Elizabeth Haydon, The Floating Island

The Floating island by Elizabeth Hayden is an utterly magical book! It has the same sense of desperate wonder that all the great classics of young literature have - a hero who is both brave and nervous, a world that is both magical and completely plausible, and some of the best writing I've ever read. The humor is terrific, the plot quick and ensnaring, and the characters priceless. I have been in despair contemplating the end of the Harry Potter series and the Series of Unfortunate Events. Now I am happy to have found a series every bit as good as those. I am not sure what the previous reviewer meant about it being sword and sorcery. There are no swords and no sorcery in this book. Instead, the magic of the world is in the people, places and things, as well as in the imagination of its very gifted author. One last but very important good point - there are strong family figures in this book. Ven is not a pathetic orphan or step child. He is not the most magical boy in all the world. He's just honest, humorous and curious, and possessed of a good heart, a strong family, good parents and an endless sense of adventure. He is impossible not to like.

Ven Polypheme is my favorite hero in literature. Period. There is something so winning about a young man who has been dumped on for being of a different race (the ancient Nain, a grumpy group of earth-dwellers reminiscent of dwarves), for being the youngest in his family, and for just being curious beyond control. Instead of moping or being melancholy, he rolls with the punches and lives through a stunning adventure that is never predictable. The characters are so real you could almost talk to them, and the pace is so fast that it astounds you how fast 360 pages can go by.

I highly recommend this book, not only to young adults, but to the young at heart who can still remember how magic a book can be. The lost journal motif is brilliant.

The Floating Island

Elizabeth Haydon

Tor, Sep 2006, $17.95

ISBN: 0765308673

Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme feels like an outsider amidst his extended family. While his generational heritage is with ship building as he is an offspring of renowned shipwrights who prefer to stay home, he figures he must be adopted as he dreams of sailing. Considered of an age and experience to head the quality insurance of the latest vessel, Ven begins his inspection.

However, before he can complete his task, fire pirates attack his ship. Ven barely survives and only because the crew of another ship traveling the Island of Serendair rescue him. Ven is thankful to not only have a little magical adventure but unbeknownst to him he is the center of a conspiracy that started with the piracy raid. Unknown assailants believe Ven can lead them to the uncharted Floating Island where they can obtain the Water of Life; if his family, friends, and workers must die so be it.

Ven's journal entries and sketches found centuries later by archeologists make THE FLOATING ISLAND seem genuine though it is a sword and sorcery tale. The story line is action-packed as Ven relates his first adventures years before he becomes famous for his classic later works The Book of All Human Knowledge and All the World's Magic. Readers will appreciate this coming of age story as the look back by archeologists at the "authentic" persona and events make the realm of THE SYMPHONY OF AGES series setting real inside a fun fantasy. Elizabeth Haydon is at the top of her game with this superb sword and sorcery "historical".

Harriet Klausner