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amalyndb's review
3.0
The first book of The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme is a delightful tale. A fantasy set in another world, Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme (Ven for short) is the youngest of his family of shipbuilding Nain (somewhat analogous to dwarves). On his fiftieth birthday (for the Nain are a long-lived race, and fifty is approximately young teenage human) Ven draws the short straw and must inspect a newly built ship on a short voyage before it can be christened and handed over to its owner. On said voyage, fire pirates attack! Ven's quick thinking lights the fire pirate ship, but also leads to both ships exploding.
Adrift on wreckage, he meets a merrow (mermaid) who stays with him until rescued by another ship. Here he makes friends and is brought to a magical floating island, where the captain obtains water from a spring deep within the mountain.
The ship comes to port on a foreign island, and soon after arriving, Ven is accused of theft by a rich man who had been on the ship. Taken to prisoner, he begins a letter to the king to plead his case, which is interwoven with the narrative of the novel.
Taken before the king, he tells of his journey. The king decides to release him, and extends him the offer of a position to travel the world and relay back to the king what he sees.
On returning to the inn, he and his friend are locked out of their lodging, as night falls. Spectral hounds bay and howl, and then they hear a human scream. Terrified, they go to investigate, armed only with rakes. They rescue a fellow boy and take refuge in a cemetery, where the innkeeper's dead son speaks with them, and bids them watch as rain dissolves the ghostly pale of the hounds, revealing them to be nasty dogs who have been whitewashed. The spirit also reveals that there is some evil buried at the crossroads, affecting the inn and travelers.
Van and friends set out to discover the evil and dig up a body within an open puzzle box. They bid Ida, a young pickpocket, to help them close it, which she does - but she inhales some of the evil fog and starts to become a spirit herself.
They end up in a mad search for the Floating Island in the night, to find the mythical spring to restore her. The Island is angry though, to be summoned at night, and nearly comes down around their ears when she drinks of the spring without an offering given in return. Her tears eventually suffice, they return to the town and inn. Ven received a letter from his family (delivered to a ship by the albatross that had watched over him in the shipwreck), reassuring him of their affection and he accepts the king's offer, setting the way for more books in the series.
I very much enjoyed reading this adventure - was great for a too hot afternoon while camping. Ven and his friends are interesting characters, and the dilemmas they face intriguing (what did Ven glimpse in the puzzle box just before the lid closed?).
The one thing that makes no sense in this edition of the book - why is there a dragon on the cover? Ven encounters no dragons. The albatross would have made much more sense, the dragon felt misleading.
Adrift on wreckage, he meets a merrow (mermaid) who stays with him until rescued by another ship. Here he makes friends and is brought to a magical floating island, where the captain obtains water from a spring deep within the mountain.
The ship comes to port on a foreign island, and soon after arriving, Ven is accused of theft by a rich man who had been on the ship. Taken to prisoner, he begins a letter to the king to plead his case, which is interwoven with the narrative of the novel.
Taken before the king, he tells of his journey. The king decides to release him, and extends him the offer of a position to travel the world and relay back to the king what he sees.
On returning to the inn, he and his friend are locked out of their lodging, as night falls. Spectral hounds bay and howl, and then they hear a human scream. Terrified, they go to investigate, armed only with rakes. They rescue a fellow boy and take refuge in a cemetery, where the innkeeper's dead son speaks with them, and bids them watch as rain dissolves the ghostly pale of the hounds, revealing them to be nasty dogs who have been whitewashed. The spirit also reveals that there is some evil buried at the crossroads, affecting the inn and travelers.
Van and friends set out to discover the evil and dig up a body within an open puzzle box. They bid Ida, a young pickpocket, to help them close it, which she does - but she inhales some of the evil fog and starts to become a spirit herself.
They end up in a mad search for the Floating Island in the night, to find the mythical spring to restore her. The Island is angry though, to be summoned at night, and nearly comes down around their ears when she drinks of the spring without an offering given in return. Her tears eventually suffice, they return to the town and inn. Ven received a letter from his family (delivered to a ship by the albatross that had watched over him in the shipwreck), reassuring him of their affection and he accepts the king's offer, setting the way for more books in the series.
I very much enjoyed reading this adventure - was great for a too hot afternoon while camping. Ven and his friends are interesting characters, and the dilemmas they face intriguing (what did Ven glimpse in the puzzle box just before the lid closed?).
The one thing that makes no sense in this edition of the book - why is there a dragon on the cover? Ven encounters no dragons. The albatross would have made much more sense, the dragon felt misleading.
library_brandy's review
3.0
How does a book that includes fire pirates, mysterious islands, mermaids, restless ghosts, and evil spirits still manage to be so dull? For an adventure story, this was pretty plodding. It reads slowly, it's too long, and (frankly) it's not all that compelling. It's not bad, but I don't see myself pushing this one on unsuspecting middle-schoolers. I'm suddenly not surprised the copy at my library has such lackluster circulation.
And I have no idea why there's a dragon on the cover; I don't think there's a dragon anywhere in the whole book.
And I have no idea why there's a dragon on the cover; I don't think there's a dragon anywhere in the whole book.
madmadammim's review
5.0
I can't think of enough words to praise this book with. That was incredible! I find myself incredibly envious of Ven and his good fortune to be face with so much trouble and so much work to do- not to mention good friends to do it with and a good reason to do it. If I could give Elizabeth Haydon a high-five right now I probably would, and I might just give her a hug as well. A huge two-thumbs-up! I totally recommend this to everybody with a sense of curiosity and adventure. Thank you Elizabeth Haydon!
whiteraven191's review
4.0
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.
alyssaarch's review
5.0
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.
magicbookshelf's review
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
snowpaws94's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
britt82's review
4.0
Fun book with some twists and turns along the way- the author definitely surprised me a few times. Really enjoyed this- good fantasy read. Will definitely check out the next one.
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