Through the Ice

I thought it was a brilliant piece of literature, having read it seven times. The twists and turns continuously make you wonder what is going to happen next. The fact that Piers Anthony got the book half way done and finished it himself makes it surprising that it turned out as great as it did.

Seth Warner is on his way home from a party when he is set upon by a group of teenage ruffians. He runs from them and ends up falling through the ice into a lake. Just as he is about to drown, he is wrenched from this world and into another plane where he finds he is a "Chosen" and, along with three others from different planes must, battle a sorcerer by the name of Nefarious. The magical quest brings him into conflict with various agents of Nefarious as well as helpful creatures.
This is a young adult novel with a teen aged protagonist. Seth and his companions are dynamic characters who make realizations about themselves throughout the narrative, as well as develop insights on human nature. Themes include honesty, assumptions, show more compassion, and power. The plot is suspenseful and adventurous. The world-building is lush, but very similar to another Anthony book I recently read. In fact, the whole thing reminded me a lot of Phaze from the Apprentice Adept series. Since this was a YA title, and a collaboration, there was not as much of the sex and chauvinism one might expect from an Anthony work, for which I was grateful. The relationships throughout seemed genuinely built and to be mutual partnerships.
I would recommend this for a young reader of fantasy. It might even be a great introduction novel for those new to the genre. show less

Not very good. Not very bad, either, but... It's very very Anthony. It would have been interesting to see what Kornwise might have done on his own, but as it is it reads like a poor relation of Xanth (though many many fewer puns). Kornwise died at 16 or so, and his family sent his unfinished manuscript to Anthony and asked him to finish and publish it.

This is not the author's best work. However, I love this book, not necessarily for the story and its execution, but because of how it came about in the first place. Read the author's note, and you'll understand.

it blows me away when i read about the things that some authors will do for/with their fans. Robert Kornwise was a first time author with unfinished and unpublished book. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to finish his book. Robert died in a road accident in december 1987.

His friends and family, knowing about his book, reached out to his favorite author, Piers Anthony. They asked him to read his book and see if there is anything he could do to help get it published.

With a fair amount of uncertainty in what he should do, Anthony accepted the idea and read Kornwise’s book.

Apparently, Robert had finished the first 8 chapters and lost the fifth. Anthony, after reading the book, was able to determine a way to help finish the book with show more out straying from the original authors vision or writing style.

Anthony was able to accomplish this, filling in the gaps and minorly polishing the text. the prologue/authors notes at the end of the book gives a full description of the process as well as some writing samples comparing the original text and the edited text. it is fairly amazong how little work was put in, allowing for Kornwise’s style to shine through.

it is a shame that there will be no more books in this series. the characters deserve to live on in future tales. unfortunately, it would not be right to keep it going with out Kornwise around to oversee or straight up write the tales. you can tell that the main character was modelled directly after himself.

though juvenile in many aspects, there are a great deal of good ideas incorporated into the book. you can tell what is written completely by Anthony, and which were collaborative. fortunately, their writing styles complimented each other well.

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Through the Ice, opens with Seth. when he is trapped underneath a sheet of ice, his death should be permanent. instead he finds that he is alive, but in an alternate world, on the beach. the winter snow of his life is somehow missing. immediately upon his arrival, seth is greeted by a talking tree (you can tell who his fav author was) and directed toward his destiny.

Taken to a castle, he is placed in a room with 3 others, all of whom seem to be in similar situations. with their past experiences, individual strengths, and a bit of luck, they will be able to traverse their new world and battle Nefarious (what a kick ass bad guy name). should evil win four interconnected worlds will become lifeless balls. the only choice left to them is to do battle with Nefarious, destroy him and save four worlds.. in return, they will be returned to their previous lives show less

I read this book in high school and loved it. Its views on good and evil really resonated with me. The ending especially has stuck with me.

It’s been so long since I read it, the plot is a little fuzzy. Maybe sometime soon I’ll see if the writing holds up to what I remember.

This one was more interesting for the history of how it came to be, than by itself.