a book I might have given up on before I’d reached the end if I hadn’t bought the entire trilogy already.

Vox

In terms of pacing, Vox is better than the first book. Unfortunately, it was overladen with unnecessary details about the Edgeworld. I found myself skimming through large chunks of the story just to have something happen.

Most of the characters were rather mundane, even the supposed great villain of the piece. The only character of interest here was Xanth. Since the first book, I couldn’t help but wonder at the choices Rook’s traitorous friend would take.

Freeglader

The third and final book promised so much but let me down badly at the end. There were plenty of interesting side stories here. The question of what would happen to both Xanth and Felix kept me glued to the tale. Unfortunately the answers at the end was too pat for my liking. I don’t think there are such easy answers as how Felix reconciles his preferences with his father’s expectations or the way the Freegladers does an immediate about turn on their feelings for Xanth just because someone said something.

All in all, The Rook Trilogy isn’t a story I expect to be re-reading soon.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Not likely.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? No.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? No.
• Who would I recommend this too? Fantasy readers who like plenty of world building.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Borrow it.

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