Another week into the editing and I'm down to 88,000 words.  There are definitely diminishing returns in this editing lark (because I am trying not to make changes to the actual story) but i'm quite impressed with how far I've come. The book started at 118,500 words, so that's 30,000 gone.  I think I will aim for maybe 11k more and that will be challenge enough. 

I've done some research and the first Harry Potter book was 77,000 words, the first Skulduggery Pleasant was 75,000, the first Artemis Fowl book was 57,000 (seemed bigger at the time) and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was 87,223.  Given this range I think aiming for the high 70s is a) the best I can hope to manage without losing significant story elements and b) about right when you look at the market.  I could never tell the story in under 60,000 words and I think Rick Riordan was lucky to get away with 87,000 for a middle grade book like Percy Jackson.

I intend to edit for a couple more days then take a break for a few before coming back to it.  Hopefully this will be the final stretch before it's where my industry contact thinks it needs to be.