When young librarian knight Rook Barkwater is taken captive and forced to work for Vox Verlix – nominally the Most High Academe, but no more than a prisoner in reality – he stumbles across a terrible truth. Vox is brewing a plot to destroy the goblins and the shrykes at a stroke, so that he can seize control of the Edgeworld for himself.
Can Rook foil Vox's plan and save the lives of his librarian friends and colleagues?
Vox is the second book of the Rook Saga – third trilogy in The Edge Chronicles, the internationally best-selling fantasy series, which has featured on the UK and the New York Times best-seller lists and sold more than 3 million copies. There are now 13 titles and four trilogies in the series, but each book is a stand-alone adventure, so you can read The Edge Chronicles in any order you choose.
Paul Stewart is a highly regarded author of books for young readers – from picture books to football stories, fantasy and horror. Together with Chris Riddell he is co-creator of the bestselling Edge Chronicles, which has sold more than three million copies and is available in over twenty languages. They have also collaborated together on lots of other exciting books for children of all ages. The Far-Flung Adventure series includes the Gold Smarties Prize Winner Fergus Crane, and Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, both Silver Nestle Prize Winners. Then there are the Barnaby Grimes books, two Muddle Earth adventures, and the sci-fi Scavenger and fantasy Wyrmeweald trilogies. For younger readers there is the Blobheads series, while for the very young, Paul has written several picture books, including the Rabbit and Hedgehog series, In the Dark of the Night and, his latest, Wings.
Other authors by this name disambiguation Note: Paul Stewart - business and management books
Vox Verlix is a bully and a usurper. He’s the one who created the Guardians of Night who now rule over New Sanctaphrax. But his own creation eventually turned against him. Vox fled to the Palace of Statues and surrounded himself with booby-traps to keep his enemies out. And all this time, he’s been plotting his revenge.
Rook gets hit by an explosion and crashes down from the sky.
This undeniably feels like the middle book of a trilogy. Rook’s adventure after crashing down doesn’t do much for the development of the overarching plot, though it does help flesh Rook out more as a character. And Vox’s storyline feels more like a standalone plot to give this second book in the trilogy a satisfying conclusion so it can stand on its own, while still setting things up for the next book. And both storylines of course further explore the magnificent world building this series has to offer.
I will say that this one does a good job of building up tension and intensifying the story with more action and higher stakes than the previous one. But its main purpose is simply laying the groundwork for the next and final installment of the trilogy.
It is a stunning continuation sequel of Rook series; in the Last of the Sky Pirates, the sky ships were not able to float in sky so that The library knights had invented a new vehicle, like a hang-glider. It can be used without floatstone to levitate in sky. In Vox, the story is continuing with a librarians knight hero Hook who was fallen from sky that leaded him to a unfamiliar area from his usual patrol route. And it was his new adventure in Vox the second book of Rook.
Still more whimsical and abhorrent creatures, new characters and conspiracies in the continuation of the seventh books of Edge Chronicle. A hush and perilous environment with some exalt and stalwart moments of our Liberians knights and other characters.
This is not usual to see a fantasy world has been being delicately changed its Environments, in later sequels. This is one of the factors I love this series the most, always can see new setting and changes in later books of the Edge Chronicles. Secondly Is that always new creatures or spices emerge in each books with fabulous illustrations on the pages, to satisfied my reading experience.
Not always a hero variously win his day fantasy, more brutal and normally grey fantasy to readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
As a child there was one series of books, above all others, that caught my imagination: The Edge Chronicles. I used to prance around my garden pretending to be a sky pirate and you can’t imagine the excitement when I first went on a boat, the closest thing to a sky pirate ship that I could access. Okay, in my defense I was about six at the time, not that I’m saying I have grown out of the feeling!
However, there was one of the trilogies that I couldn’t get into… Rook’s. I guess the lack of proper sky craft was too much for me! A few weeks ago I managed to read ‘The Last of the Sky Pirates’ all the way through for the first time which left me ready to tackle the second book ‘Vox’…
Naturally, I loved it!
