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The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme #1
The Floating Island
Librarian Note: alternative cover of B004L62EZ8.
Long ago, in the Second Age of history, a young Nain explorer by the name of Ven Polypheme traveled much of the known and unknown world, recording his adventures. Recently discovered by archaeologists, a few fragments of his original journals are reproduced in this book. Great care has been taken to reconstruct the parts of the journal that did not survive, so that a whole story can be told...Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme--known as Ven--is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams not of building ships, but of sailing them to far-off lands where magic thrives. Ven gets his chance when he is chosen to direct the Inspection of his family's latest ship--and sets sail on the journey of a lifetime. Attacked by fire pirates, lost at sea and near death, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the Island of Serendair. Thankful to be alive, little does Ven know that the pirate attack--and his subsequent rescue--may not have been an accident. Shadowy figures are hunting for the famed Floating Island, the only source of the mystical Water of Life. They think Ven can lead them to this treasure, and will stop at nothing to get it--even murder. In a narrative that alternates entries from his journals and drawings from his sketchbooks, Ven begins the famous chronicles of his exciting and exotic adventures--adventures that would later earn him renown as the author of The Book of All Human Knowledge and All the World's Magic. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Long ago, in the Second Age of history, a young Nain explorer by the name of Ven Polypheme traveled much of the known and unknown world, recording his adventures. Recently discovered by archaeologists, a few fragments of his original journals are reproduced in this book. Great care has been taken to reconstruct the parts of the journal that did not survive, so that a whole story can be told...Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme--known as Ven--is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams not of building ships, but of sailing them to far-off lands where magic thrives. Ven gets his chance when he is chosen to direct the Inspection of his family's latest ship--and sets sail on the journey of a lifetime. Attacked by fire pirates, lost at sea and near death, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the Island of Serendair. Thankful to be alive, little does Ven know that the pirate attack--and his subsequent rescue--may not have been an accident. Shadowy figures are hunting for the famed Floating Island, the only source of the mystical Water of Life. They think Ven can lead them to this treasure, and will stop at nothing to get it--even murder. In a narrative that alternates entries from his journals and drawings from his sketchbooks, Ven begins the famous chronicles of his exciting and exotic adventures--adventures that would later earn him renown as the author of The Book of All Human Knowledge and All the World's Magic. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
373 pages, ebook
First published August 22, 2006
63 people are currently reading
2755 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Haydon
50 books1,024 followersElizabeth Haydon (* 1965 in Michigan) is a fantasy author, whose 1999 debut, Rhapsody: Child of Blood, garnered comparisons with Goodkind, Jordan, and even Tolkien. She has written two fantasy series set within the same universe, The fantasy/romance/whodunit fusion called The Symphony of Ages and the young adult series The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme.
An herbalist, harpist, and madrigal singer, Elizabeth Haydon also enjoys anthropology and folklore. She lives on the East Coast of the United States.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabet...
An herbalist, harpist, and madrigal singer, Elizabeth Haydon also enjoys anthropology and folklore. She lives on the East Coast of the United States.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabet...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
February 15, 2021
Middle grade books have a special place in my heart, but I’ll admit that it’s difficult to find titles that give me the same overall satisfaction as adult novels (for obvious reasons). So when one comes along with substance and depth, I geek out. Aside from Harry Potter, Fablehaven, and a handful of others, my list of MG favorites is a short one… and now Floating Island is among them!
Not that I’m terribly surprised. As a longtime fan of Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series, I’d hoped the quality of writing and storytelling would be on par with her adult fantasy, and it was. What’s more, this series takes place in the same world as SoA, which solidified my interest in it even more because I have the mechanisms and histories of the world as a solid baseline. That said, it does stand really well on its own for those new to Haydon’s works.
What I liked most was the sense of adventure and discovery the pages offered. And the concept: a young boy traveling to new places and documenting his findings along the way. Granted there wasn’t a ton of discovery in this first book, but it set the stage nicely for what I hope will be a wild ride in future books.
The writing was anything but simplistic. Told in an almost lyrical fashion, the tale is spun with a distinctive elegant voice that somehow elevates the fantastical nature of the story. It’s a lot more sophisticated than I’ve seen from the genre, but not in a way that makes it any less accessible to kids. It’s a true testament to quality that it can appeal to a wide range of ages. I loved the delivery – which included a bunch of passages from Ven’s Journal, the art, and also loved that the plot had enough twists to keep me guessing.
