ROBERT V. S. REDICK - The Rats and the Ruling Sea

London England, Gollancz, 2009. 1st Trade Paperback, Binding: Soft Cover, Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall 9780575081802 Trade Paperback Trade Paperback. Very slight crease to corner back cover. The great ship Chathrand, supposedly launched to bring an end to centuries of war, has all along been a tool of evil men. And behind them all stands Arunis, a sorcerer bent on scourling the life from the world of Alifros. Now this enchanted, 600-year-old vessel has reached the Island of Simja, where the tarboy Pazel Pathkendle will see the young woman he loves, Thasha Isiq, face death to thwart Arunis - and Pazel himself will be forced to conbfront his shattered past. But the journey is only beinning. After Simja, Pazel and his friends - including a rat plagued with visions and a queen of the miniature and secreteive Ixchel - must face the terrors of the Ruling Sea, an ocean so vast and violent that no ship but the Chathrand can even attempt the crossing. And all the while, deep in the ship, a cursed artefact is unleashing powers more terrible than the sea itself: powers Arunis means to control. 582 pp.