The Last of the Sky Pirates

Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's The Last of the Sky Pirates is an Edge Chronicles adventure for 11 year olds about an orphan boy who has grown up in a library hidden in the sewers.

What happens

Rook Barkwater is an under-librarian. That's the very bottom of the pile. The librarian scholars live in tunnels under Undertown, hiding from the people who hate them, and Rook's job is tending the library's books for everyone else.

And what a library! The books are kept on floating wooden desks that bob about on chains above an underground river. Rook knows every pipe and tunnel down there.

He has a nightmare that keeps coming back. Wolves, slave-takers, his mother screaming. He was four when they took his parents, and he was found wandering alone in the Deepwoods. He's never forgotten it.

His best friend is Felix, the High Librarian's son. Felix is big, brave and kind (and hopeless at studying). He's sure to be picked as one of the three young scholars sent off to the Deepwoods. Rook will be left behind.

Who doesn't love an underdog? When the names are read out, the whole chamber gasps. Rook isn't even an apprentice!

There's lots to enjoy before that, too. A pompous under-professor catches Rook reading where he shouldn't be, and kind old Professor Venvax tells him off with a twinkle (his advice is not to get caught next time). Then Felix and Rook chase a six-legged muglump through the tunnels on the morning of the big ceremony.

Meanwhile you get to see the other side. In the Tower of Night, a masked ruler is told about the young travellers. His clever apprentice Xanth asks to follow them in secret. You'll be holding your breath for Rook from then on.

Rook's story starts here, so you meet him from scratch. It's a really good way into a big, dark world.

One thing to know going in. The bad guys are properly menacing. They talk casually about torture, hanging and executions, and a prisoner has been kept in a cell for longer than anyone remembers. Rook's nightmare about losing his parents is upsetting too. A child who's sensitive about families being split up might want a hug nearby.

If you've got a reader who loves a quiet hero who's better than he thinks, they'll be cheering for Rook.

What to read next

If they want to stay in the Edge, Beyond the Deepwoods is about Twig, another boy who has never fitted in, who was found as a baby and raised by woodtrolls in that same vast forest.