I’ve only one gripe, and it’s a marketing critique: there aren’t any dragons in this first book. I mean, I’ve read the adult series, so I still felt their presence to a small degree, but for anyone who’s only read this series I imagine the cover art doesn’t seem relevant at all. But dragons sell books. Just look at me. I’m pretty sure I bought these before knowing what they were, solely on the cover art. But misrepresentation for sake of sales is a new personal gripe of mine.
Recommendations: Floating Island was a great little adventure and one of the best I’ve read from the genre in a long while. It has great writing, interesting world building, and fun characters, all adding up to a story that will appeal to both kids and adults alike. It’s set in the same world as Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series but can be read independently. I enjoyed it so much, it is now among my personal favorites for the middle grade genre.
Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com
Other books you might like:
Not that I’m terribly surprised. As a longtime fan of Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series, I’d hoped the quality of writing and storytelling would be on par with her adult fantasy, and it was. What’s more, this series takes place in the same world as SoA, which solidified my interest in it even more because I have the mechanisms and histories of the world as a solid baseline. That said, it does stand really well on its own for those new to Haydon’s works.
What I liked most was the sense of adventure and discovery the pages offered. And the concept: a young boy traveling to new places and documenting his findings along the way. Granted there wasn’t a ton of discovery in this first book, but it set the stage nicely for what I hope will be a wild ride in future books.
The writing was anything but simplistic. Told in an almost lyrical fashion, the tale is spun with a distinctive elegant voice that somehow elevates the fantastical nature of the story. It’s a lot more sophisticated than I’ve seen from the genre, but not in a way that makes it any less accessible to kids. It’s a true testament to quality that it can appeal to a wide range of ages. I loved the delivery – which included a bunch of passages from Ven’s Journal, the art, and also loved that the plot had enough twists to keep me guessing.
I’ve only one gripe, and it’s a marketing critique: there aren’t any dragons in this first book. I mean, I’ve read the adult series, so I still felt their presence to a small degree, but for anyone who’s only read this series I imagine the cover art doesn’t seem relevant at all. But dragons sell books. Just look at me. I’m pretty sure I bought these before knowing what they were, solely on the cover art. But misrepresentation for sake of sales is a new personal gripe of mine.
Recommendations: Floating Island was a great little adventure and one of the best I’ve read from the genre in a long while. It has great writing, interesting world building, and fun characters, all adding up to a story that will appeal to both kids and adults alike. It’s set in the same world as Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series but can be read independently. I enjoyed it so much, it is now among my personal favorites for the middle grade genre.
Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com
Other books you might like:
July 25, 2010
One of my favorite fantasy authors is Elizabeth Haydon, so when I saw she'd written a YA book (indeed the first in a series) I snapped it up. This book had a little bit of everything: adventure, fire pirates, travel, mystery. It was also a nice start to a series, because as it stands, the book itself is complete, without cliffhangers or loose ends, but with the promise of likable characters and lots of future adventures and puzzles.
The telling of the story might annoy some, as there is narrative interspersed with fragments of an ancient journal that belonged to the main character, Ven, but I kinda liked it. The story behind the story, so to speak.
I think that this will probably prove to be a good series for middle readers and introduce high fantasy to a new generation.
The telling of the story might annoy some, as there is narrative interspersed with fragments of an ancient journal that belonged to the main character, Ven, but I kinda liked it. The story behind the story, so to speak.
I think that this will probably prove to be a good series for middle readers and introduce high fantasy to a new generation.
February 28, 2017
This book is just downright fun. I picked it up because Elizabeth Haydon writes an AMAZING adult fantasy series (Symphony of Ages, if you want to look into that), and I wanted to see how her middle grade stands up against that. The answer I found: The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme might actually be better than Symphony of Ages.
