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Chung Kuo Recast #4
Ice and Fire
Colossal. A long-awaited, elaborately frightening vision of the future. Sunday Times Chung Kuo, the great globe-spanning City constructed of the super-plastic Ice, enjoys a brief if uneasy peace, which is threatened by the discovery of the Aristotle File. Suppressed by the Ministry, the 'Thousand Eyes', for centuries the document charts the true history of their world and will reveal the dark secret at the heart of Chung Kuo. Cold, cruel and calculating, the villainous Howard DeVore is determined to end the rule of the Seven and make way for his own bid for power. The harbinger for Change, however, is the destruction of the newly built generation starship, The New Hope, forcing the rebel factions into open war with the Seven. A war that neither side can afford to fight. A war of ice and fire that can only result in a weakening of that once-great social structure, Chung Kuo.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
41 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
About the author
David Wingrove
50 books165 followersDavid Wingrove (born September 1954 in North Battersea, London) is a British science fiction writer. He is well-known as the author of the "Chung Kuo" novels (eight in total). He is also the co-author (with Rand and Robyn Miller) of the three "Myst" novels.
Wingrove worked in the banking industry for 7 years until he became fed up with it. He then attended the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he read English and American Literature.
He is married and, with his wife Susan, has four daughters Jessica, Amy, Georgia, and Francesca.
Between 1972 and 1982 he wrote over 300 unpublished short stories and 15 novels.
He started work on a new fictional project called A Perfect Art. Between 1984 and 1988, when it was first submitted, the title was changed twice, becoming first A Spring Day at the Edge of the World and then finally Chung Kuo, under which title it was sold to 18 publishers throughout the world.
A prequel to the Chung Kuo series, called When China Comes, was released in May 2009 by Quercus Publishing, which also re-released the entire series: "The series has been recast in nineteen volumes, including a new prequel and a new final volume. After a series launch in May 2009, Quercus will embark on an ambitious publishing programme that will see all nineteen volumes available by the end of 2012."
He has plans for a further a novels, a a first person character novel called Dawn in Stone City and three very different novels: The Beast with Two Backs, Heaven's Bright Sun, and Roads to Moscow.
Wingrove worked in the banking industry for 7 years until he became fed up with it. He then attended the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he read English and American Literature.
He is married and, with his wife Susan, has four daughters Jessica, Amy, Georgia, and Francesca.
Between 1972 and 1982 he wrote over 300 unpublished short stories and 15 novels.
He started work on a new fictional project called A Perfect Art. Between 1984 and 1988, when it was first submitted, the title was changed twice, becoming first A Spring Day at the Edge of the World and then finally Chung Kuo, under which title it was sold to 18 publishers throughout the world.
A prequel to the Chung Kuo series, called When China Comes, was released in May 2009 by Quercus Publishing, which also re-released the entire series: "The series has been recast in nineteen volumes, including a new prequel and a new final volume. After a series launch in May 2009, Quercus will embark on an ambitious publishing programme that will see all nineteen volumes available by the end of 2012."
He has plans for a further a novels, a a first person character novel called Dawn in Stone City and three very different novels: The Beast with Two Backs, Heaven's Bright Sun, and Roads to Moscow.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 30, 2016
Well I have done it again, I read this series many years ago. And when I got a hold of it there were a few of the books to still come out. Well here it is again, stopped until the next volume comes out. Now I do actually have the next book, but from the last issue of the series.
I can tell there are subtile differences in some of the book, where he has chopped up the novel from the original versions. So while I wait for the next book, and I think I will try to find out what those differences are. March the beginning of March. Oh boy, I miss the characters already. You have to check this book out, it is very hard to get your brian around. But it is Sci Fi, so try not to let the realism get your panties in a bunch.
In fact the author states that the primary villain has exterminated everyone in the world with skin as dark as my own. And I don't think he even mentions anyone from South America or Mexico either. A future where there are 40 billion people on the planet, you try to imagine that number okay, the we can begin when you realize that they have no idea of what our history was like. It is the classic case of the winner writing the history. If you can get through the first two books in this series you will be just as enchanted and disturbed as I when you read the complexity of what Wingrove has imagined.
I can tell there are subtile differences in some of the book, where he has chopped up the novel from the original versions. So while I wait for the next book, and I think I will try to find out what those differences are. March the beginning of March. Oh boy, I miss the characters already. You have to check this book out, it is very hard to get your brian around. But it is Sci Fi, so try not to let the realism get your panties in a bunch.
