Hello from Madame Sidler! This week I read the introductions and first five chapters of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. As I promised, here is an excerpt from my reading: the part that made me shiver. Something I love about these books is the way they can be spooky and funny all at once. This one is mostly spooky, though! Read it out loud—it’s so deliciously creepy.
Janner Igiby lay trembling in his bed with his eyes shut tight, listening to the dreadful sound of the Black Carriage rattling along in the moonlight. His younger brother Tink was snoring in the bunk above him, and he could tell from his little sister Leeli’s breathing that she was asleep too. Janner dared to open his eyes and saw the moon, as white as a skull, grinning down on him through the window. As hard as he tried not to think about it, the nursery rhyme that had terrified children in the land of Skree for years sang in his head, and he lay there in the pale moonlight, his lips barely moving.
Lo, beyond the River Blapp
The Carriage comes, the Carriage Black
By shadowed steed with shadowed tack
And shadowed driver driving
Child, pray the Maker let you sleep
When comes the Carriage down your street
Lest all your dreams be dreams of teeth
And Carriages arriving
To wrest you from your berth and bower
In deepest night and darkest hour
Across the sea to frozen tower
Where Gnag the Nameless pounds you
At Castle Throg across the span,
A world away from kith and clan
You’ll weep at how your woes began
The night the shadows bound you
Away, beyond the River Blapp,
The Carriage came, the Carriage Black
By shadowed steed with shadowed tack
The night the Carriage found you
—From chapter 1, “The Carriage Comes, the Carriage Black”
Are you reading along? I’d love to hear what lines jumped out at you (possibly literally!) from your own reading. Just post them in the comments! And if you’re at another spot in the books, that’s fine, too. Post away!
There are some great discussions happening in the forum this week. We’re talking about our favorite characters, the song of the ancient stones, secret maps, dealing with bullies, and more. Come hang out with us!
I absolutely love the song about the black carriage. It brings chills every time a read it (the good kind)! I also like the beginning part about Janner falling into the gross stuff because he was wondering what it would be like to be a dragonfly!
This passage is absolutely chilling! 😀 I love how it contrasts the soft whisper of a child’s nursery rhyme with the screaming roar of a nightmare on wheels. 🙂 It was also fun re-reading the thwaps-in-a-garden scene imagining the thwaps from the Creaturepedia! They’re so much cuter than I imagined them! 😀
I’m reading Beowulf and Uncle Tom’s Cabin on top of all my side hobbies, and I don’t have time to read along with the book club. T-T I will enjoy watching the bookclub activity, though.
I love Podo’s playfulness, even if sometimes he is more sincere than playful, and his relationship with his granddaughter, Leeli!
“”Don’t worry, now. I’ll be tossin’ ’em off the cliff straight into the Dark Sea after I eat a few of yer fine hotcakes, honey.” He nodded to Nia, trying to sound less gruff.
Nia’s mouth dropped open. “How could you throw them into the sea?”
Podo scratched his head. “Easy. See, I take this sack here, and I…dump it out. Over the cliff. Simple as that.””
Then, after relenting because of Leeli’s pleading, and after having a conversation with Janner about his responsibilities:
“Podo clapped his hand on the table. “Right, then. Now. There’s something I need you to do for me before you three head out to the festival.” He handed the sack of thwaps to Janner and lowered his voice. “Would you mind dumping these stinkers over the cliff for yer dear Podo?”
Janner’s eyes weidened. “What?”
“Aw, I’m foolin’,” Podo said with disappointment. “I couldn’t do that after Leeli’s little performance.””
I’m sure we all know supposed grown-ups who act about as grown-up as Grandpa Podo… 😉
YES! Loved this part and all of Podo’s humor.
I love this section from the Introduction to the Igiby Cottage (Very Brief). In just a few words, we learn so much about this family, and the way it is stated just makes the light and love in their cottage shine.
As for the Igiby family?
Well, except for the way they always sat late into the night beside the hearth telling stories, and when they sang in the garden while they gathered the harvest, and when the grandfather, Podo Helmer, sat on the porch blowing smoke rings, and except for all the good, warm things that filled their days there like cider in a mug on a winter night, they were quite miserable. Quite miserable indeed, in that land where walked the Fangs of Dang.
This is one of my favorite quotes. ”In the immortal words of Loshain P Stane, if anyone reads this without permission, he will be most certainly and brutally slain. Or at the very least I’ll chop of a finger or two. Or three.”
Oh, Yeah.
I just started reading this to my children (6 and 8). Our goal is to read at least a chapter a night (so it will take a while). Ava’s favorite character is Leeli because it was funny when she threw the hammer up to Tink. And then it fell and hit Janner in the head!