The Floating Island centers around a 50-year-old “Nain” (literally french for dwarf — very cool wordplay there) named Ven, who is just reaching his majority by his race’s standards. He is the son of a shipmaker and when he goes to inspect his father’s newest ship, he embarks on what seems to be a never-ending adventure full of twists, surprises, and magic. This feels like an old-fashioned, true adventure story to me, and it’s something I would have DEVOURED when I was twelve — mermaids, dwarves, pirates, kings, intrigue, revenants, magic — this book has everything I love about fantasy, and more. Even as an adult, I enjoyed it immensely. It’s well done in that it’s framed as a “true” story and these journals of Ven were recently discovered and gathered and published by the author. The narrative itself is interesting in that it switches between straight-up journal entries told from Ven’s perspective and regular narration. This definitely allowed the story to strike a balance between being fast-paced while also remaining true to the journal idea. The illustrations by Brett Helquist are great and add a lot to the story in terms of being able to imagine everything and giving credence to the journal idea.
My favorite part is how this story focuses on what it means to have a home, what friendship/family truly means, and how our lives are bettered by being surrounded by kind people. This is very much a coming of age story, and Ven is able to find his bravery in order to save his friends and stand up for what he thinks is right. He learns how to find out the truth and speak for himself, instead of just going along with whatever people tell him. It’s a great lesson for kids, especially as they find themselves growing up and also trying to figure out how to make their own decisions and be their own person. (And probably could help adults like myself be reminded of the important things in life.)
I can’t recommend this enough, I loved every second of reading this book and am very much looking forward to the sequel.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
The Floating Island centers around a 50-year-old “Nain” (literally french for dwarf — very cool wordplay there) named Ven, who is just reaching his majority by his race’s standards. He is the son of a shipmaker and when he goes to inspect his father’s newest ship, he embarks on what seems to be a never-ending adventure full of twists, surprises, and magic. This feels like an old-fashioned, true adventure story to me, and it’s something I would have DEVOURED when I was twelve — mermaids, dwarves, pirates, kings, intrigue, revenants, magic — this book has everything I love about fantasy, and more. Even as an adult, I enjoyed it immensely. It’s well done in that it’s framed as a “true” story and these journals of Ven were recently discovered and gathered and published by the author. The narrative itself is interesting in that it switches between straight-up journal entries told from Ven’s perspective and regular narration. This definitely allowed the story to strike a balance between being fast-paced while also remaining true to the journal idea. The illustrations by Brett Helquist are great and add a lot to the story in terms of being able to imagine everything and giving credence to the journal idea.
My favorite part is how this story focuses on what it means to have a home, what friendship/family truly means, and how our lives are bettered by being surrounded by kind people. This is very much a coming of age story, and Ven is able to find his bravery in order to save his friends and stand up for what he thinks is right. He learns how to find out the truth and speak for himself, instead of just going along with whatever people tell him. It’s a great lesson for kids, especially as they find themselves growing up and also trying to figure out how to make their own decisions and be their own person. (And probably could help adults like myself be reminded of the important things in life.)
I can’t recommend this enough, I loved every second of reading this book and am very much looking forward to the sequel.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
October 25, 2012
I agree totally with Anne Hamilton's review of this book. I enjoyed it so much that I completed the 3 book set and was equally satisfied with each story. If there is a 4th, which is hinted at, I will read it as well. My only disappointment is in the cover art. I wish the cameo was the main focus and the dragon the cameo. This applies to each, The Thief Queens Daughter and The Dragon's Lair. The change would be a better representation of the content.
February 16, 2019
I loved it a lot I liked Char a lot and Ven, and that captain, I still can't believe that Cadwalder was helping Whiting, even thou once you knew it was obeviuse, because Cadwalder would work at night and sleep at day, anyways I really thought that the king was cool and the fact that he's only 18, and Murphy he was cool, McLean was cool to and when Ven fingered that he was blind that was cool. Ida she was cool, it was surprising when she started to disappear or fade away, and how she help shut the Rovers box. The letter that Pepin wrote (Ven's Dad) was a sweet letter I liked that a lot. It got creepy at some points but that's what made it even more interesting, and how Char and Ven found Nicloes getting attacked by the dogs, and of course Ven and Char saved his life acttept they had to hide in the grave yard that would of made me felt uncunfaturble if I where in their shoes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2012
The Floating Island – the Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme
Initially, this slow–starting story felt like a variation on a Victorian gothic machine fantasy (no, not steampunk!), except for being set in the world of Vaarn and Serendair. Somewhere along the way however, the story tilted out of the twilight into something quite different: light and dark, charm and strange.