In fact the author states that the primary villain has exterminated everyone in the world with skin as dark as my own. And I don't think he even mentions anyone from South America or Mexico either. A future where there are 40 billion people on the planet, you try to imagine that number okay, the we can begin when you realize that they have no idea of what our history was like. It is the classic case of the winner writing the history. If you can get through the first two books in this series you will be just as enchanted and disturbed as I when you read the complexity of what Wingrove has imagined.
August 1, 2013
Ice and Fire is the fourth book in the Chung Kuo Recast series, I just started over a month ago reading this series and was blown away with the introduced concept and how David Wingrove started plotting this story of epic proportions. So far the prologues were a great start to the series I learned a lot about the comings and goings of the universe in which the series takes place, and even more so with The Middle Kingdom, where the story really took off with in the “current” state of affairs.
The Middle Kingdom was set almost a decade after Daylight on Iron Mountain, and thus was quite crucial in setting the story on the right track, which David Wingrove managed to do expertly without a doubt. Ice and Fire takes place 5 years after the events of The Middle Kingdom, where The Middle Kingdom had an emphasis on both the universe (which was crucial since was set 100 years later) and a set of characters. In Ice and Fire it felt like the focus was more on the characters and how they individually are as a group were undertaking several actions and dealing with other affairs.
Shifting the focus towards the characters was a definite plus. In Chung Kuo Recast you are being introduced to a lot of characters. This focus allowed me to quickly recapture the important characters of the series, what their history was and their place in the story. Next to this recapture, David Wingrove takes all the important characters and takes their development and their place in the storyline further. I must admit that Ice and Fire was the book that I finished the fastest so far. Probably because I’m so eager to find out how this story will unfold, but also because David Wingrove now shows how interesting and well created every single major character is and their, often perilous, navigation through the world.
Most of the characters in Ice and Fire are recurrent from The Middle Kingdom like Howard DeVore, Kim Ward, Li Yuan, Fei Wen and Knut Tolonen. Howard is one of the major characters that opposes the Seven. (The Seven is a council of Seven people T’ang, who rule Chung Kuo). Howard and his friend want to have Change, which the Seven are holding back. With building The New Hope, a starship to venture into space, they hope to achieve some of their goals. Howards character really develops into a rebellion leader, that is brutal and vicious and has a hatred against the Han and the Seven which is shown in bloody details at times. I’m even getting scared of him. To counter the ploys of Howard, general Knut Tolonen comes into play, Knut has a history with Howard that started in The Middle Kingdom. Knut is loyal to the Seven and under the command of Li Shai Tung, the European T’ang. He is ordered to do the dirty jobs. Overall Knuts character was quite stable from what I learned from him in the third book, but his determination makes him utterly dangerous as he tries to fulfil his order is the best possible ways.
There as one character that I was really looking forward to read more about, the child prodigy, Kim Ward, rescued from The Clay, the lowest of the low. He was said to be smart. Now that he is being schooled, his life hasn’t become any easier as he is constantly being bullied and driven to a point that his life is in the balance as well. But with his terrible clever mind Kim, creates something that the Seven fear, the Aristotle File. Something that will cause a disturbance if it will leak out, and could possible topple their rule. Now I was very pleased with how this was introduced and explained especially the impact and how it gave certain characters an enlightenment and how others feared it. In the end of the book there happens something to Kim that will change him, all the high tech stuff that came along with it is really leaving me wondering what this all could mean. Now the tone of heavy sci-fi elements come to show in the book, early on you were introduced to androids but David Wingrove proves that he has much more in story for you!
Next to the recurring cast, David Wingrove keeps on introducing new characters and one of them is Ben Shepard, from some who have read the original series or books one to three, this name might strike you as familiar. Ben is introduced in the first pages of the book and then is kept out of the loop. It was actually quite funny, I was nearing the end of the book, going through all that had happened and what I should write about in my review and I came across Ben’s character and then all of a sudden, he is followed up in the epilogue of the Ice and Fire! Ben is special character, with a unique heritage, he feels a bit like Fei Wen when she was first introduced. Introduced in a bit of a casual way but with a tone that he will turn out to be someone important.
The character cast of the series keeps on expanding and growing richer, with the recurrent and new additions to it. David Wingrove, Even though the character cast is that large, manages to give each character its own voice, great unique and interesting personalities.
