Ice Forged (Ascendant Kingdoms, #1) (Blaine McFadden, #5) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Oct 27, 2012 Michael Fierce rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, won-gr

I won an ARC of Ice Forged by Gail Z. Martin in November 2012, right here on Goodreads! -- *And so you know, all opinions are completely my own and Big Mike receives no compensations of any type for this review.

This book's cover art grabbed me immediately while skimming through the many GR book giveaways!

Fantasy. Ice. Hyborean looking hero. And the fiery lettering of Ice Forged emblazoned on the cover was enough to pique my interest.

First off, this is the sort of story that, while not defined a
description

I won an ARC of Ice Forged by Gail Z. Martin in November 2012, right here on Goodreads! -- *And so you know, all opinions are completely my own and Big Mike receives no compensations of any type for this review.

This book's cover art grabbed me immediately while skimming through the many GR book giveaways!

Fantasy. Ice. Hyborean looking hero. And the fiery lettering of Ice Forged emblazoned on the cover was enough to pique my interest.

First off, this is the sort of story that, while not defined as a mystery, has several sequences and even characters I think would spoil it for you if I were to give away too much.

Better to say that it is a heroic fantasy, with strong male and female characters, taking place in a world once ripe with magic, and now stripped of much of it's external beauty, having become devastatingly bleak, from war, strife, and the near-death of magic itself.

It is a character-driven, well-plotted, world-building fantasy and certainly NOT your typical, farmer boy w/ royal blood on a quest to defeat the evil villain, win the princess, and save the kingdom in the end type that most of us know inside & out.

It has enough of the fantasy formula to keep it within the realm of fantasy fiction I enjoy most, while having scenarios and situations that feel fresh somehow.

It's about snow and ice.

Nah! That's not all it's about! But, in case you wondered, there's lots of both.

Actually, it's about our hero, and his quest to restore the magic that has died from the conflict of war and mage battles.

After a dire, horrible, situation takes place in his home in Donderath, Blaine McFadden must face the consequences of his actions and is sent to Velant, *a penal colony in the harsh icy wastelands of Edgeland, there to spend the rest of his life as a prisoner.

*For those of you thinking, 'Jon Snow and A Game of Thrones', like I was at first, you wouldn't be far off from the mark. For only a second, however. The rest is all Gail!

Several years later, Blaine, known now as Mick amongst his convict friends, has raised himself into a position securing as close to a normal life as is possible in Velant.

He's now earned a house, a piece of land, and livestock he shares with his friends who work hard together to make it work, and not far from the actual walled-in prison, the corrupt administrators of which still oversee their lives.

The interaction between the core group of characters around Mick feels very real and human, as they go about living their lives at the edge of the world.

War changes everything for Mick, his friends, and the lives and lands of all people. With war, comes the loss of magic. The repercussions from which are disastrous. Everyone's lives are forced to change.

Here is where I would normally want to tell you what the characters come up against in the way of evil denizens, political factions, and magical scenarios. And, aw jeez! I just can't though! I even had to avoid designating a couple of shelf-names this book falls under, just so it wouldn't spoil it for any of you who are going to read Ice Forged.

For such a bleak land it's got lots of colorful characters and a story I can't wait to continue with from where this one left off.

Please hurry, Gail!
:)

Oh! I also wanted to make a note that this series is not connected to any of her other books as far as characters or world are concerned.

*I want to say again that I think the book cover artwork is awesome! Usually I know who the artist is but I don't this time. **Also, I want to say that the hero is so well-defined on the cover that I envisioned a particular movie actor while reading it, who's voice was very distinct in my head the whole time and wish for the life of me that I could figure out who it is!

Highly Recommended!!!!

And thanks to Gail Z. Martin & crew for putting up an ARC book on Goodreads so I could win and read it! ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 Mike rated it really liked it

I snagged Ice Forged by Gail Z. Martin when it was a Kindle daily deal and decided it would a be good time to try out Amazon’s Whispersync Voice. Ice Forged is a strange mash-up of genres that peaked my interest when I saw Gail Martin’s guest post about the novel over at Fantasy Book Critic. In her article Martin discusses the genesis of her novel and the notion that Ice Forged takes the premise of an apocalyptic novel and transposes it from its modern setting to a medieval fantasy world. In Ice I snagged Ice Forged by Gail Z. Martin when it was a Kindle daily deal and decided it would a be good time to try out Amazon’s Whispersync Voice. Ice Forged is a strange mash-up of genres that peaked my interest when I saw Gail Martin’s guest post about the novel over at Fantasy Book Critic. In her article Martin discusses the genesis of her novel and the notion that Ice Forged takes the premise of an apocalyptic novel and transposes it from its modern setting to a medieval fantasy world. In Ice Forged the loss of power and utilities (as you would see in a “modern” postapocalyptic novel) is replaced by the disruption of magic which in the world of Ice Forged has seeped its way into the everyday lives of most people.

