Customer Reviews

Fortress of Ice

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

 

 

A perfectly sound, workmanlike novel, which may not make a great deal of sense to anyone who hasn't read the first four books in the series. Unlike them this one mostly focuses on the adolescent sons of Cefwyn, one of the main characters in the earlier novels, and their difficulties as various past enemies of their father (and his friends) stir again. This is very much an intermediate book in a series. The ambiguous nature of Elfwyn, Cefwyn's [...] son, and his relationship with his legitimate half-brother are set out but not resolved; nor are any of the mysteries left open at the end of "Fortress of Dragons".

Cherryh's virtues are in evidence: strong characters who act in rationally-motivated ways, detailed and realistic worldbuilding and description (a C J Cherryh hero is guaranteed to have a thoroughly miserable time with hostile terrain and weather), convincing action and magic. The weakness of this book is the plot, which meanders, and the ending, which is so inconclusive as to give the distinct impression that this is half a book. I hope as a long-time fan that the next one will at least finish it.

My first response upon reading this book was to wonder who really wrote it. This was a good story and as well written as any other of her books. However...there are way too many discrepancies between this book and the previous four. They are incredibly irritating if you have a good memory for writing. Ex. 1: In a bid for power, Orien committed suicide and burned to death in her cell the night Tarien had her baby; the cell was walled up after that, not while she was still alive in it . Ex. 2, TRISTEN names the baby Elfwyn. He brings the baby back from the grey space and tells everyone, "his name is Elfwyn." Ex. 3, nowhere in the previous books is there any claim made that Tristen actually became a Dragon. Finally, the role of magic seems to have changed. It has gone from "wishing ill or good" to outright magic wand waving. I have not read any other such glaring inconsistencies in her other works. If you think I'm too picky about details, all I can say is that these were and are major story elements. Again, I have not found any other such inconsistencies in her other books which I do reread with great regularity. There are few other writers gifted with her writing ability which is probably why I was disappointed in this book.
I still like the writing, I still like the story, and I will probably buy the next ones in the series. But I'll also probably wait for the paperbacks.

I love the series. Fortress in the Eye of time remains one of my all time favorite books, set the series up nicely.
Sadly it skips 16 years from the last book and glosses over the lost decade.
Many loose threads still waving about.
If you want more Tristan then you will still have to wait for this book merely has a cameo or two.
The book somewhat retells the tale by placing Otter (Cefwyn's bastard son) in Tristan's place back in the Court and has difficulties anew with both Priests and Magic.
CJ's work is much like a rich dessert, with layers and layers carefully prepared. Skim it and you'll miss things that you will need to know later.
I'm reading it a second time and enjoying it more than I did the first time.
In fact even if you have already read this series, dust those books off and re-read them again before begining Fortress of Ice; it will make the experience more worthwhile and enjoyable.
Hope the next book doesn't take years to come out, I'm already waiting for it.

I have come to find over the years that if you "Like" the writings of CJ Cherryh, then you probably "Love" to read her books. Some people don't get them, can't get the cadence of her style or whatever... I ADORE her books I look forward to every one and am never disappointed.

In Ms. Cherryh's award winning Cyteen, the protagonist is giving an interview when she explains that a "Genius" is a person with the long view (one who can see the cause and effect steps ahead) but a "Special" (one who's mind is a treasure of state) can see the wide view as well as the long view.

Looking at her catalogue in total you can see Ms. Cherry is in fact a treasure, she never looses the ends of her universe, every word is connected to every other story (given the Sci-Fi (all the Sci-Fi) is one universe and, the Fantasy stories are separate to the world created for the story.

The Fortress stories are wonderful, and picking back up fifteen years into the story, "Fortress of Ice" loses no steam, or intensity, or beauty. As a Cherryh tale, we see the ripples across the world from a single event, that sets the ball rolling, where resolutions occur, but conclusions do not, as the universe feels the butterfly effect. So would this book be a good read as a stand alone? Maybe, but you would miss the nuance, which is the essence of a Cherryh story. I reread the Fortress series this month before reading Fortress of Ice, and I'm glad I did, not only because I enjoyed "Ice" so much more fully, but because the series is so well crafted and such a joy to read.

But, I digress.

Fortress of Ice is a wonderful tale of brotherhood, of friendship, of love, and of alienation,and of finding ones place in the world. It is a story where the Characters are smart and there is never a desire as the reader to yell at the characters HELLO!!! DUH!! he's in the closet!! ETC. You learn as the characters learn, there are never unsupported details, and never gotcha moments. Just action, dialogue and delemas as the plot beautifully continues to unfold.
Well crafted, visual, and uplifting. If you enjoy Ms Cheryh's Fantasy stories this will not disappoint in the least, I am so glad to have read it, I dreaded turning the last page,and I anxiously await another installment.

