I joined Waterbrook’s (a division of Random House) book reviewer list to get free books a few months ago. I recently was offered a chance to review Andrew Peterson’s North! Or Be Eaten, book 2 of the Wingfeather Saga. I mentioned to the the lovely Staci Carmichael (person in charge of these books, and my new bff) that I hadn’t read book one, and she offered to send me book one along with book 2. Yay me! So, while I’m not going to do an in depth review of book one, I thought I’d write a little bit about it as a thank you to Staci for sending it to me.

In Andrew Peterson’s On The Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness, Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby live under the oppression of the horrible Fangs of Dang- lizard-like creatures who delight in torturing humans, and in eating maggotloaf and other such culinary treats. These bad boys work for Gnag the Nameless, who (whom?) the book refers to as a nameless evil… Yeah, you can see why I liked it from the start.

Unfortunately, the Igiby children manage to draw an undue amount of attention to themselves, and in order to avoid death or enslavement, they, along with their one legged ex-pirate grandfather, and sensible mother, have to escape.

The book is interesting from the start, but mainly because of the humor, which is a cross between middle school boy humor (aka: booger jokes), and Terry Pratchett. It’s an odd mix, but I love it. The majority of the book is almost like back story, however, and doesn’t really pick up the pace until the final third of the book. It’s well worth the read, but is absolutely essential if you plan to read the much more active book 2. At the very least, the secondary characters and the humorous footnotes should keep you entertained until you reach the exciting bits.

This is a middle grade fantasy, so if you’re expecting Robert Jordan, give this a miss. If you like both Narnia and Terry Pratchett, this may be worth your while.