Fire & Ice (Icefire Trilogy) (edition 2011)

Imagine a world where the slightest imperfection will leave you abandon on ice floes as infants and ridiculed for being different. Fire & Ice is this world. One named named Tandor, a Thillei, is trying to gather all Imperfect children in one place called Bordertown. He has worked these last fifteen years tirelessly rescuing these children from ice floes. He returns to Bordertown to discover that all of the Imperfect children he's rescued have been taken by The Eagle Knights to the City of Glass. He, his servitor Ruko, and Myra must journey to City of Glass to rescue the Imperfect children. Upon arriving in Outer City on the outskirts of City of Glass, Tandor seeks Loriane's help with Myra's pregnancy. Loriane is angry with Tandor yet loves him any way. Tandor is upset that Isador is now with The Eagle Knights. Loriane says like I could stop him from joining the Knights. Icefire is very strong in the Imperfects and Tandor desperately needs icefire if he's to rescue the Imperfect children. Isador and Carro are friends in the Knights yet both of them carry secrets the other doesn't know about. Carro is constantly bullied by Jono and several others. Queen Jevaithi is ruler in name only as well an imperfect. She wants freedom to move yet Supreme Rider Cornatan does everything in his power to keep Jevaithi from truly ruling her people. Jevaithi wants to attend the Newlight Festival which Supreme Rider Cornatan is opposed too. She gets her way in attending the festival and full of excitement. She wants to name Queen's Champion instead of The Knights or Rider Cornatan doing it for her. She names Isador as Queen's Champion which pleases everyone including her. Will Tandor succeed in rescuing Imperfects? Will Myra give birth safely? What about Loriane's feelings for Tandor? What is Supreme Rider Cornatan up to? What about Carro and Isador's friendship? What are Queen Jevaithi's thoughts and feelings? Your answers await you in Fire & Ice.

For me, personally the book got off to incredibly slow start and continued to be slow through out the whole book. In some places the pacing seemed to be rushed and then went back to it's original slow pace. Overall the story is truly unique concept with plenty of room to grow in background and characters. I will look for this other works in the future. ( )

I do not read many fantasy novels, but I have been extremely fortunate over the years that friends have recommended some brilliant ones.. This time I stepped out on a limb without ‘professional’ guidance and put my name for an author’s copy of Fire & Ice from LibraryThing and was honoured to win a copy. As in my few other fantasy novel experiences, I was not disappointed. In fact, I am looking forward to reading the next instalment.
The concept of this series, whether intended, is an allegorical tale of our times - discrimination, segregation, moral superiority and polar bears. Well, yes, polar bears are not precisely an everyday sight for most of us, however, their use in this novel tells of our own uses of animal for sport and the repercussions of attempting to tame the wild.
The centre of power is the City of Glass, the population ruled by a Regent intent on claiming the crown with help from his Eagle Knights, while the son of the former King, living outwith the city’s borders amasses a force of ‘deformed’ individuals who are able to tap into the world’s largest power source. While these two fight for control, the inhabitants are stuck in the middle, unsure, confused and understandably afraid. Patty Jensen wonderfully crafts this tale adding unpredictable scenarios and expertly paces the tension. Moments of the everyday are fused between chess-like moves by the elite, such as a difficult child delivery and light-hearted moments between young soldiers. The main characters are all connected through complicated webs of blood and association, which also serves as a means to add moral dilemma to the mix - all the things we expect in a world where greed and survival meet in the battlefield.
I have yet to read the other two books of the trilogy, but intend to as this first instalment has gripped me and I am invested in the characters and have made my own predictions, which I expect will be wildly off the mark due to Jansen’s ability to throw curves on the straightest of all roads. ( )

Although this novel needs some editing, as there were mistakes in punctuation, spelling, and grammar that had nothing to do with spelling things the UK way, I still enjoyed it. True, there were disturbing moments, but the plot was interesting enough for me to keep reading. I am seriously considering picking up the sequel! ( )

A good read that carries you quickly through a new world set in an icy land where the knight protectors have become the ruling party around a figure head queen. Some remember the old ways and seek to return to them, using a mystical power (somewhat like radiation, complete with a reactor) to foster revolution & return the previously ruling family.

Worth a 4/5 as it was enjoyable but felt a little too rushed or as if it was trying hard to establish too much foundation in a short time, leaving me feeling as if something was missing. A good foundation for the trilogy that establishes characters & potential story lines for the following books. ( )

Fire and Ice takes place in world of hatred, fear, intimidation and predjudice. Tandor is on a quest to free the last of the surviving Imperfect children, and his only hope of a magical army. He uses and tries to control an energy called Icefire and use it against the City of Glass, a Kingdom once belonging to his dying race. However a dermined knight with a few secrets of his own , an "Imperfect" queen, and a pregnant teenager, things don't exactly go at all as there supposed to. Fire and Ice is well written with a sense of always wanting to know more about this world and the tie to an older and supposed more technically superior mad culture. I think if you pick up this book you'll find it very hard to put it down as I did and will want more from Patty Jansen as I do now. ( )

An interesting theme that needed a little bit of working. The ideas of the book seemed a jumble between Aladdin or the Prince and the Pauper and Casper (the movie). I wasn't sure if I wanted to like the main character or hate him, mostly because I wasn't certain what was going on in his life or his mind. There are times when the book just assumes you know something, sometimes it will even say "everyone knew what that meant" instead of telling the readers what it meant. So readers are left wondering why they're in the dark about something everyone knows. When I started this book I felt like I had come in on the end of a series, not the beginning of one. And there are typos, contrary to the author's insisting that what people are calling typos are actually British-English spellings, there are grammar and spelling issues in the copy I was given that have nothing to do with British-English. I would know the difference, I married someone who is from the UK, after 10 years of life together, I know my way around.

