A Sword from Red Ice: Book Three of Sword of Shadows [Import] [Paperback]

J.V. Jones (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; New Ed edition (November 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841491845
• ISBN-13: 978-1841491844
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 2.1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,189,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good book but some people may be disappointed, May 7, 2008

By 

JC (Big Rapids, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Great world building with many interesting characters and social/political systems in play. Good sensory detail and dialogue. There are more interesting people and story lines running here than in most books. But this books shares the weakness of the later Robert Jordan books: very little happens. It should not take this long for Raif to find the sword, or for Raina to decide to act, or for the dog lord to travel to safety, or for Ash to......by the way, exactly what is she doing except travelling around wondering what it means to be a Reach.

Here is what I would say to people considering buying the book. If you like Jordan and George R. R. Martin, then you are in the right territory here. If that sense of things not really happening bothered you in Jordan's recent books, it will bother you here too. If you are just happy to be inside the world she creates and watch the characters interact and speak and hint at possible futures in which they really will do something except wander around trying to figure out what they should be doing then you will be happy.

Yes, I am hooked enough to buy the next one. I do want to see what Raina will do, where Effie ends up, how Raif will face his future, what Ash's role will be etc.... But I did have that feeling that the book went deadly slowly for 600 pages hinting at significances but never clarifying things, and then suddenly had something big happen to each character so that there seems a promise of action in the next volume.

Let's hope her editor pokes her along a little bit and she gets down to it. I beg the Stone Gods of Blackhail not to let this become a ten volume dragging series like Jordan's work.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a conclusion, just the middle of it., October 25, 2007

By 

Chutzpuh "The last PC gamer" (Tucson, Az United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Well, here it is. After about 2 years of waiting, the next book of the series is finally released. I have to say I am both overjoyed and depressed that this isn't the end of the series as I originally thought. It turns out this book is actually number 3 of 5. So, it looks like I'll be waiting about 4 years for the rest of this series.

I loved the first two installments of this series. The character development, the action, the history and those little bits of detail really drew me right into the story. While I would have no trouble giving the first two books 5 stars, I can't seem to do it with this book.

It was well written, just like the other two, but it lacked the depth I was hoping for. Of the seven or so storylines contained in this installment, there are really only 2 or three which are of any interest. For a 600 page book that comes to about 160 pages of good stuff.

Most of the storylines accomplish nothing. One character spends the entire book floating in a boat. That is it, no real development, no interesting twists, just floating on a boat for about 100 total pages. Another character spends their portion of the book wandering around a forest, while it picked up for the last 2 pages it was really just a very vivid description of what it was like to wander around in a snow covered forest for a long time.

Raif's story is really the only saving grace of this book since his story is the only one which goes somewhere. If the author just wrote Raif's side of the story, you would likely not miss a thing. While his trials, torments and victories are nothing in comparison the the previous installments, his journey still makes it worthwhile.

Since you shouldn't expect the next book for another 2 years, I wouldn't race to pick this up. If you are a major J.V. Jones fan (as I am) you likely own the thing already, in which case I hope you enjoy it. For everyone else out there, pick it up when it is convenient for you and enjoy.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Novel or encyclopedia?, May 13, 2008

By 

David Dooley (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3) (Hardcover)

J.V. Jones is a marvelous world builder, and fans of George R. R. Martin and Robert Jordan shouldn't hesitate to explore her world. All three writers share a common theme: human beings fight among themselves when they need to be preparing for an apocalyptic battle with powerful non-human foes. The three series also share another characteristic: they are unfinished. Jones' Sword of Honor was originally believed to be a trilogy, and now is said to be at least five books. A Sword from Red Ice is eerily like Martin's A Feast for Crows in that a remarkably talented author simply loses control of the ongoing momentum of the series. The previous entries by Jones and Martin threatened to spin out of control; A Sword from Red Ice and A Feast for Crows actually do. Whereas Martin and Jordan keep introducing new subplots and new characters instead of developing the marvelous characters and resolving the situations that drew us into their work, Jones gives us page after page of lovingly detailed geology, botany, and anthropology. Her world comes to life; her story, unfortunately, does not.

A further drawback is that the copious plot threads are all so similar. Raif wanders through the Want. Ash wanders toward the Sull homeland. Vaylo Bludd wanders somewhere away from his enemies. Effie and her captors travel along a river. (The Raina and Bram subplots are the only exception, and we don't really get the drift of the Bram subplot until near the end of the book). The marvelously drawn main characters don't interact with each other in this long novel, except for Vaylo Bludd's brief encounter with Bram. The Effie subplot is extended and unresolved in the manner of late Jordan, just as the kidnapping of Faile dragged on through three or four of Jordan's books.

Raina Blackhail's story could be a stand-alone novel; so could Bram's coming of age. The main plot (Raif, Ash, the Endlords) is somewhat familiar but well handled; the world of the clanholds (a splendid combination of Native American and Scottish elements) is completely original. The whole conception of the lamb brothers in the new book, for instance, is deeply moving. Jones' fascination with the life of the clanholds has in effect taken over from the story of Ash and her unfortunate powers. The novel has turned into a kind of encyclopedia.