Ven Polypheme is a fifty-year old Nain, a child by the standards of his dwarf-like race and the son of a master shipbuilder. His brothers hate the sea, but Ven is drawn to it with unassuagible curiosity. Sent out on an Inspection—the final assessment of a ship before it is turned over to the buyer—Ven finds himself in the middle of an attack by Fire Pirates.
Rescued by a merrow, then by Captain Oliver, he is made to overcome the ‘sea-shakes’ which are the result of his ordeal by climbing the crows’ nest. Once up there, he becomes entranced by the sea and the wind.
He does not realise until much later that he has been used and manipulated. As a child of earth, found in the sea and hoisted up into the high air, he has re-created a spell from the dawn of time: the Captain has used him to call the Floating Island, a shell-like paradise which is the home of the winds and of a pool of Living Water.
Ven makes friends and enemies—comes to the attention of the King (one of the finest royal characters I’ve met in many a long book) and finally accepts an intriguing position the King offers him. I won’t give you his title because it sound so trite, but it fits Ven’s talents perfectly.
The story has lots of twists and turns; the characters are satisfying and complex.
I thought the book was going to be a main meal but it turned out to be a three–course banquet. Yummy story.
Initially, this slow–starting story felt like a variation on a Victorian gothic machine fantasy (no, not steampunk!), except for being set in the world of Vaarn and Serendair. Somewhere along the way however, the story tilted out of the twilight into something quite different: light and dark, charm and strange.
Ven Polypheme is a fifty-year old Nain, a child by the standards of his dwarf-like race and the son of a master shipbuilder. His brothers hate the sea, but Ven is drawn to it with unassuagible curiosity. Sent out on an Inspection—the final assessment of a ship before it is turned over to the buyer—Ven finds himself in the middle of an attack by Fire Pirates.
Rescued by a merrow, then by Captain Oliver, he is made to overcome the ‘sea-shakes’ which are the result of his ordeal by climbing the crows’ nest. Once up there, he becomes entranced by the sea and the wind.
He does not realise until much later that he has been used and manipulated. As a child of earth, found in the sea and hoisted up into the high air, he has re-created a spell from the dawn of time: the Captain has used him to call the Floating Island, a shell-like paradise which is the home of the winds and of a pool of Living Water.
Ven makes friends and enemies—comes to the attention of the King (one of the finest royal characters I’ve met in many a long book) and finally accepts an intriguing position the King offers him. I won’t give you his title because it sound so trite, but it fits Ven’s talents perfectly.
The story has lots of twists and turns; the characters are satisfying and complex.
I thought the book was going to be a main meal but it turned out to be a three–course banquet. Yummy story.
February 27, 2010
This is a great book and I finished it way to fast(as allways) but any hoot is a bout this boy named Ven who catches this feather and bang! Boom! Clash! All of the suden his family thinks he's dead and he's saved by a mero (mermaid) and ends up on a ship where he summuns this moving island that has living water on it, who is given to the captens wife. And then for no reason he's thown in jail and some how becomes the royal reporter for the king. And bla bla. oh did I mention that the inn he staying at is haunted? Well any way it is and he stops the curse with the help of a friend who then -- wate I'll give it away. Ha! Now youll have to read it for your self
Read
November 5, 2012Made it to page 111 and then gave up. Just couldn't get into it
March 9, 2019
Best book I've read in ages. The story was delightfully rich and fast paced, my face was buried inside its wonder-filled, mystical pages the whole way. Ven Polypheme leads this story as the partial author and hero of this tale. His wanderlust and hunger for knowledge become awfully infectious, I began to jump at the prospect of finding the answers to his questions. An incredible mystery/thriller was neatly woven into the story, I even found myself trembling at some parts as the feelings of fear and curiosity seemed to emanate from the characters to the reader. To my great unbelief, I found that this series is not as well known as I would have expected. Any human, ever, who has liked anything to do with fantasy should and will love reading this enchanting book. However, it is a great mystery as to why there is a dragon on the cover. Perhaps I am only looking at a smaller part of a greater puzzle, but I suppose I will have to find that out while journeying through the next books. Till then.
April 15, 2020
Re-read this childhood favorite and found it has aged remarkably well. Good writing that feels like micro-dosing emotions and images. I owe much of my own formative personality traits to Ven Polypheme and others like him.
