A Sword from Red Ice

This is the 3rd book in the Sword of Shadows series. The story continues with the main characters, Ash Marsh and Raif Sevrance doing their best to stop demons from beyond the Blindwall coming into the world and destroying it. Unfortunately in this book Ash does nothing but wander around lost. Raif does all the work in this one, though he still spends most of his time blundering around. He's obviously a hero of prophecy, but to beat the real big demons he needs a special sword. The other plot threads continue, though I have no idea why, really. The clans are still battling, the city folk of Spire Vanis are still scheming and attacking the clans. The Blackhail clan is still falling apart and Effie Sevrance is still out of the picture.
show more This book lost me a bit. The plot wasn't really advanced, too much time is still spent on travel and just about everyone seems blundering and ineffective - even the demons. There are also still places in the novel where I question word choices and terminology, sometimes they just seem jarringly wrong. If you want to be frustrated by reading a long book that pretty much accomplishes nothing that wasn't obvious at the end of the previous book, this is the book for you. Otherwise you might want to skip this book and go on to book 4, or maybe skip the series entirely. show less

A Sword of Red Ice is the third installment of the Sword of Shadows series. Readers of the first two books may be disappointed by how little Ash March’s storyline advances. She is still yet to find the Sull or even begin to learn the true extent of her powers. She finds a new companion however, Lan Fallstar, whom she begins a romantic relationship with. Raif Severance spends most of the novel wandering from the Want, back to the Rift and the Maimed Men before setting out to find the Red Ice and the Sull sword 'Loss' that could aid him in his battle against the un-made. Raif too has yet to realize his full potential and seems to spend most of the novel spinning his wheels and yearning for the clan who unjustly cast him out.

Fortunately show more the novel is saved from pointlessness by the secondary characters that have quite frankly become far more interesting to read about then either Ash or Raif.

Raina Blackhail continues to watch her clan become not so subtly overrun by the weaselish clan Scarpe. Raina spends most of the novel being outmaneuvered by the Scarpe clan guide, Stannig Beade, before finally making good on her oath to become the new Blackhail Chief. Intelligent young Bram Cormac begins to settle into his life at the Milk Castle and is then made an interesting offer. Effie Severance is taken on a river voyage by her kidnappers into her mysterious new life. Veylo Bludd has made his escape from the Doonehold safely with his adopted son Cluff Drybannock, clanswoman Nan and two beloved grandchildren, only to watch his seven worthless legitimate sons begin to tear his corner of the clan holds apart through their squabbling and selfishness. The sorcerer Baralis, half-giant Crope and ranger Angus Lok were little mentioned and sorely missed.

Readers can only hope that book four, Watcher of the Dead does more to advance the overall storyline of the series. show less

I really love some of the characters. Sometimes it reads a bit more like a graphic novel than classical literature, but if you buy into that it can be very cool. I'm looking forward to finishing off this series but a bit bummed that it hasn't been finished yet. The book is definitely not self contained with cliff hangers all over the place.

I was really hoping that this book would finish this series, not because it isn't good but because I really find it hard to keep up the interest if a series drags on.

That said, I really like this series, which incorporates aspects of quite a types of epic fantasy (quest, bildung, military, politcal) but still manages to make the world interesting enough to keep reading about. The fact that the action takes place in an unfamiliar milieu helps with that, as well as that absence of a "Gandalf". This means that most of the time the characters have to figure things out for themselves.

I put the book at 4 stars, mostly because of three points:
1. Nothing much happens to advance the entire story in this book. And nothing much seems likely to show more happen either, although there are a few spots of hope in the latest chapters.
2. There are really too many stories happening in parallell. Not all of them are equally interesting. And one of the interesting stories are only touched twice in the book, in the very beginning and in the epilog. That said, at least every viewpoint character and story gets its own, named chapter when they do appear and having read "Reapers Gale" I find I have some extra tolerance for this way of doing things.
3. A fantasy story like this should really be in a trilogy. It's traditional and it also gives us readers an idea of what to expect. show less

This series continues to be excellent. There have been some complaints from other readers about the slow progression of the story. It is building to a climax, but not rapidly. I think the biggest problem in this series is the length of time between publications. Fortunately this is no longer an issue since J V Jones's is supposedly finishing the fifth book in the series this year (2012).

I have so many favorite characters, Raif, Ash,, Effie, and Raina, to mention a few. Each are on his or her own journey as the world faces possible destruction. I love J V Jones rich descriptions and world-building. I can't wait to start Watcher of the Dead!

Exiled Raif Sevrance searches for the legendary sword 'Loss' in treacherous lands, while mystic Ash March trains to fulfill her destiny, and various Sull clans and forces from the evil city of Spire Vanis engage in brutal warfare, with a hidden passage threatening to unleash doom upon the world.

I was hoping this would be the final book only because I am impatient to find out what happens, especially to Raif and Effie.
However, I enjoyed this one and will wait for the next book in the series...eagerly.