Since there is a lot of emphasis on the characters you might think that the story itself isn’t being taken further well that is not the case, as you see be the hands of these characters where the story is going. The Middle Kingdom introduced the start of the rebellion against the Seven and how Howard and his friends were plotting to over thrown them. These actions are being further undertaken in Ice and Fire but on many different levels. A lot of the actions and the plotting takes place behind the scenes, in the political court and between different characters, creating a sense of a struggle and powerplay. There aren’t any major battles that go down instead there are several carefully plotted and orchestrated encounters. Creating the powerplay was done neatly and adds a lingering feeling behind the whole story, which in my eyes is even more dangerous that armies going to battle each other. It proves that you cannot trust everyone on the go...
David Wingrove has created a strong character driven fourth book in the Chung Kuo Recast series with Ice and Fire, directly to my pleasing. With the amount of you get to know along the series characters, it was good to allow a zoom in on the current affairs and how they might be starting to play out. And don’t think the storyline will falter by it, more on the contrary of that, this strengthening only strengthened the characters themselves and played its own positive effect on the storyline. David Wingrove shows in a superb manner the character that he employs in his story. Showing their believing and how they want to reach their goals. And creating thereby quite the humanly characters: determined, compelling, bold and brutal at times. As the book delve deeper into the future the sci-fi tech also becomes more interesting like GenSyn, SimFic and now the androids and what is occurring with Kim, very cool to read about. With the was now is declared in Ice and Fire… who knows what will happen next…
originally posted at http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2013/08/ice-and-fire.html
The Middle Kingdom was set almost a decade after Daylight on Iron Mountain, and thus was quite crucial in setting the story on the right track, which David Wingrove managed to do expertly without a doubt. Ice and Fire takes place 5 years after the events of The Middle Kingdom, where The Middle Kingdom had an emphasis on both the universe (which was crucial since was set 100 years later) and a set of characters. In Ice and Fire it felt like the focus was more on the characters and how they individually are as a group were undertaking several actions and dealing with other affairs.
Shifting the focus towards the characters was a definite plus. In Chung Kuo Recast you are being introduced to a lot of characters. This focus allowed me to quickly recapture the important characters of the series, what their history was and their place in the story. Next to this recapture, David Wingrove takes all the important characters and takes their development and their place in the storyline further. I must admit that Ice and Fire was the book that I finished the fastest so far. Probably because I’m so eager to find out how this story will unfold, but also because David Wingrove now shows how interesting and well created every single major character is and their, often perilous, navigation through the world.
Most of the characters in Ice and Fire are recurrent from The Middle Kingdom like Howard DeVore, Kim Ward, Li Yuan, Fei Wen and Knut Tolonen. Howard is one of the major characters that opposes the Seven. (The Seven is a council of Seven people T’ang, who rule Chung Kuo). Howard and his friend want to have Change, which the Seven are holding back. With building The New Hope, a starship to venture into space, they hope to achieve some of their goals. Howards character really develops into a rebellion leader, that is brutal and vicious and has a hatred against the Han and the Seven which is shown in bloody details at times. I’m even getting scared of him. To counter the ploys of Howard, general Knut Tolonen comes into play, Knut has a history with Howard that started in The Middle Kingdom. Knut is loyal to the Seven and under the command of Li Shai Tung, the European T’ang. He is ordered to do the dirty jobs. Overall Knuts character was quite stable from what I learned from him in the third book, but his determination makes him utterly dangerous as he tries to fulfil his order is the best possible ways.
There as one character that I was really looking forward to read more about, the child prodigy, Kim Ward, rescued from The Clay, the lowest of the low. He was said to be smart. Now that he is being schooled, his life hasn’t become any easier as he is constantly being bullied and driven to a point that his life is in the balance as well. But with his terrible clever mind Kim, creates something that the Seven fear, the Aristotle File. Something that will cause a disturbance if it will leak out, and could possible topple their rule. Now I was very pleased with how this was introduced and explained especially the impact and how it gave certain characters an enlightenment and how others feared it. In the end of the book there happens something to Kim that will change him, all the high tech stuff that came along with it is really leaving me wondering what this all could mean. Now the tone of heavy sci-fi elements come to show in the book, early on you were introduced to androids but David Wingrove proves that he has much more in story for you!
