Beyond the Deepwoods

Here is a tale of fantastic lands at the edge of the world, where certain rocks float in the air and the feared Deepwoods are crowded with extraordinary trees and creatures. Paul Stewart tells the story with considerable input from Chris Riddell's copious and wonderfully detailed line drawings of fabulous creatures, often reminiscent of Tenniel's or Mervyn Peake's grotesques. Overall the narrative has a familiar shape, as the young lad Twig who's been raised by woodtrolls learns that his destiny lies elsewhere, and blunders off through the Deepwoods to find teeming horrors, unexpected friends, comic menaces, enslavement as a pet, his true parentage, and the nature of his feared nemesis the Gloamglozer. It's all told with joyously inventive relish, and the cavalcade of life never slows: sky pirates, smelly halitoads, hover worms, slaughterers, hammelhorns, caterbirds, skullpelts, bloodoaks, gyle goblins and their Grossmother, spindlebugs, milchgrubs, banderbears, wig-wigs resembling carnivorous tribbles, the very disgusting rotsucker, and more--each illustrated in loving detail. Though generally reviewed as a novel for children (like Stewart's previous books), Beyond the Deepwoods is more grown-up than many a routine "adult" fantasy series, and has the kind of compulsive readability that makes Harry Potter a treat for older readers too. Twig's saga, "The Edge Chronicles", continues in Stormchaser. -- David Langford

View other editions of Beyond the Deepwoods.
View books by Chris Riddell, Paul Stewart.

great for kids! - Rated
this was my fave series of books when i was younger my mum read the first ones to me when i was 9 or 10 and then i graduated on to reading them myself! they captured my imagination, sparked a love of reading, and my mum enjoyed them aswel!
would recomend to any young teen!

Wonderful... - Rated
I absolutely adore this book, it's so imaginative and it will sweep you away! The characterisation, interesting vocabulary... and the drawings, are all amazing.

lone gunslinger -a childrens review - Rated
brilliant stuff!chris riddel and paul stewart make the perfect team.packed full of slaughterers,hover worms,gyle--goblins,banderbears,woodtrolls,termagant trogs,rotsuckers,caterbirds,wig---wig's,sky pirates,skullpelts,hammelhorns,bloodoak's,tarry -vines,gabtrolls,halitoads,grossmothers,spindlebugs,milchgrubs,fromps,quarm-s,woodwolves,and the evil gloamglozer himself!an all-round great read!!!!

A brilliant book - Rated
This is an amazing adventure about Twig's journey beyond the deepwoods.It is a thrilling story and a lot better book than I imagined.It amazes you and makes you want to read the next book in the series - 'Stormchaser'.

I don't normally read fantasy and i'm not a kid... - Rated
... but i did really enjoy this book. It's a non-stop set of scenes where twig always seems to get into big trouble and then get himself out of it.

The illustrations are really good and there are lots of them (one every 2 or 3 pages). The book won't take an adult long to get through but s/he will enjoy the ride.

Recommended!!