The Edge of the World

Terra Incognita, Book 1

By: Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a world of sea monsters, mermaids and lost islands, ghost ships, leviathans and weather witches, only the impetuous, the brave or the mad seek adventure at sea.

After generations of friction, the leaders of two lands meet in the holy city of Ishalem to bring an end to the bloodshed and to divide the world between them.

Sadly, this new spirit of fellowship is shortlived. A single tragic accident destroys, in minutes, the peace that took years to build. The world is once more cast into the fires of war - and this time the flames may burn until nothing remains. From the highest lord to the lowest servant, no man or woman will be unchanged by the conflict.

But while war rages across both continents, a great quest will defy storms and sea serpents to venture beyond the horizon, where no maps exist - to search for a land out of legend. It is a perilous undertaking, but there will always be the impetuous, the brave and the mad who are willing to leave their homes to explore the unknown.

Even unto the edge of the world . . .

©2009 Kevin J. Anderson (P)2009 Hachette Audio

When an Audiobook doesn't work.

I am not a big fan of Kevin J. Anderson but I have not read much of his work and what I did read was created by others (Star Wars books and such). This book had an interesting description and it was something new so I tried it.

The world the Author creates is lush and detailed. It shows off the wonderful imagination of Anderson and his fine attnetion to detail. What I don't like about his writing is that in many cases its self-conscious or articficial. A lot of Science Fiction and fantasy has this problem nowadays. For example at times the names of objects don't seem even remotely realistic or sound more descriptive than a real name would be. I can't quote a specific instance but it would be like saying "Patagonian Cow Meat" instead of "steak". Read through the book and you would find these instances.

Another problem is the dialogue. It is not very good either. The characters, although psychologically interesting don't come accross as real. However, all in all its not too bad.

The worst problem, though, has nothing to do with the author. Scott Brick (a featurer narrator by the way) is a terrible reader. He reads everything with the same sarcastic sing-song. I listened to "Blade Runner" which was read by Brick and in that book, it sort of worked, but it is totally out of place in this work.

If you like Kevin J. Anderson, buy the book and read it yourself because whatever problems I may have had with it, I probably would have enjoyed "The Edge of the World" much better without Scott Brick.

Decent read if you read Saga of the Seven Suns

I was a huge fan of Sage of the Seven Suns so I had to give this one a read. I am not going to comment on the narration, Scott Brick did a good job. The story is good but it starts of very confusing. It took me about half way though the book until I realized who was with what fraction. Anderson does a good job re-iterating who is with who, so eventually you will get it. This is very similar to the Seven Suns except this story has a lot less action. If you like the political aspects of Saga then I am sure you will enjoy this read. Anderson did a great job of creating scenarios I didn't see coming. There is one in particular that just shocked me. I don't want to give it away but I was pleasantly surprised and this action seemed to "fit" with what Anderson was building up to all along for this character. I was just surprised in the way and suddenness it took place. All in all a decent/average read. Saga was much better, and I think Anderson feels more comfortable writing in a sci-fi world but this was a decent attempt on his part. I am still undecided if I want to get the next one. It was decent enough for me to consider the next one, but not so great that I have to see how this story ends. Basically this is an average story.

An Anderson Saga--Please Write Faster

Like the Saga of Seven Suns, Anderson proves he is a sadist. Writing interminable sagas. My misfortune was coming in on the beginning of this one. Now in my mid-sixties, I hope I live long enough to hear "the rest of the story."

Anderson throws in enough human interest sub-plots to keep one yearning to find out what happens next. For one, I wanted a little more juice in the Cleoparia finale. It would be a spoiler to say any more.

Sagas have a way of stretching your attention span. My wife, ha ha, thought we would die before the end of The Saga of Seven Suns. This saga is so different, set in a medieval world. I think this is a commentary on Earth's world religions. It takes awhile to figure out which group represents Christians, Muslims, secularists, and various sects. Don't rush to judgment. That's part of the fun in this opening salvo, figuring out who's who in this saga. I hope Anderson doesn't trash the Christian-like group, the cheap shot so many journalists and novelists take whenever portraying Christians. It's boring in its predictability. Sagan was kind to religionists in Contact, making the evangelist compassionate and human rather than a bizarre abberation so many writers make of Christians. (I am a Christian in case you were wondering, and happy to be one.)

The religious aspects of this saga are not spelled out as Muslim, Christian, and secular. Kevin doesn't throw it in your face. He doesn't vilify one group and exalt the other, yet he does keep the religious conflict high in the order of things--the interactions between Urabins(Muslims) and the Aidenists (Christian) is scary, bloody, and pitiless for the most part.

I noticed people are bad-mouthing Scott Brick. No way. Scott does a wonderful job, as he always does. He's a great reader and worth whatever small fortune they pay him.

Have fun, and take your time with this book. It's not great literature, but it sure is worth listening to.

Don't be a dope like me

LOL, I can't believe what a dope I am, I listened to both part one and two, and halfway through part three before I gave it up. This book is most likely the first in a trilogy, or worse (more than three). If you like to hear a very boring narrator recite the rules and beliefs of a made up religon, and a made up history of a planet, and a boring war, then read on. If your not sure, please listen to the sample first. If you can take Scott Brick's monotonous reading for more than ten minutes, you might like the story. But don't blame me if you lose interest well before I did. I feel kind of bad that I don't remember the names of narrators that I like, but I'll never forget the name Brick, and I'll never listen to another of his titles.

A Fantasy similar to the time of Columbus

This Story takes place in world not unlike that of the late 1400's. Exploration and mapping of the world is not yet complete, and fantasy creatures like sea-serpents exist (Except in this world they are not magical but natural creatures). The Story focuses around two nations one resembling 1400 Spain and the other a Middle Eastern Empire of around the same year. Now put Spain where America is and the Middle Eastern Empire where Europe is and connect the land by a small isthmus and you have the known world set out in the book.

This Book takes place of about 30 years or so and introduces at least a dozen main characters on both sides. The characters are all well developed and their individual stories which in turn affect the greater world are extremely interesting. In addition the book develops both political and religious plots between the kingdoms which in turn brings them to war and as part of the cycle, the war affects each character in turn. All the plots are well developed and while it seems like the world of the 1400's you are continually surprised at how much originality the author creates.

As regards Narration, its Scott Brick, what else needs to be said.

This book is very hard to review because it is so different from anything else I have read. If this helps, I would liken it to the original Dune but put into a non-scifi context, but even that falls short of describing this book.

I purchased this book on a whim and and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope my rambling, long-winded review helps you in some small way to decide if this is a book for you.

Not a bad start

I enjoyed this book and found the set up of this fantasy world quite interesting. Definately worth reading. However, I was annoyed that the last full segment of this book is an interview with the author.

wondering

I'm still trying to figure out why it says that it's 20hrs long but one part is 6 hrs and the
the other part is 7 hrs,,that's not no 20 hrs book and it's book 1 so where is book 2?????

Epic

Looking forward to the next book. Scott Brick is a wonderful narrator - with so many voices and Kevin Anderson creates a complex epic fantasy - not your typical magical land- that you feel the history and politics of that could be real. Enjoyed the many characters and story lines - all coming together very nicely as the story goes on and on.

A Fantastic Tale

Would you listen to The Edge of the World again? Why?

Yes- A great adventure is always worth a reread after a year or two.

Any additional comments?

I look forward to additional titles in this series.

Just keep reading

Like my title says, just keep reading. It takes a bit to get into it, but it is well worth the time.
Excellent books.