Next to the recurring cast, David Wingrove keeps on introducing new characters and one of them is Ben Shepard, from some who have read the original series or books one to three, this name might strike you as familiar. Ben is introduced in the first pages of the book and then is kept out of the loop. It was actually quite funny, I was nearing the end of the book, going through all that had happened and what I should write about in my review and I came across Ben’s character and then all of a sudden, he is followed up in the epilogue of the Ice and Fire! Ben is special character, with a unique heritage, he feels a bit like Fei Wen when she was first introduced. Introduced in a bit of a casual way but with a tone that he will turn out to be someone important.
The character cast of the series keeps on expanding and growing richer, with the recurrent and new additions to it. David Wingrove, Even though the character cast is that large, manages to give each character its own voice, great unique and interesting personalities.
Since there is a lot of emphasis on the characters you might think that the story itself isn’t being taken further well that is not the case, as you see be the hands of these characters where the story is going. The Middle Kingdom introduced the start of the rebellion against the Seven and how Howard and his friends were plotting to over thrown them. These actions are being further undertaken in Ice and Fire but on many different levels. A lot of the actions and the plotting takes place behind the scenes, in the political court and between different characters, creating a sense of a struggle and powerplay. There aren’t any major battles that go down instead there are several carefully plotted and orchestrated encounters. Creating the powerplay was done neatly and adds a lingering feeling behind the whole story, which in my eyes is even more dangerous that armies going to battle each other. It proves that you cannot trust everyone on the go...
David Wingrove has created a strong character driven fourth book in the Chung Kuo Recast series with Ice and Fire, directly to my pleasing. With the amount of you get to know along the series characters, it was good to allow a zoom in on the current affairs and how they might be starting to play out. And don’t think the storyline will falter by it, more on the contrary of that, this strengthening only strengthened the characters themselves and played its own positive effect on the storyline. David Wingrove shows in a superb manner the character that he employs in his story. Showing their believing and how they want to reach their goals. And creating thereby quite the humanly characters: determined, compelling, bold and brutal at times. As the book delve deeper into the future the sci-fi tech also becomes more interesting like GenSyn, SimFic and now the androids and what is occurring with Kim, very cool to read about. With the was now is declared in Ice and Fire… who knows what will happen next…
originally posted at http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2013/08/ice-and-fire.html
September 13, 2017
Thus begun the War Of Levels...
April 1, 2013
David Wingrove’s Chung Kuo originally appeared in eight large volumes between 1989 and 1997. Now Wingrove has started to ‘recast’ the entire series, spreading it across an epic twenty not so large volumes, adding completely new material in two prequel volumes and two more at the end. Ice and Fire originally formed the second part of the original first volume (The Middle Kingdom); The Art of War was the first part of the former book two, The Broken Wheel.
The vast majority of the Earth’s population of forty billion has come to live in the City: pre-fabricated stacked hives a mile or so high, linked to one another across entire continents. A privileged few are able to maintain estates outside the all-encompassing City. By the time Ice and Fire begins in 2201, the seven T’ang – the Han rulers of Chung Kuo (which to all effects and purposes is the entire planet Earth and a few dependencies off-world) – have allowed the creation of a House of Representatives at Weimar, and granted it a measure of devolved government. But the House and the Council of Seven maintain an uneasy relationship due to the natural desire of parliamentarians to increase the power of the elected body – which could only be done at the expense of the ruling Seven.
Many are resentful of the Edict of Technological Control – the law enacted by the Seven to prohibit change – and so the resulting stagnation due to free enquiry and scientific research virtually ceasing. The Dispersionists pin their hopes on The New Hope, a starship whose development and construction has been barely tolerated by the Seven. And to complicate matters some of the Dispersionists have formed an alliance with a group of former insiders who wish to overthrow the ruling order.
Stopping change, stopping the ‘wheel of history’ from turning, is the Seven’s whole raison d’etre; anything or anyone that challenges the Seven’s hold on Chung Kuo is liable to be crushed without mercy. Now, in Ice and Fire, the latest threat to their rule comes from outside the City, when an apparently insignificant incident close to one of the great Seals in the outer wall begins to reveal the extent of the discontent and the illicit experimentation taking place in breach of the Edict. War seems imminent – and a war not only for control of the Earth and the development of space travel, but also for human history itself.
