Quint Verginix is a knight academic at the great Academy of Sanctaphrax. His father, Wind Jackal, is a Sky Pirate, or a ship master of one of the great sky-ships. Quint has been taken from Sanctaphrax by his father to in search of his father's greatest enemy, Turbot Smeal.
At one time, Turbot Smeal worked for his father as a quartermaster, but when Turbot would have sold a rescued crew of slaves to another set of slavers, for a hefty profit, Wind Jackal and his quartermaster parted ways. But Turbot Smeal had his revenge by firing much of the city of Undertown, a fire which claimed the life of Quint's mother and four brothers, as well as much of the city. Turbot Smeal was supposedly burned to death in the same conflagration, but now he has returned, and apparently he wants revenge on Wind Jackal. And Wind Jackal wants the company of his son, Quint.
But Quint doesn't come alone on this journey, he is accompanied by his close friend Maris Pallitax, the daughter of Wind Jackal's best friend, the former headmaster of Sanctaphrax. Also along for the ride is the crew of Wind Jackal's sky ship, the Galerider: Filbus Queep the Quartermaster, Spillins, the ancient oakelf lookout for the ship, Ratbit, a mobgnome, Steg Jambles, the harpooner, Tem Barkwater, Sagbutt, the fierce goblin brawn and warrior, and their pilot, The Stone Pilot, an ever-silent woman who almost never removes the black rones and point-shaped tall hood of her profession.
On the journey, they also meet another young sky pirate named Thaw Daggerslash, who seems to be constantly near them when they go in search of Turbot Smeal. Thaw wants nothing more than to command his own sky ship, but with a lack of money, he can only buy himself a mere canoe compared to the Galerider. But he aims high, wanting to inscribe his name on the tables at the Tarry Vine tavern next to the other famous Sky Pirates.
As Quint, Maris and Wind Jackal fulfill the Galerider's shipping contracts, they find Thaw again at the great Shrike Slave Market, where Thaw has sold his only crew-mate, an Albino Banderbear, into slavery. Claiming that it was done by an unscrupulous crewmate, Thaw prevails upon Wind Jackal to free the Banderbear, which he buys back with a crate of candles from Undertown. Then, Wind Jackal takes the two into his crew to replace losses of the crew he has had, and when he pursues Turbot Smeal onto an abandoned and overgrown wreck of a Sky Galleon, Smeal stabs Wind Jackal, then is killed by Thaw.
After Wind Jackal's funeral, a new captain must be elected on the ship. Since there are two qualified for the position, Thaw and Quint, the crew must select between them by giving their choice shryke teeth. Whoever gets the most teeth in 36 hours will be the new captain. Quint gets the tooth from Spillins right away, as the Oakelf can see Thaw's aura and it is the worst he has ever seen. Quint also gets one from Tem Barkwater, who is fed up with the unkind jokes Thaw has made about him being a former slave. Thaw gets one from Duggin, to whom he promises his Sky barge, and another. With the vote tied at two each, Thaw picks the tooth from the Stone Pilot's robe and drops it overboard. When the time comes to vote, the lone deciding vote falls to Maris. When she sees the look of gloating on his face as the Stone Pilot frantically searches for her tooth, she hands her tooth to Quint. Thaw is devastated, but tries not to show it, and the next morning he is gone.
Quint delivers the last cargo, a load of bloodoak timber, and hears that the merchants of Undertown are going to get rid of the Sky Pirates and found their own fleet. Quint warns the other Sky pirates, and takes three of his fellow Sky-Knights into his crew to replace those that have gone missing. And then it is on to the Wilderness Lair, where the Sky Pirates have regrouped to plan what they will do next. When the merchants take the battle to them, the Sky Pirates fight back, until the merchants bring out their secret weapon, a massive Sky battleship bearing the largest flight rock ever grown. With it, the battleship is faster and more maneuverable than any Sky Pirate ship, and it's up to Quint and his crew to somehow defeat it and save the day.
This is a great series, and even if the focus of the stories leaps around in time from character to character, the whole is pretty amazing. Both the writer. Paul Stewart, and the artist, Chris Riddell come up with some ugly, amazing and flat-out outlandish designs for the other races Quint and the rest of the characters meet. This also carries over into the designs of natural animals and trees in the illustrations that are scattered throughout the books. Even the main race, respresented by Quint, Maris and Quint's father, aren't really human but bear more of a resemblance to elves, with pointed ears and snub noses.
This book may not be to everyone's taste, but as an example of Juvenile Fantasy, it's hard to beat.
I also got a chance to read some more manga today. Pantheon High #2, Trigun #12, Zatch Bell #17 and Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle #16.
In Trigun, the ships from earth have arrived, with two plants on board. One of them is taken over by Knives, but Vash forces a showdown with his brother. It all comes down to; Will Vash be able to shoot to kill his brother? And we also get to see the origin of Legato Bluesummers and why he is so devoted to Knives.
In Pantheon High, The school is now safe, and the gods have defeated the godlings who took over the school. But the other students are still in enchanted sleep, and two of the four godlings who defended the school, Griffin and Grace were devoured by Jorgmunder the World Serpent and got taken to the afterlife.
Since Griffin is the son of Hades, this is no big for him. As the son of the God of the Dead, this is where he belongs, right? Grace, on the other hand, got her hand mangled and due to a bite from Idun's golden apples, lies on the brink of life and death. She is taken to Valhalla by the Valkyries, but they break out and have to make their way home by travelling through the afterlives of various pantheons.
Meanwhile the other two remaining students, Aziza, daughter of the Sun-God Ra and Yukio, son of the Japanese luck Goddess Benten, are sent to rival school Gilgamesh High until the other students can be revived. Gilgamesh High is attended by the children of the Aztec, Hindu, Mesopotamian and Pacific Island Gods. Yukio is recruited for the Tlachtli team by Khetan, son of a Goddess of Bad Luck. But when the other students are revived, Yukio is challenged to a Tlachtli match according to the ancient rites, which means the losing team will be sacrificed to the Gods of the winning team. How fast can Yukio learn the game?
Meanwhile, someone is stealing the God's symbols of power, without which, the Gods are mostly powerless. It's now up to Aziza, Yukio, Katya, the daughter of Bastet and Joanna, daughter of Isis, to find out who has been stealing them and find them and bring them back before the evil gods can overpower the good ones. Due to the timely return of Grace and Griffin, and Yukip managing to end the Tlachtli match in a draw, the crisis is averted. But can they defeat Headmaster Prometheus, who seems to be behind the whole thing?
In Tsubasa, the group has come to Tokyo, but the return of Syaoran brings forward some hard truths about his origins, and a surprising betrayal from within the team. Can Sakura bring Syaoran back to himself before he kills everyone else? And what will this mean to Clow Reed, sorceror and not-so-nice-guy to whom Sakura is his inheritor and Syaoran his spiritual successor. When Syaoran has his soul drained away, what can be left?
And in Zatch Bell, the fight against the Mamudo from 1000 years ago is nearing its end. Zatch and the others face off against Demolt, the guardian of stone and strongest of the 1000 year old Mamudo. Sherry and her Mamudo Brago must face the manipulative Mamudo Zofia and his partner, Sherry's old friend Koko, who has apparently turned evil and become a partner to Zofis. Can Sherry keep her heart and strength of purpose when Koko reveals their entire friendship was based on a lie?
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