5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scarnag's Lair!, July 8, 2008
The Dragon's Lair is the third book of Elizabeth Haydon's new series for young adults, The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme. The story opens up with Ven helping Char gather the food that is being dropped-off at The Crossroads Inn when a farmer helps him unload. The farmer turns out to be King Vandemere from the Castle of Elysian in disguise, who warns Ven that the Thief Queen is out to capture him and his friends. Understanding the warning of the King, who advises Ven to take his friends and run beyond the Great River, he agrees with his advice and a plan that he assigns him and is greeted by the King's forester, Tuck, a Lirinved (the in-between) who will guide them and protect them from the Thief Queen and her spies, huge flocks of Ravens that hunt them wherever they go.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of the Nain and Lirin are against each other, threatening to disrupt in war. Even worse, a Dragon by the name of Scarnag is terrorizing the Nain to get back his treasure that was taken from him by the Nain. It is up to Ven to avoid the dragon and find out what exactly was stolen, and to trade with the Lirin/Nain to get something that King Vandemere wants, even if it may cost him the throne!
When Ven heads back to Kingston with Tuck, he sets-out to get Amariel to come along with him, the Merrow that saved him from the Fire Pirates. He is also greeted by Madam Sharra, who gives him one of the cards of her deck that is tucked-away in Black Ivory, a dragon scale from the Primeval Wyrm spoken of in The Symphony of Ages series and the first book of the War of the Known World trilogy (Requiem for the Sun/The Assassin King).
This is a nice treat for any of the legions of fans for the Symphony of Ages, which is a World Wide Bestseller series, but is also a nice introduction and "sugar-coated flavor," for any one younger who are just experiencing Elizabeth Haydon's enchanting world for the first time. I highly recommend this book to anyone, young or old, who enjoy a good story, or who enjoyed J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series or J.R.R.Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I acclaim Haydon as the best fantasy author of this age, don't let her books slip you by! And if you read some of Haydon's Lost Journals, than try her Symphony's on for size if you haven't already! Elizabeth Haydon is right up there with the best fantasy authors known to date!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun for Young Adults (and oldies as well!), February 5, 2009
I loved the first two, but this one is even better!
I have been a fan of EH since I read the Symphony of the Ages books, and thought I would try 'The Floating Island' on a whim to read to my 9 year old. We did and he loved it and so did I. Ven's struggles with events, with his friends, and with his enemies make for great dinner table (or School Room) discussions. She even has suggested topics for discussion in the back of all three.
These are fun, fast moving books. They can be read individually, but it is wonderful to read together - many events are inter-related and build on each other. Fun to read aloud and very entertaining.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love these books, I love this author, September 22, 2008
One of the greatest YA and adult fantasy writers out there today is Elizabeth Haydon. I fell in love with her Symphony of Ages series years ago, mostly because of the beautiful crispness of her writing and the amazing characters she portrays, with humor showing up in many unexpected places. I found these books last year and have read them with my kids. They are now a favorite family discussion.
This most recent book is a jewel, although I don't think I will ever be as fond of a book as I am of The Floating Island. In thise book we begin to see that each of these tales is like a piece of the puzzle that King Vandermeer uses to help him figure out the ways of the world. While every book's story is self contained, when strugn together they seem to be forming another tale, a riddle within a riddle. We can't wait to see what this turns out to be.
This, by the way, contains my favorite dragon character ever. I used to wonder why there were dragons on the covers of the first two books, but none in the stories. Now I get it. Highly recommended
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