Customer Reviews

Blade of Fire (Chronicles of Icemark)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Yes, the Cry of the Icemark was better. I definitely liked Thirrin and Oskan better as teens. That said, however, as far as sequels goes, this book gives the first a good "run for the money". I've a few minor nits about the strength of motivation for certain characters' evilness, but for the most part, the characterization is ultra fitting. I will have a more detailed review later, for now, suffice to say, "BUY THIS"! Look, it vexes me to no end to see ultra crap (like certain dragon containing books) do well in sales when well-written stuff like Cry of the Icemark and Blade of fire languishes on the virtual "shelves".

Plot: Decent...fairly straightforward, but still exciting and contains a few good twists.

One more note: the sense of pacing is amazing. The plot being as it is holds the potential to plod on forever, but the pacing keeps it moving. There are nice descriptions of things, but no endless sections of sand describing, thank the Goddess, Moonmother, One, and other deities.

Clang! The Icemark cavalry and infantry clashed against the enemy and started to hack away at the Empire's troops.
The Blade of Fire is about a queen named Thirrin, her son Charlemagne, nicknamed Sharley, and her arch enemy Scipio Bellorum and his two sons, Octavius and Sulla. Thirrin sends her son away, because he can't fight with a crippled leg. When Sharley gets to his destination in the south and becomes prince regent to the exiles. As Sharley explores the south he finds things he has never heard of, or seen before. He finds unlikely allies, but the question remains is he too late?
My favorite part in the book is the battle at the end of the book. I liked it because it had the greatest details in the whole book, including vampires, wolf-folk, giant snow leopards, Icemark cavalry and infantry clashing with the enemy. Men on both sides getting killed everywhere and the dying screaming in pain
everywhere you looked.
Scipio Bellorum and his sons are the
worst characters in the book. They are ruthless and uncaring. For instance, Octavius had a squad of men shot to pieces by their comrades for marching to slow, and then his brother complimented him on it. They may be the worst characters in the book, but you have to give them credit for being geniuses.
Sharley on the other hand is a very interesting character, because he has a crippled leg and yet he has the brain of a diplomat and the heart of a warrior.
I recommend this book because it is a very awesome book and it's definitely in my top five books I've ever read and that's a lot.

OK, so I liked Cry of the Icemark a *little* bit better- mainly because Thirrin is just an amazing heroine... But I loved this book, too! My thanks to Stuart Hill for bringing yet another heartwarming, amazing book into my life!

Since, in the back of The Cry of the Icemark, it said that Blade of Fire was coming out Spring 2007, I was overjoyed when I saw it in stores in January. It's still a fantastic fantasy, but nothing beats the first book except The Neverending Story. Still, Blade of Fire is well-written and exciting.

Blade of Fire tells of Queen Thirrin of Icemark, and how she protects her kingdom, and of crippled Charlamagne, exiled to the South to find allies and save Icemark. I really enjoyed Blade of Fire because it is a very detailed fantasy book that holds the attention of any reader. I gave it four out of five stars because I really enjoyed reading the parts about Charlemagne, but the parts about the war were not very enjoyable to me. It has believable characters, an interesting plot, and real places tied into a fictional story. I think that Blade of Fire would be a good book for kids in Middle or High School. Blade of Fire is an excellent and descriptive fantasy novel.

First of all, I loved this book. I loved the first one too, but there's always something about the underdog, the "weakling" finding the strength he didn't even know he had, that appeals to me enormously. And however much I like Thirrin, a weakling she is not. She may have had the disadvantage as a nation fighting the Empire in the first novel, but she was nowhere remotely close to being weak.

I've grown especially fond of children's books lately, between Harry Potter, the Artemis Fowl Series, The SpiderWick Chronicles, the trilogy of The Golden Compass (can't remember the collection's name), Garth Nix's series about the days of the week, and a whole host of others, I troll the young adult shelves almost exclusively. Seeing as I am 21 years old, I get a few odd looks. :)

SPOILERS, for those who haven't read this, are below....WARNING!!! SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

But was I the only one who read the whole book waiting impatiently for Madea to fry? And I freely admit that I felt no sympathy whatsoever when it finally happened. I was extremely satisfied when she finally realized just how much she had underestimated her father ("In your face, witch!" might have been going through my mind...haha!). And I completely appreciated the fact that he still didn't give her any mercy, for she deserved none.

This must have been the best book I have ever read because it was a good mixture of magic, reality and I always wanted to read it to find out what was going to happen next. It also made me want to read the next book so bad that I could not wait for it to come.

i couldnt put this book down out of fear that i would miss something even though i knew it wasnt going anywhere. gripping and fast paced with warlords and reluctant allies and betrayal lurking around the courner this book is incredibly captivating

I enjoyed the first book for what it was, a cute, action adventure story that moves quickly. I think my problem with the second story is similar to my problem with a lot of stories. The antagonist is two-dimensional and actually stymies the story where as a more dynamic antagonist would add a new level of intensity to the plot. Then, there is the daughter who becomes extremely evil even after being raised by good parents, as if the raising of a child has no effect on the child in the end. The story line also felt very similar to the first story. Again, the Icemark faces battle, and again people have to go and round up the allies. To me, the addition of new people is just more allies that needed rounding up. Truthfully, I enjoyed the first story, even with its flaws, but I found this book to be tedious due to its similar nature, and the increase in overly evil antagonists. This book is much better than some stories, but it is nowhere near the best quality, and is definitely a slight let down after the fascinating new world introduced in the first book that allowed me to overlook the one two-dimensional character. I hoped to find that this character became more dynamic with the second book, but he didn't. I am not sure if I will read the third book. I think as a stand alone, this book would have been a better read even with the over emphasis on how evil the antagonists are. My main problem with this story was how similar to the first story it felt.

The thing that stood most about this order was that it was cheaper than Barnes and Noble. I was also used the two day shipping, it was very good although it didn't come until the evening but it still was at my home in two days. I love this book and the series that is with it. It is mostly for Teens but can be light reading for Adults that like Sci-fi.