The plot WAS unique in some ways. I found the idea of calculating the amount of icefire magic stuff refreshing, instead of the usual people who run around books, brandishing balls of flame or bolts of lightning without a thought to size, shape or catastrophe it may cause if overdone. More could have been done to develop the idea of this icefire stuff in the minds of the reader. The eagle army was interesting, as was the society around them. I would have liked to have read more on many of the smaller aspects of this book, but though I was excited to find I'd won Fire & Ice, I felt a little too left behind as a reader to want to go through the next in the series in order to get closer to the items that interested me.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review ( )

Tandor is an Imperfect, a decedent of the old royal family. His grandfather ruled as the king of the City of Glass. For fifty years the Eagle Knights have ruled the city, killing all the Imperfects, leaving them as newborn babies to die on the ice floes. Tandor is tired of seeing his kinfolk slaughtered and left to die. He wants to take back control of the City of Glass from the Eagle Knights. All he needs is an army of Imperfects. He thinks that the Imperfects that have survived by living in secret will want to rule again also.

Islandor an Imperfect, training to be an Eagle Knight, does not want to join Tandor in his quest to take control of the palace. Tandor also needs the queen Jevaithi, an Imperfect to be a part of his army. But neither Islandor nor Jevaithi want to be a heartless ghost. They only want to love one another and live a normal life like everyone else, so they run for their lives.

Fire & Ice was superbly written it keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what is going to happen next. I would really like to know more about the old royal families and how they lost control of the city. What is the Eagle Knights reason for leaving the newborn babies on the ice floes to be eaten by wild animals? What do they have against Imperfects?

I won a copy of Fire & Ice (Icefire Trilogy) by Patty Jansen from LibraryThing for review. ( )

I received this e-book through the LibraryThing Member Giveaway. As I started reading Fire and Ice, I was not sure I liked it enough to finish reading. As with other fantasy/sci-fi, there are many variables that need to be defined so it opened with lots of questions right in the middle of things. However, as I read on, I was pulled into the story and found it difficult to put down. As another reviewer stated, sometimes the descriptions are lacking (what I envisioned from early explanations of Ruko were nothing like later described) and sometimes a little too graphic (I could have done without the descriptions of rape). The magic was something new and different and coupled with the action were exciting enough to overcome the negatives. I enjoyed reading this installment and I look forward to the next book in the series. ( )

Great read - the characters and locations are well developed. I particularly liked the post-apocalyptic setting. The ending was a little disappointing as many of the story threads were left open. This is typical of trilogies, but in this case I felt that the ending was a little unsatisfying meaning that I would have to read the sequels to get closure. ( )

Wow this was a HUGE waste of time! I have no desire to read anything by this author again. The plot was murky. The magic system wasn't solid. There was a lot of adult material which just wasn't necessary. The writing style changed quite often and the colloquialisms changed midway through the book! Don't both on this one. ( )

Reading the description of Fire & Ice I must say I expected something else, but I still wasn't disappointed at all. The story was very original and smart as well as the characters who I loved, good or bad ones. The descriptions were amazing and the whole novel was fast paced and filled with adventures. The ending of the book ended with a cliffhanger that left me wanted for more, I can not wait for the next book. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a fun read.

I loved this book! I can't wait for the other books to understand what some of things meant at the end. ( )

A very well-written book about a man called Tandor who is looking to avenge what was taken from him and take over the City of Ice. Dragged along for the ride are Ruko, Isandor, and Jeviathe. The story is told in the third person point of view of many characters so we get to see both sides of the conflict. The question of "who is right?" is completely up in the air and left for the reader to decide.

It's not my proudest trait but I'm not a big fan of slow beginnings. I love it when we start off in the midst of the action. Luckily, Jansen does just that. In the first few pages, you are given so much information and even more questions. I don't like Tandor personally (although he does somewhat redeems himself) but I do like how human his character is. He's no messiah or even really a hero but he's trying to do what's best. Or what he thinks is best. Thee magic system used is very cool and unique enough so that I'm curious to learn more about it.

As much as I enjoyed the book, there were some things that I didn't like. For one thing, the descriptions were very lacking. I didn't have any idea what Ruko or what Legless Lions look like until two-thirds through the book. Normally, I would be fine with it but it just bothers me how some feature would seemingly appear. For example, the Legless Lion was cornered and tied down. Then it suddenly struck and smacked someone with a flipper. A flipper?! Or better yet, someone who I thought was a boy was suddenly called "a blue giant". That confused me for a bit before I realized they were the same person.

Overall, the book was enjoyable though not perfect (but what books are?). Jansen did an amazing job keeping the reader engaged and interested in what happens to the characters. There is quite a lot of violence (rape, removal of certain parts, etc) so definitely not suitable as a bedtime story. Although there is a lot of magic being thrown around, there aren't too many fantasy elements beyond that. I'd say anyone looking for a good fast-paced novel and not too picky about descriptions should definitely give this book a shot!

Won a giveaway in return for an honest review ( )

Boldy written, Fire and Ice takes place in world of discrimination and predjudice. Tandor, among the last of his kind, is on quest to free the last of the Imperfects, and his only hope of a magical army. He unleashes an energy called Icefire upon the City of Glass, a Kingdom once belonging to his dying race. However, thanks to the help of a dermined knight with a few secrets of his own , a rogue queen, and a pregnant teenager, things don't exactly go according to plan. Fire and Ice is written with a daring sense of creativity. If you have a liberal imagination, you will absolutely love the first chapter of this daring trilogy. ( )