The Art of War opens some three years after the end of Ice and Fire. The Seven have apparently won the War of Two Directions and reasserted their control. They have exacted a savage revenge, with the luckiest of the survivors from the losing side being thrust down to lower levels within the City. A few still survive in hidden fortresses secretly built in mountainous regions that the City has never covered. But the ‘winner takes all’ attitude among many of the ruling elite cannot hide the fact that discontent wasn’t eradicated, and is still growing. An out-and-out terrorist group, the Ping Tiao (‘levelling’) has been formed, and riots have become more frequent. For some among the Seven and their supporters the only answer is to make it impossible for people to wish for change, to wish to unbalance the utopia of peace and stability that their rulers wish to bestow on humanity – on their own terms.
As with the previous books in the series, Ice and Fire and The Art of War move along at an exhilarating pace. From the outset the reader is enmeshed in a complex world-wide political and dynastic drama in which threads of friendship, alliance and betrayal are continually being woven, severed, and woven again into new patterns. For Chung Kuo – the world – the possibilities are the enforced survival of its ‘utopia’ or its bloody downfall and replacement with – what? These are the highest possible stakes – and there are still fifteen more books to go!
(Review first appeared on Piper at the Gates of Fantasy)
The vast majority of the Earth’s population of forty billion has come to live in the City: pre-fabricated stacked hives a mile or so high, linked to one another across entire continents. A privileged few are able to maintain estates outside the all-encompassing City. By the time Ice and Fire begins in 2201, the seven T’ang – the Han rulers of Chung Kuo (which to all effects and purposes is the entire planet Earth and a few dependencies off-world) – have allowed the creation of a House of Representatives at Weimar, and granted it a measure of devolved government. But the House and the Council of Seven maintain an uneasy relationship due to the natural desire of parliamentarians to increase the power of the elected body – which could only be done at the expense of the ruling Seven.
Many are resentful of the Edict of Technological Control – the law enacted by the Seven to prohibit change – and so the resulting stagnation due to free enquiry and scientific research virtually ceasing. The Dispersionists pin their hopes on The New Hope, a starship whose development and construction has been barely tolerated by the Seven. And to complicate matters some of the Dispersionists have formed an alliance with a group of former insiders who wish to overthrow the ruling order.
Stopping change, stopping the ‘wheel of history’ from turning, is the Seven’s whole raison d’etre; anything or anyone that challenges the Seven’s hold on Chung Kuo is liable to be crushed without mercy. Now, in Ice and Fire, the latest threat to their rule comes from outside the City, when an apparently insignificant incident close to one of the great Seals in the outer wall begins to reveal the extent of the discontent and the illicit experimentation taking place in breach of the Edict. War seems imminent – and a war not only for control of the Earth and the development of space travel, but also for human history itself.
The Art of War opens some three years after the end of Ice and Fire. The Seven have apparently won the War of Two Directions and reasserted their control. They have exacted a savage revenge, with the luckiest of the survivors from the losing side being thrust down to lower levels within the City. A few still survive in hidden fortresses secretly built in mountainous regions that the City has never covered. But the ‘winner takes all’ attitude among many of the ruling elite cannot hide the fact that discontent wasn’t eradicated, and is still growing. An out-and-out terrorist group, the Ping Tiao (‘levelling’) has been formed, and riots have become more frequent. For some among the Seven and their supporters the only answer is to make it impossible for people to wish for change, to wish to unbalance the utopia of peace and stability that their rulers wish to bestow on humanity – on their own terms.
As with the previous books in the series, Ice and Fire and The Art of War move along at an exhilarating pace. From the outset the reader is enmeshed in a complex world-wide political and dynastic drama in which threads of friendship, alliance and betrayal are continually being woven, severed, and woven again into new patterns. For Chung Kuo – the world – the possibilities are the enforced survival of its ‘utopia’ or its bloody downfall and replacement with – what? These are the highest possible stakes – and there are still fifteen more books to go!
(Review first appeared on Piper at the Gates of Fantasy)
July 3, 2014
This book was better than The Middle Kingdom in several ways. There was more action taking place and the setups that took place in the last book are coming into play now. The plots and subplots in the story are becoming more complex and it will be interesting to see how they connect with each other.
New plots and characters are introduced and the book widens the scope of the world, letting us see what goes on in the farmlands and other areas outside the city. There is even a very disturbing scene involving DeVore that is so depraved that it stuck with me for quite a long time.
