Prince of Ice (Tales of the Demon World, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Emma Holly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006

Emma Holly loves to take a walk on the wild side, and here she ventures into a sensuous and dangerous world where a human courtesan becomes the flesh and blood property of a demon prince. Soulmates, lovers-and victims of an unnatural desire that could drive them both insane.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Orphaned and sent to Madame Fagin's training house for pillow girls, Xishi can't believe her good fortune when her long-lost friend, Prince Cor, buys her and takes her back to the Forbidden City. But Cor has changed from the happy boy she once knew. Determined to master his emotions, he's grown into a cold, collected man. It's fitting that Holly conjures an alternate Victorian world, since the story has a Dickensian style as she starts at the beginning of her star-crossed lovers' lives and works her way forward. In our time, when fast-paced, right-out-of-the-gate stories are gospel, Holly takes a risk, but it pays off. Lavish settings, palace intrigue, and hidden agendas add dimension and suspense to her elegant, erotic romance. FollowingThe Demon's Daughter (2004), Prince of Ice is the sultriest entry yet in Holly's Demon World series. Nina Davis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425212599
• ISBN-13: 978-0425212592
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emma Holly is the USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty very hot romantic books, featuring werewolves, faeries, and just plain extraordinary ordinary folks. Her favorite things are reading, coffee, long daydreamy walks, plus whatever show she's currently infatuated with on tv. She loves sinking into the worlds of her stories and hopes you do too!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Original paranormal with well matched protagonists, December 4, 2006

By 

Jane Litte "Jane at DearAuthor.Com" (US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Prince of Ice (Tales of the Demon World, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Prince of Ice is a fairly traditional romance set in the Far East featuring young friends who have a close friendship and then are torn apart by one child's family. While it is marketed as a paranormal and the worldbuilding is based upon the creation of a different race, it reads like a fantasy historical. Yamas lived in isolation for centuries until they were discovered by human explorers. The setting is Victorian Earth but the yama are more technologically advanced. Their race values emotional control above all else. Those that show signs of unrestrained emotion are considered defective and not fit to rule. However, because emotions are forbidden, the yama are attracted to humans' emotions. Further, yamas can become addicted to imbibing human energy as it produces a drug like euphoria. While it is a well known secret, like drug addiction, that yamas have affairs with humans and imbibe the human chi, to have the affair known to the public is a great disgrace.

The interesting part of the yama lore is not the technological advances or the genetic enhancements but the societal structure. This story is much more about society, class and culture than it is about ghosts, demons, and otherworldly creatures. To some extent it is reminiscent of Slave to Sensation where the alternate reality world provide a backdrop but the story is carried by understandable and accessible conflicts.

Yama royals are the product of careful interbreeding and genetic matching. Honor and face are important concepts within Yama culture. The story is told of the Huon family, close to royalty, who was banished because the wife of the lord took a human to her bed and it was made public.

Then and there, with all the royal houses watching, the Huons' proud, long hair was shorn to chin length by the emperor's guards. Corynna remembered staring at the daughter's locksâ"Xoushou, she thought she was called. They had lain in a perfect sheaf across the marble pavers, black with a touch of rubies in the noonday sun.

While I don't want to give too much of the story away, I do want to comment on how much I liked the backstory of Corum and Xishi. I love the childhood friends to soulmates theme and thought that this one had all the makings of a keeper. Corum and Xishi are brought were brought up together from the age of 6 months and were inseparable until Corum's mother detects an inappropriate connection between the two. Xishi is sent to a foundling home and becomes a pillow girl, a geisha like creation. She is purchased by Corum without either knowing of their previous connection. Unfortunately, the human chi that Xishi possesses soon causes Corum to begin to act unnaturally, showing emotion and attachment.

The sexuality of the story is expertly woven throughout the story from the opening scene to the training sessions that Xishi undergoes to the passion that flourishes between Corum and Xishi. You are a master at creating believable, exciting and fully integrated sex scenes that advance the plot of the story.

Where this book fails to achieve keeper status is the last 50 pages or so. It's a shame, really, because parts of the story is told with such elegance and deftness that it makes the manhandling of the ending all the more disappointing. The conflict between Corum and Xishi is resolved with the use of a deux ex machina. It comes out of nowhere and seemed like a shortcut. The ending just didn't live up to the great backstory provided Corum and Xishi and the drama that was created from their seemingly inequal pairing. It is still heads and shoulders above much of the paranormal dross out there.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uh... Wow?, November 10, 2006

By 

lwd (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prince of Ice (Tales of the Demon World, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading the first in this series (Demon's Daughter), which I enjoyed, I bought two other Holly books. While the other stories were interesting and well-written, they were bit too X-rated for me. (Apparently, I am more of a prude than I thought.) However, because this book is a sequel to The Demon's Daughter, I decided to try one more time. I'm glad I did.

Prince of Ice is a continuation of the world Emma Holly created in The Demon's Daughter. More, it is wholly within the Demon's world, rather than the alternate human one this time, so we get to know their culture more completely. World building at its best, we learn who these people are, where they come from, and the plot centers on that culture as well as specific people within it.

Simply - I am a little impressed. Political intrigue, forbidden desires, revenge, danger, friendships, nasty villains, true love. A prince, a secret princess, how they find each other, how they lose each other, eventual reconciliation. Add interesting secondary characters and a side plot about another exiled prince that melds in beautifully, and you have a winner. An adult fairy tale, if you will, well written and captivating.

In short (I know, too late for that), this is a good story and an interesting premise. It is complete within itself, but leaves a door open so that we can visit this world again. Yes, the sex is extremely explicit, and there is a great deal of it, but, oddly, it doesn't feel especially gratuitous. The erotic scenes are an essential part of the storyline, even a character in and of itself. I will admit that some words habitually used in the erotica genre still tend to detract from the story for me, but that `s a personal problem. If you're okay with it, I highly recommend this book.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Chemistry and romance, November 9, 2006

By 

M. ORIAS "puccagirl73" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prince of Ice (Tales of the Demon World, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Yamas (demons) are superior in Emma Holly's Demon World; they are physically more beautiful, smarter, and stronger than human. They look down upon humans because they are emotional. Corum is a yama prince with a genetic anomaly that makes him more emotional than the average yama. Xishi, the courtesan renamed Buttercup is his perfect match, she is born of a secret tryst between a disgraced half-human yama noblewoman and the yama emperor.
They meet as infants and instantly have an unbreakable bond; one is not complete without the other. When they turn eight they are separated in order to make Corum more disciplined in his emotions. When they next meet he has become a prince of ice to hide his genetic anomaly and keep his family honor, but he cannot resist Buttercup so he buys her for his lover (pillow girl) and the chemistry and love between them explodes. They have not forgotten each other or the love they share.
This was a very sexy, sensual, return to Holly's demon world and it was very romantic to see two destined mates become one even against the rules of their society.