The Immortals, the tenth and final book of the "Edge Chronicles" series, follows young Nate Quarter, a lamplighter in a stormphrax mining facility, who leaves the life he knew behind and travels all across the Edge, to all of the great cities and beyond. This is indeed a sprawling epic, as Nate meets many new friends and enemies and becomes involved in the history of his world, and the novel ultimately brings together characters from past novels to make this a worthy conclusion to the series. Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell have created a fantastic world, populated with strange, yet also very identifiable, characters. This book, as with the rest of the series, boosts your imagination into overdrive, and the effect is almost intoxicating. Four stars.

One note: I read this as an e-book on my Kindle. While I was pleased that the Kindle version includes all of the maps and illustrations, I was disappointed with their poor quality. The Kindle is capable of displaying photo-resolution quality black and white images, but these illustrations were cramped, fuzzy and indistinct. Though I have no hesitation in giving this book four stars, I wish that more care had been taken in scanning the illustrations, as they are such an integral part of experiencing the world of the Edge. ( )

fun to read, lots of action and plenty of imagination. Loved the illustrations, just wanted to colour them in though ( )

The Immortals is the 10th book in The Edge Chronicles, a series that has somehow passed me by so far. After finishing this book, however, that is about to change.. I’ve already started one of the earlier books! The Edge Chronicles are a fantasy series for older children, although it has many fans of all ages.

This book is being marketed as the final book in the series, but also as an epic stand alone read, ideal as an introduction for new readers. This was, I admit something I wasn’t too sure about - was it really possible to step into a series at the end, and not be totally confused?

It turns out that it is completely possible, and the key to this seems to be that The Immortals is set some time into the future, with a rapidly developing world, and of course, new characters.

The world that has been created for this series is so well imagined, there are so many areas, with different ways of life, and many different creatures and characters - and yet not once did I get lost or confused. This is of course aided by the wonderful illustrations found throughout the book, especially the maps. It’s a great example of how illustrations can add to and enhance a novel.

Moving on to the book itself, The Immortals tell the story of Nate Quarter, a lamplighter from the mines, as he travels from one end of The Edge to the other. It’s a story of self discovery, set in the story of a changing world, complete with battles and revolutions. The main characters are well imagined, and well developed, to the point that I was sad to say goodbye as I finished the book.

For existing fans of the chronicles, The Immortals offers a new story, and new characters, whilst also wrapping up old stories, and bringing the series to a satisfying close. For new readers, it really is a good introduction - it’s a great stand alone read, but also hints at past events, at a level just right to encourage you to go back and explore past stories.