I will be reading the next two books in the near future. This series is keeping me very interested and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
New plots and characters are introduced and the book widens the scope of the world, letting us see what goes on in the farmlands and other areas outside the city. There is even a very disturbing scene involving DeVore that is so depraved that it stuck with me for quite a long time.
I will be reading the next two books in the near future. This series is keeping me very interested and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
January 16, 2016
In the 4th volume of David Wingrove's rebooted Chung Kuo series, 'Ice and Fire', the consequences of the dramatic ending to Vol 3 are explores, as the Seven's policy of passivity 'wuwei' fails to deliver fruit. The Dispersionist star waxes, and in the climax, action replaces inaction to restore the balance. The tales of Kim Ward, Ben Sheppard and Li Yuan are advanced, and we are in no doubt that each has a role to play as the narrative unfolds.
Wingrove's Chung Kuo series is an overlooked classic. Sadly, the reboot has ground to a halt, with no clear idea of how the remaining volumes might be released.
Wingrove's Chung Kuo series is an overlooked classic. Sadly, the reboot has ground to a halt, with no clear idea of how the remaining volumes might be released.
May 30, 2019
2019 - Two books into the story, after the prequels and the overall reboot of the series, is a tad jarring but the tale of the epic “war that is not a war” of balance vs change starts to heat up. New characters are introduced and I can’t wait to see their influence. On to the next.
2013 - Another installment of intrigue, loyalty, and betrayal. The question is, do I wait for the next installment or dig into my old copies of the original publication?
2013 - Another installment of intrigue, loyalty, and betrayal. The question is, do I wait for the next installment or dig into my old copies of the original publication?
August 16, 2013
It’s in this fourth book in which the series seems to hit its stride. The main players become more defined and there is finally more focus on character development rather than world building. The three previous books feel like they were just a long introduction into what looks like will be the main storyline. Now that we have a sense of the world in which Chung Kuo is set, Wingrove seems to settle in. The concurrent plots begin to breathe a little and come to life.
September 1, 2014
In Chung Kuo, the dispersionists lead by DeVore and the loyalists forces are starting a war that will decide the fate of the world. New players appers and we are given a hint of a larger plan masterminded by Amos Sheperd when he agreed to the Han taking over the world. What a joy to read such books.
Read
September 6, 2015Still liking it!!
The series was good when it came out I the early 90's, and is still good. The addition of the early years to the story, however, takes away from the amazement of the characters discovering the truth in the middle / end of the series.
Hope the rest of it comes out on Kindle.
The series was good when it came out I the early 90's, and is still good. The addition of the early years to the story, however, takes away from the amazement of the characters discovering the truth in the middle / end of the series.
Hope the rest of it comes out on Kindle.
November 16, 2014
A solid entry in this great series, but not the best so far. A little too broken up, I think, and most of the story feels like set up for the next novel. That being said, I look forward to reading the next one, so I guess this one did a good enough job.
July 14, 2015
Love this series. Started reading it years ago, never completed it because I couldn't find any more of them. Now reading on the Kindle!
April 16, 2017
2201. Chung Kuo, the world-girdling city ruled by the Seven T'angs, is caught in a struggle between two ideologies. The T'angs favour stability and stasis. The House, the bureaucratic body that rules City Europe in the T'angs' name, advocates change and progress, exemplified in their construction of a generation starship. The Seven are now faced with the choice of allowing their Empire of Ice to be swept away by progress or by launching a pre-emptive strike to win back control of the situation...but risk triggering a civil war.
Ice and Fire is the fourth volume in the 'new' version of the Chung Kuo series, picking up shortly after the events of The Middle Kingdom. As well as being a continuation of that novel (understandably, as Ice and Fire was originally published in 1988 as part of the original Middle Kingdom), it also contains a number of self-contained character and story arcs standing against the epic events unfolding from previously.
If Ice and Fire does have a self-contained theme, it's the hope of the young to bring a brighter future than what their elders have achieved, only for that hope to be eroded by cynicism and, in some cases, cruelty. The novel focuses on characters such as Li Yuan, the heir of one of the T'angs, who hopes to be an intelligent and fair ruler but is distracted by his love for his murdered brother's widow. Ben Shepherd is a highly intelligent, gifted artist who is also ruthlessly intelligent and able to see what others cannot. Kim Ward is a young boy from the Clay, the darkest, lowest levels of the world city, who has shown an aptitude for science and engineering. However, Kim has also discovered the Aristotle File, a document which exposes the lie that Chung Kuo is built upon.
