Peter R. S. Thomas

Category: Books that made me

  • The Edge Chronicles

    The Edge Chronicles

    This series will forever be one of my favourites. It was my favourite as a boy and, rereading the books now, I’m still in love. And how could I not be? The world is expansive and diverse, the characters are relatable and compelling, and the illustrations are beautiful (especially in the print books—the ebook version, perhaps not so much… the limitations of technology! Though the maps and many illustrations are available from the official website).

    The series is set on The Edge, a jutting piece of rock that sits amidst a vast expanse—no one has travelled far enough over the edge (outward, upward, or downward) and returned. A river flows into nothingness. But on The Edge are lush and dangerous forests, barren wastelands, marshes and mires, towns and cities (including the floating city of Sanctaphrax). The world is populated by a wide variety of different creatures, some coexisting, some not, from humans to humanoid beings, spindly-legged spider-like creatures, flesh-eating trees, giant banderbears, and much more in between.

    The series follows The Edge at different stages, with storylines focusing on a core of interrelated characters, all descendants of the same family across different generations. The epochs are defined by the stages of flight they go through, from ships mounted with lighter-than-air stones (flight rocks) able to keep them afloat in the sky, to specially varnished buoyant woods, to more industrial sky ships powered by stormphrax. 

    Sky pirates feature heavily, especially in the first two trilogies centred on Twig and Quint (one of the key reasons, obviously, why I love it), and the stories are bound together by sweeping adventures. The reader is taken to the variety of places across The Edge, and they meet numerous different peoples and societies, all wonderfully imagined. Within this world, the stories are able to tackle different themes: race and difference, identity and belonging, nature and industry, slavery and freedom—alongside the more familiar themes of good and evil, right and wrong.

    The world created by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell is captivating and formidable. Enter at your peril, and be prepared to be swept along in breathless adventures to the farthest reaches of the land—and beyond!

  • Master & Commander (Aubrey-Maturin)

    Master & Commander (Aubrey-Maturin)

    One of my favourite sets of stories by far has to be Patrick O’Brian’s Master & Commander series. Set against the backdrop of the French Wars, these follow Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin as they traverse the seas in pursuit of enemy vessels. Full of thrills and adventure, O’Brian takes us in the HMS Surprise across the world, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. The action sequences are exquisite and rich with historical detail; life aboard the naval vessels is meticulously researched, even using terminology of the time. 

    At its heart, the series is about the relationship between Aubrey and Maturin. It explores their initial distaste for one another, and then follows as it transcends into a brotherly love. They are different, but their differences complement the other; one is physical, the other intellectual; one has grace at sea, the other deportment on land; one is traditional, the other experimental. Both are united by their loyalty to one another, their shared interests in music and wordplay, and their duty.

    Above all, the deep love O’Brian exhibits for the history is what makes the books so captivating. His attention to detail rivals any historian’s work, and this makes the stories rich and vivid. He is also not afraid of abandoning traditional story structures in favour of something that approaches the biographical. (This in comparison to the Sharpe series, which are more formulaic.) And the stories are so lovingly told, with such depth of setting and character, that you can’t help but be drawn in.

    The series has been criticised for its pacing and its correlation to historical timelines; the latter half of the books squeeze in many events over an impossibly short period. In this way the books were a victim of their own success, with O’Brian writing many more than originally conceived. But who can blame O’Brian for wanting to tell every possible story? I know I can’t.

  • On Stranger Tides

    On Stranger Tides

    One of the biggest influences on my writing has been On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. The book is a historical fantasy novel that includes real historical figures, and involves the search for the Fountain of Youth. It is rich with magic, drawing on the ‘voodoo’ of Creole Caribbean culture. For me, one of my favourite parts of the novel is the unusual protagonist—John Chandagnac is a puppeteer, an occupation that is drawn on in a creative and entertaining way towards the end of the novel.

    The characters and their motivations are all incredibly interesting, the magic systems are rich, and the mystical world beyond the real world is beautifully crafted. I loved the story; it did lose me a bit towards the end, and there were times where, for me, the logic and flow didn’t quite work. Some have criticised it for its pacing, which I can see as an issue. But there’s nothing unforgivable. As action and adventure goes, this is a solid offering.

    The book draws on classical elements of pirate lore, such as zombies, sea battles, sword fights, and, of course, voodoo, and interweaves these in an entertaining and original narrative. The voodoo is, as far as I understand it, researched well and in keeping with traditional conceptions of the spirits (e.g., the Loa). 

    It has, of course, had an immense impact on popular culture, famously the Monkey Island video game and The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (though the less said about that film, the better). The mixture of magic and history has directly influenced my own creative writing, and it’s something I’ve explicitly drawn upon or paid homage to in my work. Fans of pirate adventures could do worse than find themselves On Stranger Tides.