The Winter Knights
by Paul Stewart
Illustrated by Chris Riddell
I really do like the books that this Author/Illustrator partnership of Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart have produced, so was more than a little surprised to discover that this was only the second of the Edge Chronicles that I had actually read. It is in fact the eighth book in the series (the ninth if you include the novella 'Cloud Wolf' released as one of the World Book Day 2001 books for £1).
I wondered whether I would be able to make head or tale of the world that Stewart and Riddell had created - but I needn't have worried. The reader is quickly brought up speed on what is going on in the Edge world. Snippets of back story are discreetly dropped in here and there to remind the constant reader and inform the new, so I found myself very quickly immersed in the world of Quintinius Verginix, known as Quint, the son of a sky pirate who has ambitions to become a Knight Academic - one of the highest and most respected orders in the floating city of Sanctaphrax.
We follow Quint through his training as a lowly Squire in the Knights' Academy and see him gradually progressing along his chosen path, but things don't run as smoothly as Quint has hoped. The city is engulfed in what seems to be an endless winter and there is corruption and intrigue among the rulers and would be rulers of the city.
The detail in which Paul Stewart describes Sanctaphrax, combined with Chris Riddell's wonderfully detailed line drawings leave the reader feeling that they've walked the streets of the city themselves. So even if this is your first dip into the Edge World and all of its fantastic characters you won't feel completely lost. Though I'm sure you'll want to go back and read the earlier books to see what you've missed.
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