November 17, 2015
I debated about marking this story down to a 3.5. There were some flaws--bits of plot that didn't feel completely woven in, but I am giving the author the benefit of the doubt and assuming there is more to the story that will be revealed in the next book or books. There were a few cheesy moments in the story, too, but they were pretty few and far between.
Overall, I thought the premise of the story was pretty original. The characters were likable and well-developed. I liked how the author highlighted certain details of the world, such as the puzzles the king worked on and how that fit into the story and Saeli's ability to grow flowers.
The story focuses a lot on friendship, self-discovery, and learning to trust, without feeling like the author is trying to send a message. I'd definitely recommend this for middle-graders, especially boys who may be reluctant readers. Not that it's too simple, mind you, but the story is easy to follow. And lots of adventure to hold a child's attention.
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My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
Overall, I thought the premise of the story was pretty original. The characters were likable and well-developed. I liked how the author highlighted certain details of the world, such as the puzzles the king worked on and how that fit into the story and Saeli's ability to grow flowers.
The story focuses a lot on friendship, self-discovery, and learning to trust, without feeling like the author is trying to send a message. I'd definitely recommend this for middle-graders, especially boys who may be reluctant readers. Not that it's too simple, mind you, but the story is easy to follow. And lots of adventure to hold a child's attention.
My Website
Find me on Facebook
My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
May 11, 2020
While overlooking the latest ship his family built, Ven ends up attacked by pirates and taken in by a friendly crew that reveals the Floating Island to him - but when he is accused of a terrible crime, he will have to prove himself while figuring out who he can truly trust. Haydon will keep readers caught up in the fantastic lore with a fun realm and colourful cast to explore. Will Ven find his way home, or will he find a path leading him farther from those he loves?
February 20, 2009
OK people from what I remember from this book they didn't even metion a dragon,well expect from something about a place but I might be remembering that from a different book.So generally there's NO DRAGON.
November 12, 2015
Unfortunately, this book (and the rest of the series that follows it) is rather unknown to the world. I, however, think that it's a great read that is suitable for all ages. I highly recommend this book to any lover of fantasy, a dash of world-building, and unraveling mysteries. I love this book.
March 12, 2010
I liked this one. The description and characters were interesting. There were a few times when the pacing of the book lagged a little but it was very enjoyable to read
October 30, 2018
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‘Ware Spoilers!
The Floating Island is the epitome of why I find myself going back to MG fiction from time to time. The authors who write MG that I find know how to build a solid plot- they don’t try to push an envelope with fancy writing tricks or half baked plot twists like I find myself being confronted with YA fiction more often than not. And who knows, maybe I’ve just had a string of bad luck with YA. Periodically they hit it out of the park and when they do it’s great, but more often than not I find myself closing the book with a literal and proverbial sigh and sending it back to the library.
In a basic summary in Book 1 we’re introduced to Ven and his journal, a nain- near as I can gather that’s like a dwarf- that comes from an old ship building family that ends up going on an accidental adventure. Ultimately he finds some friends, finds a secret, foils a couple of plots against him and ends up in service of the King (thus the adventure of the rest of the books).
So finding a book to become invested in is always a satisfying feeling. Island is mostly solid from beginning to end- sure there’s some subplots that never come to a head in this book, but I have a suspicion they will become important in later parts of the series. Here the bad guys get their just desserts, Ven learns a few valuable life lessons along the way (always important to have those life lessons) the set up for the rest of the series becomes revealed and everything works out happily ever after with room for it to continue.
What’s there to like about that? Well it’s just… solid. A good solid plot with the right amount of interesting characters, descriptions and world building tossed in. It’s MG so some of the issues are childish, some of the things happen to conveniently but really? Who cares in the face of a good plot. The only major annoyance I have is we’re only given snippets of the magic in the world. Only snippets, where it looked like, by all accounts, there’d be a lot more magic or explanations of magic and maybe there will be. It’s frustrating to be shown only tidbits of a greater world.
Hopefully they’ll be in book 2!
‘Ware Spoilers!
The Floating Island is the epitome of why I find myself going back to MG fiction from time to time. The authors who write MG that I find know how to build a solid plot- they don’t try to push an envelope with fancy writing tricks or half baked plot twists like I find myself being confronted with YA fiction more often than not. And who knows, maybe I’ve just had a string of bad luck with YA. Periodically they hit it out of the park and when they do it’s great, but more often than not I find myself closing the book with a literal and proverbial sigh and sending it back to the library.