The magic is one of the more interesting aspects of Martin’s novel. While she does include the flashy magic fantasy readers are familiar with she focuses very much on small magics. Not everyone in the world of Ice Forged has what it takes to be a mage but many (as is the case with many of the novel’s protagonists) can utilize magic in small, often practical, ways. This could be anything from providing a slight edge in combat, social lubrication, or even aiding in brewing and distilling. By tying magic intrinsically to the daily lives of her characters Martin can better explore how its disruption effects the possibility of recovery after catastrophe.

Ice Forged presents this premise wrapped in the trappings of traditional fantasy. The novel’s hero, Blaine MacFadden, starts the novel being exiled for murder to a land of ice and snow eventually ending up in the penal colony of Edgeland. At the same time the novel follows Bevin Connor back on the mainland. Bevin is a young man who serves the aging and eccentric Lord Garnoc and is the primary perspective through which the reader witness the unfolding tragedy and oncoming magical maelstrom. Martin fleshes her world out a bit further by introducing vampires into the mix. Ancient and aristocratic the vampires in the novel are primarily allies to our protagonists whose age means they are able to serve as vast reservoirs of knowledge in the wake of the magical catastrophe brewing.

Admittedly I felt that the novel leaned a bit too heavily on the traditional fantasy tropes. Furthermore the novel takes quite a bit of time to get to the magical catastrophe hinted at in the summary. Martin does weave bits of conspiracy and rumor into the proceedings offering up hints that there is something bigger going on than what the protagonists can see. Most postapocalyptic novels are in many ways an exercise in the sociological imagination; they fictionalize the notion of making the familiar strange and examining how society reacts. In the case of postapocalyptic novels grounded in the “real” world there is already a large degree of familiarity with most readers which makes for a little bit less work on the author’s part. This isn’t the case in Ice Forged as Martin must familiarize readers with the world in order for us to understand how the loss of magic impacts society and in turn the novel’s protagonists. This is one hell of a task. Martin does a credible job particularly in the crafting Blaine’s adopted family structure in Edgeland and Bevin’s reactions to events in the novel. The impact isn’t quite as strong as a more conventionally set postapocalyptic novel but still makes for an engaging and entertaining read.

As I stated earlier Ice Forged represented my first attempt at using Amazon’s Whispersync for Audio. The way the program works is you purchase the Kindle book and then you can purchase the Audible audiobook version at a discounted price. As you read (or listen) the digital files sync to the furthest location you’ve read or listened to. When it works its a pretty brilliant service that works seamlessly. It was pretty awesome to put my book away in the morning, climb in the car for work and pick up listening right where a I left off reading. The “when it works” caveat is a small one, my titles didn’t sync properly when I first purchased them, and Amazon/Audible support resolved the issue quickly. Narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds is fairly straightforward reader and I can’t find anything to really complain about with his performance. While Reynolds doesn’t elevate the text as some of the more well known audiobook narrators do I’ve heard worse and I’ve heard better. ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Bookwyrm Speaks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Gail Z. Martin writes some seriously original books, taking some overused fantasy tropes, like vampires, disgraced sons and enemy conspiracies and puts her own spin on them to make them fresh again.She is willing to take on dark subject matter, and makes it work without slipping past into Grimdark. This story deals with Blaine, son of a powerful noble who kills his father for doing something atrocious. The king, who knows the father deserved his fate, is still forced to banish Blaine, since you ...more

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Apr 27, 2015 Jason Waltz rated it liked it

Shelves: ebooks, fantastical, series

ok. I like the protagonist and sidekicks, none are 'must follows' or 'must know more about' but none I dislike or are disinterested in, though one's internal reasoning is suspect. world and setting have their moments, magic is interesting and potentially main character worthy. plot holds interest as well, though my curiosity is not really roused. that leaves storytelling - not bad but also not so compelling, just a story. all adds up to I wouldn't mind reading more but there's so much more in my ...more

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