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.