The Anvil of Ice: The Winter of the World [Hardcover]

Michael Scott Rohan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1986 | Series: The Winter of the World

1986 1st US Ed. William Morrow

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this engaging fantasy, Rohan's planned Winter of the World trilogy is off to a marvelous start. Through the device of a modern narrator translating the ancient Winter Chronicles, we enter a mythic ice age drawn by the vivid "voice of one who has seen and felt" its ancient mysteries. When a coastal village is attacked by the seafaring, cannibalistic Ekwesh, a young thrall, Alv, is spared by their leader, Mylio the Mastersmith. In the shadow of the Great Ice, the sinister Mylio makes the boy his apprentice, but withholds the secrets of his art that would yield Alv, or Elof, as he comes to be called, a true mastery. As a test, Elof fashions a sword on which he etches elusive symbols. In Mylio's hands the weapon assumes an evil potency, and Elof, fearing for his life, escapes in pursuit of the knowledge that he has been denied. He meets the warrior Kermorvan, who ultimately joins Elof in a battle against Mylio for control of the Southlands. Writing with an element of suspense and a taut, lyrically haunting style that captures the bleakness of his setting, Rohan concludes the story in a way that is thoroughly satisfying, yet leaves the reader eager for the second volume of this series.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; First US edition (October 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688066623
• ISBN-13: 978-0688066628
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,772,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better fantasy trilogies I've ever read, January 14, 2002

By 

D. Henderson (Las Cruces, NM, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Anvil of Ice: The Winter of the World (Hardcover)

This is the first book of Rohan's trilogy. Like so many others, I can't believe this is out of print. It's easily in the top third of the trilogies/series I've read. As some others have said, this series has 'everything' you look for in good fantasy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best FF you'll ever read, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Anvil of Ice: The Winter of the World (Hardcover)

This trilogy is one of those rare things; a set of books you can laugh and cry at, and when you get to the end you just wan't more and more. I read the first book when it came out in the UK, and believe me when I say that waiting for each next book in the series was painfull, but when it came out.....you couldn't help but dance round the bookshop in joy.

I've never got so involved with a story that inspired me so much before. It's a cross between the dark side of Gormenghast and the scope of Lord of the Rings.

Only one other author has come close, Roger Taylor; the rest are way, way behind.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fantasy Series, August 21, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Naples, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anvil of Ice: The Winter of the World (Hardcover)

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. This series was fantastic. I can't belive that no one has ever heard of it. Short of Dune and Lord of Light, books don't get any better than this.

This trilogy is the kind that you want to buy in hardcover, save in your library, and hope that your children grow up with a taste for good literature.

I was disapointed by Rohan's other trilogy (Chase the Morning, et al.), but it bears nothing in common with these works. The trilogy is a prehistory set in North America long before the arrival of Columbus.

If you have enjoyed either Harrison's Hammer and the Cross or Card's Tales of Alvin Maker, you will be sure to enjoy these works.