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(4)
4-6
Illustrated by
Brandon Dorman.
Ven Polypheme, an atypically adventurous Nain (read: hobbit), continues his royally assigned mission of exploration by traveling underseas with his merrow (read: mermaid) friend, Amariel, as his guide. The narrative alternates between exposition of this wondrous new world and an escalating sequence of episodic quests. The journal conceit wears thin, but the evocative world-building remains impressive in this fourth installment.
349 pp.
| Tor/Starscape
| July, 2008
|
TradeISBN 978-0-7653-0869-6$17.95
(4)
4-6
Illustrated by
Jason Chan.
Ven flees the enemies he made in his last adventure and invites his friends (some of them, like himself, not human) on a new quest to stop a faraway dragon's rampages. The book's alternation between third-person narration and journal entries feels increasingly arbitrary, but the action is as nonstop, the characters as likable, and the dangers as dire as ever.
297 pp.
| Tor/Starscape
| July, 2007
|
TradeISBN 978-0-7653-0868-9$17.95
(4)
4-6
Illustrated by
Jason Chan.
Ven and his friends (The Floating Island) venture into the outlaw-inhabited Gated City, then become trapped when one of them is kidnapped and another revealed to be the Thief Queen's daughter. Haydon's affable characters and imaginative, well-realized backdrop retain their appeal, but the plot, overly concerned with setting the stage for a third volume, never reaches the intensity of the first.
368 pp.
| Tor/Starscape
| August, 2006
|
TradeISBN 0-765-30867-3$17.95
(3)
4-6
Illustrated by
Brett Helquist.
Young Ven is shipwrecked by pirates during his first voyage. Rescued by a kind captain, Ven investigates the haunting of his new home, an inn staffed by orphans and outcasts. In Haydon's high-spirited but dark-underbellied fantasy world, evil lurks in the shadows, but loyal friends help see Ven through. Helquist's occasional textured line drawings help set the scene.