“The eerie, booming call of the steam klaxon reverberated through the cabin, wrenching the dozen snoring phraxminers from their sleep.”

From Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell’s The Edge Chronicles: The Immortals.

After fleeing from his murderous mine sergeant to the Great Glade, Nate Quarter and fellow mine worker Slip are searching for a new life. Nate is able to lead a somewhat quiet life until he is framed for murder and forced to flee with Weelum the banderbear and Eudoxia Prade. The trio sets off to find both freedom and Eudoxia’s missing father, but she and Nate find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and they are forced to join the Hive Militia, which soon leaves Eudoxia gravely injured. Nate travels to Riverrise in an attempt to save Eudoxia, but he is halted by the wicked Golderayce who refuses to help other with the city’s precious resource. After the intervention of the Caterbird neutralizes Golderaye, Nate is shocked to discover two captive Immortals, Rook and Twig, who share valuable knowledge with the boy before leaving. Later, Nate is astonished to see the long-lost floating of Sanctaphrax return to the Edge, but an Edge-ending evil is hiding beneath the surface threatening to destroy the entire world until three Immortals step in to save Nate and the Edge once and for all.

This fantastical adventure series is built of several character-following trilogies put together to create a complete world. The illustrations scattered throughout the book highlight characters and places that are definitely odd, but it also seamlessly creates the foundation for the highly imaginative world. As a semi-standalone book, The Immortals creates a captivating story that brings a satisfying conclusion to the Twig, Quint, and Rook storylines of the action-packed fantasy world of The Edge Chronicles.