Runcible Jones and the Frozen Compass

Runcible Jones #3

by Ian Irvine

Over a million copies of Ian Irvine’s fantasy novels sold. On a freezing winter’s night, Lord Shambles shatters the tower where the children are learning magic. Runcible, Mariam and their friends run for their lives. All Iltior now lies in the dreaded sorcerer’s hands and, as soon as he steals the children’s unique magic, he will attack Earth. As they are hunted across Iltior, Runcible realises that there is only one way to attack their enemy. The children must sneak into his terrible fortress and there Runcible has to take on Shambles, the greatest sorcerer in the world, all by himself. Praise for the Series “A great book for rainy days and lazy afternoons.” John Cohen, Reading Time “A well written and exciting series.” Northern Daily Leader “A great read.” Book Bites

Genres: Fantasy

330 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2008

About the author

I'm an Australian author of 34 novels, mainly fantasy. They include the bestselling Three Worlds epic fantasy sequence, which has sold over a million print copies. It comprises The View from the Mirror quartet, The Well of Echoes quartet and The Song of the Tears trilogy. I’ve just finished The Gates of Good and Evil quartet, the long-awaited sequel to The View from the Mirror. Book 3, The Perilous Tower, was published recently and the final book, The Sapphire Portal, will be published on November 1, 2020.
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WHY I WRITE
Funny thing is, I never wanted to be a writer. From an early age my ambition was to be a scientist. I’m an expert in pollution and I’ve spent my professional life studying it in far-flung places like Mauritius, Sumatra, Mongolia, South Korea, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea and Western Samoa, as well as all over Australia. Often scuba diving to the bottom of foul, smelly harbours and hammering tubes deep into the polluted mud to collect samples for chemical analysis. Now that’s living!

I was a small, quiet kid who devoured books from the moment I learned to read. When I was naughty, Mum wouldn’t let me read anything for a week – talk about a cruel and unusual punishment.

I discovered fantasy in the early 70’s, with The Lord of the Rings and the Earthsea trilogy, and was immediately hooked. But there wasn’t much fantasy in those days; within a couple of years I’d read everything available. I wanted more and bigger tales, on vaster canvases, but they didn’t exist. That’s why I had to become a writer – to write the kind of stories I wanted to read.

WHAT I WRITE
I’ve never wanted to write about superheroes or huge, reckless warriors who know no fear. I write epic fantasy about underdogs and ordinary people who, in pursuit of their goals, are put to the limit of human endurance. My characters aren’t fantasy stereotypes, they’re real people with believable motivations and unfortunate flaws. I’m well known for strong female characters who have as many adventures as the men, and frequently get them out of trouble (I have five sisters). My characters are often small or clumsy or inexperienced or handicapped in some way, yet they make up for it with cleverness, ingenuity or sheer, low cunning. My antagonists are real, complex people who do bad things for strong and deeply-held reasons – never ‘just because they’re evil’.

Though my characters suffer every kind of torment imaginable, at their lowest point they discover the truest form of courage – they keep fighting because the fate of the people they care for, and the world they love, depends on them never giving up.

SOME RECENT REVIEWS
"Irvine is a veteran storyteller who excels in sustaining complex plots with well-rounded characters. Here, he delivers a compelling tale of vengeance, loyalty, and the search for a place in the world." Starred review, Library Journal (US)

"That Grand Master of the vast epic is with us again! The first gripping volume of what promises to be a vintage Irvine treat. More please!" Crisetta MacLeod, Aurealis Express

"Incredibly exciting. The end will have you eagerly anticipating the next book." Good Reading (Aus)

"He knows how to spin an epic yarn and tell it with real gusto ... ambitious in scope and tirelessly action-stuffed." SFX

Reviews

[Nicole]

Described by Northern Daily Leader as the series to "satisfy the chasm left by Harry Potter in the young reader's market", it is evident that this is what Ian Irvine was attempting to do when he wrote Runcible Jones and the Frozen Compass. The third of four(?) in the Runcible Jones Series, this was perhaps not a good place to begin. There were moments of confusion that would perhaps have been negated had I read the earlier two, but generally this was written in such close parallel to HP that I could infer what had happened. A dead father killed by a powerful wizard; a Seeing Sphere that will allow the viewer to see other places as though he is there; a 13 year old boy beginning his studies versus a powerful magician; a school with a spell over it to protect its students from outside influences; Arachnids; a scorpion shaped scar in the back of the young boy's hand that tingled when the older magician was near or thinking about him; a battle with both protagonists saying the same spell and destruction when the competition caused it to explode; a small book of sorcery that is stabbed causing pain to the evil magician; all of these feature in the book, with most in the first four chapters.
It took me until the fifth chapter to start enjoying the book. From here it became a little less like HP (NB I do love HP) and started developing its own persona. I still found moments confusing (Did the scar on his hand just become one on his collarbone or were both there from the beginning?), but the plot was entertaining. Additionally, the overuse of adjectives was no longer as annoying. Plus I did like the idea that each student had a different type of magic. I especially loved Giddion, the overweight boy whose magic centred around an ability to build amazing contraptions out of rubbish.
All in all, while not the best book I have ever read, I will have no compunction about recommending it to12 year olds with a love for fantasy and magic.