In a basic summary in Book 1 we’re introduced to Ven and his journal, a nain- near as I can gather that’s like a dwarf- that comes from an old ship building family that ends up going on an accidental adventure. Ultimately he finds some friends, finds a secret, foils a couple of plots against him and ends up in service of the King (thus the adventure of the rest of the books).
So finding a book to become invested in is always a satisfying feeling. Island is mostly solid from beginning to end- sure there’s some subplots that never come to a head in this book, but I have a suspicion they will become important in later parts of the series. Here the bad guys get their just desserts, Ven learns a few valuable life lessons along the way (always important to have those life lessons) the set up for the rest of the series becomes revealed and everything works out happily ever after with room for it to continue.
What’s there to like about that? Well it’s just… solid. A good solid plot with the right amount of interesting characters, descriptions and world building tossed in. It’s MG so some of the issues are childish, some of the things happen to conveniently but really? Who cares in the face of a good plot. The only major annoyance I have is we’re only given snippets of the magic in the world. Only snippets, where it looked like, by all accounts, there’d be a lot more magic or explanations of magic and maybe there will be. It’s frustrating to be shown only tidbits of a greater world.
Hopefully they’ll be in book 2!
August 14, 2021
Interesting little book here that's smarter than your average young adult story. There's a very well-thought out plot without fluff. Really - it's not just a collection of events and side stories, it all comes together nicely.
Ven Polypheme is of a race of humanoid beings that typically live underground, but his ancestors longed to go to the surface of the earth and wound up becoming highly skilled shipbuilders. Ven takes his first job inspecting a brand new ship and everything goes wrong. The young fellow winds up floating on a piece of wood à la "Titanic" until he befriends a mermaid and eventually a kindhearted albeit mysterious sea captain.
Their journey takes him to an island nation with a side trip to a mythical floating island. There is quite a lot of untouched potential with both locations that I hope is explored in further volumes.
There's an element of sadness that was a bit too much for a young reader's book. The was well done and poignant, but upsetting even for me as an adult. The book also look longer than usual for me to get hooked in and I nearly gave up after the first few chapters, though I'm glad I stuck with it.
I do look forward to reading the next volume.
March 11, 2021
I picked this up because I had read other works of Haydon and frankly, in the time of Covid, wanted a YA read to take me off the heavier subjects swirling around me. YA can be fun, if predictable. I have to say I was very happy with her work on this.
Haydon creates a relatable main character in young Ven Polypheme the Nain. He comes from a family that has already broken tradition by living above ground, becoming master shipwrights, and exploring their world. The Nain is comparative to the more common dwarven races, they live underground, mine, and avoid the upworld. On his fiftieth birthday, he's considered nearly an adult and given the job of inspecting one of the newly ready ships on its maiden voyage. Things rapidly change from there, hurling our young friend into a completely unfamiliar world. He must either grow to meet the challenges or his life could become very, very messy indeed.
His journey garners friends, creates enemies, and brings puzzles to solve. Mostly, though, Ven is enjoying being out in the world, finding his own way, making his own path.
Ven is relatable to the pre-teens, his desire for independence mingled with fear of the unknown.
Haydon creates a relatable main character in young Ven Polypheme the Nain. He comes from a family that has already broken tradition by living above ground, becoming master shipwrights, and exploring their world. The Nain is comparative to the more common dwarven races, they live underground, mine, and avoid the upworld. On his fiftieth birthday, he's considered nearly an adult and given the job of inspecting one of the newly ready ships on its maiden voyage. Things rapidly change from there, hurling our young friend into a completely unfamiliar world. He must either grow to meet the challenges or his life could become very, very messy indeed.
His journey garners friends, creates enemies, and brings puzzles to solve. Mostly, though, Ven is enjoying being out in the world, finding his own way, making his own path.
Ven is relatable to the pre-teens, his desire for independence mingled with fear of the unknown.
August 23, 2017
The Floating Island follows the adventures of Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme a Nain (dwarf) who is different from other Nains. He is taller, more human sized. He does not fear water and has a great curiosity.
On his 50th birthday young Ven is chosen to make the inspection run on the most recent ship his family has built. Compared to humans, Ven is probably the equivalent of a young, teenage human.
