A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3) by J. V. Jones
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Book Reviews of A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3)
Book Review: Thought this was the end of a trilogy, not the middle of a quintet.
Summary: 4 Stars
J. V. Jones writes very slowly and doesn't update her website (or didn't while she was writing this) and so I expected this to be the ending of a trilogy. I was looking forward to the end because I started reading the series pretty much as soon as it came out. This series is rather painful for me at times, because characters I care about die and in such ways that it's hard to get past. I wanted to read more about Ash in this book. I was shocked she left Raif, although I do understand it. I just wish there'd been more of them together and more of Ash in general. There's a few things that seem out of place for the characters of people from the earlier books, but I won't go into that because I honestly don't remember. I skimmed much of this book instead of truly reading it, but couldn't help wanting to leave a review all the same.
I love J. V. Jones's writing and her worlds, but I would love some kind of guarantee that the next book will come out in the next three or four years. I waited so long and saw so many publisher and price changes for THIS book that I worried it would never come out. So far, I think my favorite book of hers may actually be the stand alone novel, The Barbed Coil. Anyway, this is a recommend from me.
Book Review: LOVE JV Jones!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read every single book JV Jones has written. She is my favorite author. The characters in her books are so well written you would think you know them personally. A Sword from Red Ice is the 3rd book in the series. After finishing book 2, I couldn't wait for this book to come out to find out what happened next. This book is just as well written as the others. If you like epic fantasy books like the Lord of the Rings, Shannara, and others like those, you will absolutely LOVE JV Jones books. Book Review: Character-driven dark fantasy
Summary: 3 Stars
I have mixed feelings about this book.
There are a lot of positives here. "A Sword from Red Ice" is the third entry in J.V. Jones's Sword of Shadows series. The series is set in a harsh northern environment inhabited by warring barbarian clans. Both the setting and the plot, in which each character is subjected to his or her own form of betrayal and exile, are relentlessly bleak and clearly intended for mature audiences. Like Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, this is dark fantasy set in a vividly realized world. Where Martin's series develops a large cast of characters and pits them largely against each other, Sword of Shadows focuses on a smaller set of protagonists and their struggles against larger, darker forces as well as the environment itself. Both the characters and writing style compare favorably with Martin's, which in my view is high praise.
Unfortunately, there are a few negatives as well. A Sword from Red Ice reads like a very typical `bridge book' in a series, and spends much of its time dealing with the aftermath of previous events and setting the stage for action to come. The bleak situations and harsh trials to which Jones subjects her characters make this lack of advancement of the overall plot even more noticeable and somewhat frustrating. This is a compelling read, but even the resolution of the most important plot threads end up feeling like set up for Jones's next novel, which, given that the first book in the series was published in 1999 and the second in 2003, may be a long way off.
I would recommend the first book in this series, "A Cavern of Black Ice", enthusiastically to any fantasy fan, and the second, "A Fortress of Grey Ice" to those who particularly enjoy the first. I enjoyed A Sword From Red Ice, but until I read the next book and see some meaningful advancement of the overall plot, would recommend it only to fans of the series.
Book Review: Novel or encyclopedia?
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Book Review: good book but some people may be disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
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.