Wingrove manages the character development of these individuals with surprising effectiveness, given the slimness of the volume (under 300 pages) and the large number of storylines that are in motion. There are also complex political machinations between the Seven and the House, whilst Howard DeVore (the series' main antagonist) is manipulating both sides to his own ends. It's a busy novel, somewhat less relaxed than its immediate predecessor, and is a fast-paced read.
The book suffers from two distinct weaknesses. The first is a result of Corvus, a small (-ish) publisher, picking up the series. Rather than publishing the series as ten 600-800-page novels (still a lot shorter than the individual volumes of many epic fantasy series) over three years, they have chosen to publish it as twenty 300-400 page ones over six. This has its benefits (each book is a concise and fast read), but it also risks frustration as each book stops just as it is getting going. There are also cost issues (buying twenty hardcovers, paperbacks or ebooks is simply more expensive than buying ten, whichever way you cut it). Ice and Fire is the first book in the series where it feels like this is a bit more of an issue, and it may well become more of one as the series continues to progress.
The other is a notable rise in the amount of sex and violence in the book, including a torture sequence which recalls the more gratuitous excesses of Terry Goodkind (fortunately this torture sequence only lasts five pages, not the forty plus of a Goodkind novel). The sudden increase in such scenes feels a bit jarring after the first three books, which certainly were not for children but did not contain as many scenes. Probably not an issue for some readers, but definitely an element of concern (and, based, on how the original series unfolded, something that might become more notable in later volumes).
Ice and Fire (***) is a well-written, fast-paced and page-turning read. It suffers a little from its shortness, with the story cutting off just as it's getting going, but otherwise this is another solid instalment in what is turning out to be an impressive SF epic.
Ice and Fire is the fourth volume in the 'new' version of the Chung Kuo series, picking up shortly after the events of The Middle Kingdom. As well as being a continuation of that novel (understandably, as Ice and Fire was originally published in 1988 as part of the original Middle Kingdom), it also contains a number of self-contained character and story arcs standing against the epic events unfolding from previously.
If Ice and Fire does have a self-contained theme, it's the hope of the young to bring a brighter future than what their elders have achieved, only for that hope to be eroded by cynicism and, in some cases, cruelty. The novel focuses on characters such as Li Yuan, the heir of one of the T'angs, who hopes to be an intelligent and fair ruler but is distracted by his love for his murdered brother's widow. Ben Shepherd is a highly intelligent, gifted artist who is also ruthlessly intelligent and able to see what others cannot. Kim Ward is a young boy from the Clay, the darkest, lowest levels of the world city, who has shown an aptitude for science and engineering. However, Kim has also discovered the Aristotle File, a document which exposes the lie that Chung Kuo is built upon.
Wingrove manages the character development of these individuals with surprising effectiveness, given the slimness of the volume (under 300 pages) and the large number of storylines that are in motion. There are also complex political machinations between the Seven and the House, whilst Howard DeVore (the series' main antagonist) is manipulating both sides to his own ends. It's a busy novel, somewhat less relaxed than its immediate predecessor, and is a fast-paced read.
The book suffers from two distinct weaknesses. The first is a result of Corvus, a small (-ish) publisher, picking up the series. Rather than publishing the series as ten 600-800-page novels (still a lot shorter than the individual volumes of many epic fantasy series) over three years, they have chosen to publish it as twenty 300-400 page ones over six. This has its benefits (each book is a concise and fast read), but it also risks frustration as each book stops just as it is getting going. There are also cost issues (buying twenty hardcovers, paperbacks or ebooks is simply more expensive than buying ten, whichever way you cut it). Ice and Fire is the first book in the series where it feels like this is a bit more of an issue, and it may well become more of one as the series continues to progress.
The other is a notable rise in the amount of sex and violence in the book, including a torture sequence which recalls the more gratuitous excesses of Terry Goodkind (fortunately this torture sequence only lasts five pages, not the forty plus of a Goodkind novel). The sudden increase in such scenes feels a bit jarring after the first three books, which certainly were not for children but did not contain as many scenes. Probably not an issue for some readers, but definitely an element of concern (and, based, on how the original series unfolded, something that might become more notable in later volumes).
Ice and Fire (***) is a well-written, fast-paced and page-turning read. It suffers a little from its shortness, with the story cutting off just as it's getting going, but otherwise this is another solid instalment in what is turning out to be an impressive SF epic.
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