There is something quite fantastic about the way in which these books conjure up a whole new world that is quite amazing yet somehow believable. From the characters to the places to the creatures, Paul Stewart’s writing, reinforced by Chris Riddell’s illustrations, creates vivid concepts that are exciting in their own right!
In ‘Vox’ we get to discover more vividly what has become of the world beyond the Deepwoods as Rook returns from his time training and writing. This is what sets the book apart from the others in the series, I feel. There has always been a contrast between good and evil but it’s always been on a small scale. In this installment we see just how deep reaching the corruption truly is and we also come to appreciate how impossible it is for the ‘good forces’ to possibly win out. This made the book a lot darker than its earlier counterparts. Another aspect that I felt made ‘Vox’ more disturbing was the interaction between the people in Vox’s household. Their behaviours, be they threatening or loving, were tainted by an implication of obsession that made them seem exceptionally dark. I couldn’t help but feel that, although younger readers wouldn’t notice these overtones to the same degree therefore the book is perfectly suitable for them , this book is really a lot more adult that earlier installments.
Something I also really appreciated was the way in which this book, perhaps more so than the previous novel, was obviously set later than the Quint and Twig trilogies. There was a real feeling of a progression of time and this added to the entire atmosphere. I also love the small ties to the past and to previous novels.
I don’t really know if I can go into any more detail without giving major plot points away or going over aspects of previous books so I’ll leave this one here. Will certainly be reading “Freeglader” when I can to my book collection again!
[3.5 Stars] I liked this one okay. I didn't think much really happened, and I didn't care for Vox either. I'm curious about what will happen next in the story, but the Edge just isn't the same in this trilogy as it was in the past ones. It isn't as magical and whimsical. It's dark and not nearly as exciting. Hopefully the last book in this trilogy will bring back some of the excitement and glory of the Edge that the other two trilogies had.
Der schwarze Mahlstrom bedroht Unterstadt. Kann man ihn aufhalten. Bringt er die erhoffte Erlösung oder stürzt er alles in Chaos? Aber da es der zweite Teil um Rook ist, werden wir erst in"Rook in den Freien Tälern" erfahren, wie die Geschichte ausgeht.
3.5 This was the most depressing book in the series so far. It describes the new situation in Undertown and surrounding places and it was really bleak and dark. The real action starts only in the last third of the book. It gives an update about some previous characters and introduces a few new ones. It's a transition book, I think, and I hope the next one will be more dynamic and not so depressing. I mean, in all the books there is trouble and conflict, but this was different, everything seemed hopeless and dark, a lot of cruelty and violence and suffering. It was well written, as always, but it was difficult to swallow. Still, looking forward to the next one. The ending is really suspenseful and opens up a lot of possibilities.
Wow! The action never stopped with this one. Poor Rook had everything thrown at him and it was gratifying to see him pull through in the end. All the nasty characters in this book had their comeuppance too, which was very satisfying! Looking forwards to getting my teeth into the final book to see how Rook’s journey comes to an end :)
The book started out pretty slow, but tension started to build up in the middle part, and the ending was very exiting and satisfying.
I enjoyed this sequel mostly for its atmosphere and foreshadowing. Though some of the plot development was based on characters being dumb.
One thing really unnecessary in this book was the fatphobia directed towards one character. You can write a pathetic character without constantly mentioning their body weight and degrading them based on it!
Continuing my journey through the Edge Chronicles books we have reached Vox, the second book in Rook's trilogy.
The recommended reading order places this book after the Quint trilogy, although publication dates reveal that two of the Quint books were actually written later. This shows somewhat in the style: a little less established, a little less mature.
Tonally, in fact, the first part of this book felt a lot like a return Beyond The Deepwoods; Rook's adventures on his way back to the library had that same feel of a series of unconnected hazards to be overcome. Stewart and Riddell's storytelling has progressed a lot since that first novel, though, and the seemingly disparate obstacles are all part of a larger web that pulls together towards the end.
Our cast is the familiar carbon copy collection of brave young heroes and dastardly villains that readers of the series will have come to expect. The Edge Chronicles have found their formula and know that it works. The effect, however, is one of comfort rather than weariness, and Riddell's delightful illustrations ensure that the latest models are always bold and memorable.
