On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness Review

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson is the first book in a middle grade Christian fantasy series (The Wingfeather Saga). It is about 12 year old Janner who lives in a little town in the land of Skree, which was taken over by Gnag the Nameless from the land of Dang. They live in a sense of fear from the horrible lizard like creatures, Fangs of Dang, that keep rule over them. Then secrets coming out and events taking place lead him, his little brother Tink, and his little sister Leeli into adventures he could only ever have dreamed about.

I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. This story is so well written. I loved the sarcastic bent from the narrator during the introduction, it was so funny. Much of the introduction section of the book reminded me of how J R R Tolkien began his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. This book in general kind of reminded me of Tolkien’s works, only faster paced and with lighter, easier language.

The characters are wonderful. They are funny and cute and clever and mysterious and irritating. Each is so memorable and well written. I just loved following them and seeing all they went through and did. Janner’s love of books was so heart warming to read (how could it not resonate with my own love of books). Tink’s bottomless stomach was hilarious and Leeli’s determination was awesome to see.

When you think of an adventure story, usually you imagine a person (or group) heading off on a journey filled with danger and excitement. But I really liked how this book gave Janner adventures right in his home town. Secrets uncovered (some fully revealed and others still in shadow) and mini adventures show him that the boring little nowhere he grew up in may not be as he thought. This was a spin I could really get behind.

The world was so fascinating and well written. I loved the funky names of all the places and people. It was also so funny and interesting to see how much thought Peterson put into the detail and history of this world (especially seen through the appendices).

As to this being Christian fantasy, the only evidence I saw is a recurring reference to their God figure “the Maker”, a short creation story, and a tiny bit of prayer mentioned. There is nothing in the story that is overtly Christian (a general good vs. evil plot). But perhaps it is built up over the series as a whole and was meant to be more allegorical. 

This was a fantastic story, but I kept waiting and looking for Christian principles and theology to be presented in the context of this world, but it never was. The very expectation was distracting as I read and diminished my enjoyment of the book. I would have thought even more than I already do of the book if I had gone into it thinking it just another non-Christian fantasy or with a general knowledge that the author is Christian, but left it at that.

My only real complaint is how much it irritated me that the adults in Janner’s life so clearly were keeping secrets from the three of them and lying to them. I know they did it “to protect them”, but this just makes me mad. Lying and secret keeping doesn’t protect anyone. Once the doors start opening to the truth coming out (including putting their lives in danger), it is best to just come clean. Trying to keep it covered can only breed distrust, hurt, and anger. Trust is a big trigger for me and this kind of breech is not small and I really don’t like when it is made light of like we see here. “Love” is not an excuse and doesn’t just magically heal the damage done. On top of that one of my favorite characters started behaving in a way that was very inappropriate (no matter the backstory or the characters Advanced age) and no one was correcting him (as if his behavior was okay, even if uncomfortable and not understood). Thankfully the author did 2 things that greatly alleviated any anger I had at him for what seemed to be approval of wrong behaviors like these.

Overall this really was a simply wonderful story. I did have a fantastic time reading it. Apart from my unfulfilled expectations (not a fault of the book or author and not held against either), my only problem with the book is that it hit one of my triggers and for a time really upset me. However, I felt that the author redeemed himself by the end of the book (a very big deal for me) and look forward to reading the next book in the series with much anticipation.