internationalkris's review
3.0
Knife's Edge is a rollicking sea adventure in a graphic novel format. Twins Cleo and Alex journey with their ailing father and Captain Tarboro to find the treasure that may have been hidden by their lost mother in the Marshall Islands. Alex is learning all he can to be a future ship's captain but as a girl, Cleo is looking for a different destiny. She convinces Tarboro to give her some sword fighting lessons but she would really like to find an adventurous female mentor of her own. Time for future dreams has to be put on hold as the ship races to outrun the pirate Felix Warley. This is a gripping story with good art work; it's Book 2 in the Four Points series.
turrean's review
3.0
Solid second installment. I missed a couple of the characters from book #1, and found the "love interest" eye-rollingly unsuitable. I enjoyed the character development and found the storm at sea thrilling.
emeraldreverie's review
3.0
A fun pirate adventure. Leans a little much of gender roles, while also trying to defy them, but not showing the distinction clearly enough. Good art, great colors. I liked it.
deadpoesociety's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Gore
missprint_'s review
2.0
This series isn't really living up to its potential for me. And it's just not a story about 12 year olds. They should be 14 at least. Interesting and I'm curious to see what happens next but it's not a series I need to own.
elyssam's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
Uh, what did I just read? I feel like the adventuring part was still pretty solid. But, I don't know, Cleo's story just didn't sit right with me. There are also poor depictions of native Pacific Islanders (at the beginning of the book mostly, and I guess it can be argued that it is historically accurate? I am not a historian so I don't know but I honestly don't think it is.) And why was the term "savages" used? Everything about it was not great. Furthermore, there was a weird (and barely there) redemption arc for someone. A horrible age-gap relationship (I don't really know the older one's age considering he is referred to as a kid but then again is referred to as too old to be hanging out with kids (12-year-olds) in the first book). Like why would you kiss someone who has constantly threatened your family and treats you horribly just because he doles out a half-baked apology in order to save his own life? Hated it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Violence
iffer's review
3.0
I enjoyed this volume better than the first, because I knew the characters a little better, and there was a little more complexity behind the characters. This was still a fun adventure story, but it felt a little superficial to me, as if the creators didn't do as good of a job as they would've liked communicating the complexity of the family relationships, personal motivations, etc.
teacher2library's review
Reserving judgement until I can find out more about the treatment of native islanders in this story. Liked the themes of family and identity.