Ms. Cherryh's Fortress series has been one favorites of her series. For Fortress of Ice, Ms. Cherryh pickes up the pieces in her Fortress series and ages them 16 years older so that Cefwyn is now dealing with his son Aewyn and his bastard son Elfwyn (also called Otter in the book). The primary focus is from Elfwyn's perspective as he tries to blend with his father's people and develop a relationship with his half-brother (he has one and a good one) before magic and events take control of things. One character I loved in this book (athough only a minor role) was Master Crow.

As with all of Ms. Cherryh's books, the characters are very active with one another and we see many differnt perspectives. If there is one weakness with this book it's the lack of a map. This would have been very nice to have while reading when Ms. Cherryh referenced different locations. As always, the descriptions are rich and deep and makes for a good follow-up on the earlier books. My initial reaction would be to rate this as a 4-4.5 star book, but I loved how Ms. Cherryh hints at more of Lord Tristen's Power and background. Because of this, I give it the extra half star nod and round it up to a 5 star book because Elfwyn reminded me of my son and Lady Tarien of my ex-wife. Very good work Ms. Cherryh! I look forward to more like this one. Btw, there is room for more in this series...

King Cefwyn raised his son and heir Aewyn at the royal court at Guelemara while his older child by a few months, illegitimate offspring Elfwyn, was raised by Gran the hedge-witch in the countryside of Amefel where she called him Otter. The two royals visited Otter often and now the sixteen years old Elfwyn has been brought to Guelemara to live with his sire and half-brother though the monarch realizes that the two siblings could become adversaries. He believes with his guidance Elfwyn will be loyal and helpful to Aewyn once the younger is on the throne.

Both teens admire their father and become friends as well as brothers in spite of all that divided them. However, out of love and good intentions inadvertently King Cefwyn has brought trouble to his kingdom. The Quinalt religious sect demand that Otter leave the court as his maternal breeding is an abomination to these purist fanatics; they will do what it takes to insure this happens including assassination if need be. Worse, Otter's mother, one of the Aswydd sisters and an outraged perhaps insane sorceress, has escaped her incarceration and is coming for her boy and to kill her former lover.

The fifth "Fortress" fantasy is a terrific relationships drama that fans of the series will fully appreciate as everyone will wonder whether Elfwyn will choose his mother or his father. Though a short introduction will help newcomers understand the back story, this reviewer recommends obtaining the four previous novels to better savor this exciting saga especially the interrelationships between the various key players; all are fully developed, but their conjoining pasts are critical to this plot. C.J. Cherryh provides a fabulous tale testing the loyalties of the two teenage brothers.

Harriet Klausner

If you've only read the first 'fortress' book, stop there. None of the rest of the series match up 'fortress in the eye of time', which is one of Cherryh's best books.

On ther other hand, the fouth (and I had assumed final), 'fortress of dragons' is one of Cherryh's worst; so this is a vast step up from there.

This books starts very slowly, and Cherryh's choice to attempt the langauge of her teenage protagonist isn't a good one; she can't convincingly do the voice, and the choice to do so is very distracting. However, once it gets past the first quarter, this book suddenly turns into classic Cherryh. All the things that made the Fortress series work are here; politics, complex magical systems, a vague sense of menace, and the tightrope feeling that anything the characters do could send them into the pit one way or ther other. It ends rather suddenly (So I'm assuming she's got plans for another if not two more), but it ends well, and I wanted more of it, which is always a good sign particularly after 'dragons' weak ending.

After several serious stumbles (with the 'gene wars' books (were were awful) and with 'fortress of dragons'), it's a good sign that Cherryh can still do this. This is far from Cherryh's best book, but it's a large step above her worst, and that's encouraging.

I really enjoy this series and I enjoyed this book. That being said, this was the worst one in the series. The plot was kind of boring and the transition to the new characters didn't draw me into them with the same connection that I had in earlier books.

My biggest gripe is that the Main Character of the first four books is left as a supporting character, which makes sense for the book, but is disappointing for someone who enjoyed his role. I was very disappointed with the direction that the author took the series and I had hoped for something different.

It's good reading if you are a fan of the series, just understand that things have changed a great deal and you may find yourself missing how things were.

Final novel in the C J Cherryh fortress series. Excellent ending of the series as it cleared up many of the questions raised in the earlier editions. I thouroughly enjoyed it.

Mr Jordin's review of this book (on this website) is all you need to know what the book is about, so my review is more just personal impressions.

The author gives a very good précis of the previous books at the start of each book, but I do think it would be better to read the other books first and not start off with this one, otherwise the names are not going to mean anything, and even less the relationships. It would e.g. be difficult to believe the friendship and loyalty between Cefwyn and Tristen, had you not followed it's development in the previous books.

To me it seems that this book leads in a new phase in the epic. Tristen is not the central figure anymore (and I miss him) but Otter - whose magical or wizardly powers, or the lack thereof, will shape the stories to come. The only criticism I have about this book is that there was insufficient tension and mystery to make me watch the shops for the follow-up - Otter's character is developed beautifully and the story opens many lines of possible future exploration, but it was just a tad too restful for my taste. (The breakout of Orien from the tower where she died, for instance, could have been described with a little more whizz-bang??!!!)

I hope owl makes it into the next book too.