Beyond the Deepwoods: The Edge Chronicles Book 1
Twig is a boy who was brought up by woodtrolls. Twig is not a woodtroll. He doesn't know what he is; but he has been discovered and his woodtroll mother fears for his safety. Twig is sent to hide at his woodtroll cousin's house; but Twig goes off the path (something woodtrolls never do) and he gets lost. The story is Twig's journey of discovery until he ultimately discovers who he really is.
I think this story has some merit. It is a story of a young boy looking for himself. It is also a story of exciting adventures into the unknown. There are interesting friendships made and the true value of friendship is stressed. In one of Twig's adventures, he meets with a banderbear, a large bear-like creature. He relieves the banderbear of his aching tooth and the two become inseparable until banderbear is eaten alive by fluffly little wig-wigs. Twig discovers later in the story how powerful his friendship was banderbear really was. He meets another banderbear who recognizes Twig because of the banderbear tooth that he carries on a cord around his neck. This banderbear immediately recognizes Twig as a friend.
Unfortunately, I found this story very difficult to read. It was difficult on several levels. The creatures themselves make the story confusing. Each new creature that Twig encountered has a strange, make-up name. It is very imaginative; but very confusing. Some of the names, like taghair and rotsucker and termagant trogs are not only difficult to sound out; but they are difficult to imagine. Each strange creature has similarities to real creature, which adds to the confusion. Perhaps, more real-to-life creatures might have helped this story.I didn't enjoy the disgusting parts, like Twig lying in his vomit in a cocoon, or when the female termagent trogs came of age and drank blood from a bloodoak tree. Perhaps some young people would enjoy reading this; but I certainly wouldn't encourage reading it. It's not something I would want to read aloud with my young people.
The other thing I strongly disliked was the representation of the female figure. Most of the main characters are male. The only strong female characters were Twig's woodtroll mother, who was large and ugly; Twig's real mother, who was mentioned in a story related by his real father (later in the story) as being weak; Grossmother, who was a large, over-eating, pig-like creature; and Mumsie and Mag, the termagent trogs, who were grotesque and overbearing beasts.
The book was generally a disappointment. Perhaps I started reading it with a preconceived idea based on other chronicles, like the C.S. Lewis "Narnia" chronicles. There are certainly some parallels that one could make between life, religious beliefs and "The Edge Chronicles" just as with "Narnia"; but in order to do so, one must struggle through the confusing creatures and the disconcerting situations.
