The floating island : The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme Series, Book 1

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. The discovery of an explorer's journal from long ago reveals an epic adventure of magic and danger in this middle grade fantasy series debut.Archaeologists have recently discovered fragments from a journal kept by one Ven Polypheme. They tell of his remarkable travels through the known and unknown world. Ven's original journals are reproduced in this book. Great care has been taken to reconstruct the parts that did not survive... 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.After surviving an attack by fire pirates, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the Island of Serendair. But these seemingly chance events may be part of someone's grand design. 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 they will stop at nothing to get it—even murder. The morning of my fiftieth birthday found me, as the last twenty had, sneakily examining my chin in the looking glass, searching for a sign, any small sign, of a whisker. And, once again, as on the previous twenty birthdays, I found nothing. Absolutely nothing. It may seem strange to you that I was able to reach the age of fifty years and still have my face remain as smooth and hairless as a green melon, and you would be right. Many lads of my race begin sprouting their beards by the tender age of thirty, and nearly all of them have a full layer of short growth, known as their Bramble, by forty-five. It is all but unheard of among the Nain for a boy to reach his fiftieth year without at least some sign that his beard is beginning to grow in. But then, this is certainly not the first thing about me that the rest of the Nain in the city of Vaarn think of as odd