His maiden voyage sends him on a journey where he encounters Fire Pirates, meets a merrow (mermaid), is rescued at sea, learns about the Floating Island, discovers the hauntings at the crossroads near the city of Kingstown, is jailed, meets the King, meets a ghost, solves a mystery, and makes many new friends.
There are many fun characters and Ven discovers many things about himself and the world around him.
Written for the 10 and up crowd I enjoyed the story and I have grandchildren who I know will enjoy it also.
On his 50th birthday young Ven is chosen to make the inspection run on the most recent ship his family has built. Compared to humans, Ven is probably the equivalent of a young, teenage human.
His maiden voyage sends him on a journey where he encounters Fire Pirates, meets a merrow (mermaid), is rescued at sea, learns about the Floating Island, discovers the hauntings at the crossroads near the city of Kingstown, is jailed, meets the King, meets a ghost, solves a mystery, and makes many new friends.
There are many fun characters and Ven discovers many things about himself and the world around him.
Written for the 10 and up crowd I enjoyed the story and I have grandchildren who I know will enjoy it also.
July 23, 2017
The Floating Island is an incredible adventure detailing the beginning of Ven Polypheme's story. Elizabeth Haydon's incredibly descriptive storytelling ability creates a very detailed picture of the events as they occurs and though sometimes it can get tedious, the monotony is always broken by plot twists and spontaneous action events. Midway through the book I was getting bored, however Haydon's conclusion to the novel was an incredible conclusion that ranks with some of the best novels I've ever read. She tied up all the plot points very nicely and created such a satisfaction in the reader whilst enticing for a second book. Favorite quote? "Home is where you decide to stay. Where you decide to fight for what matters to you. A man can have many homes, but he has to be willing to stand up and call them his own. Then he has never again uncertain whether he has one or not."
May 7, 2020
Actual Rating: 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars
This book had a fun setting and some neat characters. The mystery of the haunted inn was quite entertaining (which makes it weird that it's not mentioned in the synopsis at all). I'm also always a sucker for novels that include illustrations, especially when those illustrations are by the guy who worked on A Series of Unfortunate Events. My one complaint was the framing device of the novel. It seems like the whole book was supposed to be an account from the main character's journal. However, most of the time, the book was written in standard third-person narration. Every once and a while we'd get a short excerpt from the journal, but usually it just ended up feeling intrusive and distracting. It wasn't enough of a problem for me to drop this to three stars, but it definitely could've been handled better.
This book had a fun setting and some neat characters. The mystery of the haunted inn was quite entertaining (which makes it weird that it's not mentioned in the synopsis at all). I'm also always a sucker for novels that include illustrations, especially when those illustrations are by the guy who worked on A Series of Unfortunate Events. My one complaint was the framing device of the novel. It seems like the whole book was supposed to be an account from the main character's journal. However, most of the time, the book was written in standard third-person narration. Every once and a while we'd get a short excerpt from the journal, but usually it just ended up feeling intrusive and distracting. It wasn't enough of a problem for me to drop this to three stars, but it definitely could've been handled better.
December 24, 2021
Charming story and characters with absolutely stellar fantasy world building. Every chapter introduce something unique about the world and it's people. While there are elements that are similar to other fantasy series (a good example would be the obvious parallel between Nain and classic fantasy dwarfs) this series goes out of it's way to be it's own thing, which is nice to see in children's fiction. I also like the extra effort taken to imply that these books are real journals that were found in an archeology site: the acknowledgements section and author blurb on the jacket focus on things like "translating ancient languages" and "understanding Nain history" rather than writing - it's creative and cute, which is also a good way to describe this book. Really looking forward to rereading the rest of the series again too.
November 28, 2023
This book is a great start for me to venture into the Fantasy genre. It’s a middle-grade book, so the world-building is easy to comprehend, training my imagination to run wild. I was surprised by how much that I actually love having magical elements in a book. And omg I didn’t know what I expected but I for sure did not expect for this book to be so plot-twisty! The plot-twists be twisting for real!! I was shocked and I gasped a lot after every twist was revealed. And the horror elements often had me literally petrified! The author’s atmospheric storytelling contributes a lot to the spooky scenes. I can feel the chill of the winds at The Crossroad Inn, and the anxiety when the Megalodon swam near the Serelinda. I also fell in love with King Vandemere hehe. Overall, this book brought out the child in me, and I’m glad that I get to walk into the magical world through it.