For me, as for many other readers, the highlight of this series is always discovering new and fascinating parts of the world. Vox does not disappoint. The new map of this late evolution of Undertown alone has plenty to digest, and forays into Screetown, glimpses of the Sanctaphrax Forest, and the changes wrought to our familiar Edgeworld provide an abundance of new fodder.
This is, in terms of setting, a darker novel than many previous. Climate crisis, institutionalised slavery and might-is-right power structures can feel uncomfortably close for those of us coming to these books with an adult awareness of the world. Nevertheless, the creators remain sensitive to their target demographic; they may push, but never too far, and there is always a hero around to save the day.
Overall, Vox is a somewhat middling contribution to the series but continues to showcase Stewart and Riddell's unlimited imagination with page-turning aplomb.
I would've been content if Vox had solely been about Vox and his little prison-menagerie of Gormenghastian servants. But maybe the Palace of Statues is sweeter for how brief it is. Vox himself gets little screen-time for a book named for him, but he does have a wide-reaching effect on the book as a whole. While his architectural exploits were alluded to in the previous book, here we find out how exactly how his life played out. He comes off as a nearly-tragic man, someone who could've been great if it weren't for an armful of flaws which end up condemning him. Beyond his past, the whole plot of this book is shaped by Vox's actions. One particular character detail I didn't notice before: Vox makes all his servants wear clothes with the Sanctaphraxian chequerboard hems. The librarians don't wear them, and the goblin matrons seen earlier in the book don't wear them either, but Hestera and Flambusia both wear the large headdress worn in the current era. His servants keep up with current fashions, but he makes them include the chequerboard so he can live his nostalgic fantasies of being an important Sanctaphraxian.
Though he participates in events, Rook is not a driving force in this book, which I suppose is mostly true of the whole series. The protagonists are almost always swept up in something bigger than themselves. Here it fits with the theme of capture and slavery, so for once the hero isn't merely unlinking some chains and moving along. It's not exactly heartrending stuff, but it's a step up from the usual manner the subject is treated in this series.
This book marks only the second full-scale battle scene in the series after "Cloud Wolf". Here the bloodthirst of S.&R. is for once visited not on the associates of the protagonists but on the armies of the villains. Just about the only thing I remember about Freeglader is that there's a big battle, and war was a major theme of Immortals and the latter two Cade and Quint books. It's an interesting shift in subject matter for the series over time.
This one and the next are clearly the weakest books in the Edge Chronicles... Boring, tedious, and way too dark compared to the other sagas. War is never an interesting topic in fantasy.
There honestly isn't really much to say about this book that I already said about The Last of the Sky Pirates. The world building is still great, the drawings still blow my mind, etc. One thing that I will add about this book was Xanth's storyline (Seriously, if you like redemption arcs, then I HIGHLY recommend this series). I did kind of hint at it in my review of Last of the Sky Pirates, but since it's more prevalent in this book I guess it bears repeating. It's so sad how underrated these books are.
The reason that I'm docking a star on this one for a couple reasons: - The pacing. I wouldn't say that this book was boring, or even all that slow. But Rook is a slave for a good chunk of the book and we get quite a lot of POVs from other characters so I just didn't feel like it had the same action and suspense that the previous book did. But, it did start and finish pretty strong. - The fatphobia I don't really feel obligated to point out these kinds of thing if I didn't notice them, except I did notice it :/ This book was published in 2005, and I feel like there wasn't as much of push for this kind of political correctness, for lack of a better term (or maybe there was and I just didn't notice because I was 10 years old). Still, it's not a great look. But aside from that, this book is still amazing!
I don't understand why this series isn't more well known. Great characters and character development, mint plotting and scheming by multiple factions, congruence of themes and consistent morality throughout. Setup, execution, and follow through done so well it just shames many 'adult' books. So many things done so well, and all within the confines of a book ostensibly for children.
That being said, there was some savage violence in this one- I think I counted at least three intentional executions and accompanying illustrations. In my opinion it serves to heighten the stakes and show what could occur should the protagonist fail. Beyond that, it drives home the fact that there is danger inherent in the world, and does not shy away from it, which I appreciate.