January 28, 2018
This was a great story and it does avoid a lot of the problems many fantasy stories which is that many of them try to create their own vocabulary which usually just drags the story down but this book avoid that by either doing what other great fantasy stories do and borrow from real life mythology or quickly defining the new vocab in the story. The only real problem I have is that the book is written in the point of view of the future self of the main character as their are various journal entries that are told from the future journal of the main character. This type of writing style does kind of kill the tension of drama since we from the beginning that the main character will live through it but still it is a great story with some great world building.
April 1, 2022
I loved this book as soon as I started it. It was great and I loved all of Ven's adventures - most of them anyway. I'm not really a person who likes reading about ghosts, and characters talking to other characters that are actually dead. I don't like reading about places that are haunted or unusual spirits that might be around the corner. So I would say if you don't want to read about things like that, maybe don't read it. If you're someone who likes that kind of thing, then go ahead and read it.
I really did like a lot of it, just not those parts. I loved the floating island and the descriptive detail of sailing at sea. It made me feel like I was there and had "drunk too much of the wind", as the author puts it.
I really did like a lot of it, just not those parts. I loved the floating island and the descriptive detail of sailing at sea. It made me feel like I was there and had "drunk too much of the wind", as the author puts it.
November 9, 2017
At first I was apprehensive to read The Floating Island but my sister finally convinced me and I'm glad I gave this book a try because I loved it.
Ven Polypheme is the son of a shipbuilder. Once a new ship is built one of the Polypheme brothers has to inspect it. On Ven's 50th birthday, an new ship is ready for inspection, the brothers draw straws and Ven ends up with the shortest meaning he has to inspect it. All of his brothers, like the rest of their kind, Nains, hate water but Ven is an exception. All goes well until the Fire Pirates arrive. Ven is thrown into an unforeseen adventure. There are all sorts of mystical things in the world Elizabeth Haydon has created.
Ven Polypheme is the son of a shipbuilder. Once a new ship is built one of the Polypheme brothers has to inspect it. On Ven's 50th birthday, an new ship is ready for inspection, the brothers draw straws and Ven ends up with the shortest meaning he has to inspect it. All of his brothers, like the rest of their kind, Nains, hate water but Ven is an exception. All goes well until the Fire Pirates arrive. Ven is thrown into an unforeseen adventure. There are all sorts of mystical things in the world Elizabeth Haydon has created.
June 22, 2025
Na pierwszy rzut oka taka sobie młodzieżowa przygodówka - w końcu bohater jest mentalnie nastolatkiem, a książka roi się od słabych rysunków, udawanych na wykonane ręką narratora. Przy bliższym kontakcie okazuje się jednak, że opowieść jest zaskakująco rozsądna, wyważona, pełna nieszablonowych pomysłów i na dokładkę mądra w ten nienachalny, dość naturalny sposób, pozbawiony krzty infantylizmu czy gryzącego w oczy moralizatorstwa. Muszę przyznać, że "Pływająca wyspa" zupełnie niepostrzeżenie wessała mnie w swój świat i puściła dopiero z finalną kropką. Ostatnimi czasy nieczęsto mi się zdarza takie zjawisko. ;)
June 17, 2017
Though this book was creative and parts of it were interesting, it just went on far too long. This could have been half the length and just as magical, and with better pacing to boot. The original aspect of the story was the interspersed first-person snippets in otherwise third-person narration. This was effective to convey the theme of storytelling that is present in the book. However, continuing the "this is a real thing" theme outside the story (in the acknowledgements and bio) were just confusing.
The cover lies. There are no dragons.
The cover lies. There are no dragons.
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July 19, 2022I didn't connect with this fantastical kids adventure the way I had hoped. I don't believe that's really a reflection on the book but more a case of me being part of the wrong demographic for it to begin with and being the ancient dinosaur that I am, there's truly no telling which story is going to resonate with me and which isn't. There were plenty charming elements to this story, it just didn't knock my socks off.
May 8, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. Its a crazy adventure for Ven and his friends. He ends up shipwrecked when he runs into trouble with pirates. Rescued by a merrow his adventure is only begining. I loved the characters in the book. There were plenty of twist and turns. I can't wait to read the rest of this series and read more of their adventures. It was a good story! I loved it!,
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