Also, the setpieces and worldbuilding are simply top tier. Even throwaway scenes that in other books would be side notes are here treated with detail and care and developed so much as to leave a lasting impression. There's a multitude of locales in this book and overall series that are distinct, impressive, and instantly recognizable- and that is a massive achievement.
One could make an argument for morality coding using the different races, but I don't mind too much- there's a simplicity to it, a shorthand for the different types of people in the world. Redwall is guilty of it too, but again, technically a book for children. Even then races like dwarves and elves get painted with similar sweeping gestures, so I'd argue it lies within the bounds of socially accepted stereotypes.
This is a fantastic book and I greatly enjoyed it. Strongly recommend to
It's crazy to think that these were some of the first books I ever read as a child. This series can often be brutal (and not just for a kids series) and at times the jarringly callous acts of cruelty and violence can be shocking even as an adult who reads that kind of stuff all the time. But it's not just the beheadings, disembowelings, snapped necks, and gaping bloody wounds - of which there is a notable amount - but the downright complexity of the world that has me taken aback. The way every single aspect of the world is thought out, from the wildlife to the technology to the political factions, and the patient interweaving of different plot points that is revealed methodically in a way that doesn't hold your hand in the way one might expect from a YA book. I read a good deal of fantasy and this level of world building and storytelling is pretty much on par with a lot of the more "mature" stuff I read, and it's been an absolute treat going back to where my reading journey began and feeling like it's pretty much exactly where I naturally ended up at 33 years old
Wat heb ik weer genoten van dit deel van de klif-kronieken! Roek is, net als in het vorige deel, de hoofdpersoon en we kijken grotendeels met hem mee. Roek leeft in een wonderlijke wereld vol vreemde wezens. Het leven op het Klif gaat niet bepaald over rozen en dit deel lijkt duisterder dan de vorige delen. We hebben de Krijsvogels, de kobolden, de nachtwakers en de bibliotheekridders en ze staan allemaal lijnrecht tegenover elkaar. Veel kan ik niet vertellen over het verhaal zonder te veel te verklappen, dus jullie moeten het allemaal maar gewoon zelf gaan lezen. Wat mijn betreft is het onvoorstelbaar dat deze boeken niet gelezen worden in Nederland. Allemaal doen dus!
This was an interesting continuation in the adventures of Rook Barkwater. The annoyance with this one was that there was a big build up to something in the previous book that is very quickly removed at the beginning of this one. This becomes more of a survival and perseverance tale as one fate after another befalls the hapless Rook. As usual, the characters have a lot more depth to them than is expected and the story often deviates from the predictable. I read this aloud to my 11-year-old who did enjoy this a lot and loved looking at the pictures. I thought this was better than the previous book and am looking forward to reading the concluding book.
This book is SO good. If the last book was a dark twist on the Edge Chronicles world, this book is a deeper look at some of the individuals who have shaped the world from what it was to how it is now. And the best part, this book has SO MANY full page illustrations! More than I can remember in any of the previous books. And even a two-page spread illustration near the end. Absolutely incredible, I'm so hyped to re-read the next book in the series.
Already the sixth book I currently read from the Edge chronicles. Although listed as a teenage fantasy novel, it is written which such splendour and pace I as an adult can't stop reading. Riddell and Stewart have created a fast spinning world and this book takes us again deeper into the adventures of the Edge.
This is my favourite in the series so far. It has a super satisfying ending, with all threads drawn together in a big complex clash and a twist to top it off. It was the one I thought I wouldn't like, but it's very good.
My favorite book in the Rook trilogy. The fascinating adventures of the Edge continue! "Vox" is a great follow-up to the previous installment while being a heart-pounding adventure of its own. The constant blend of danger and hope really makes these stories one of a kind. I can't wait to read the conclusion of Rook's journey. What will be the fate of the Free Glades and the long-persecuted librarian knights?
Wasn't sure what the goal was with this book till about 2/3 the way through. Still I was happy to go along for the ride navigating life in the Edge. It is worth reading through with all the action at the end. I look forward to reading about how life adjusts to the changed world in the next book.