A Cavern of Black Ice

A Cavern of Black Ice, the start of a new trilogy by J. V. Jones, continues her tradition of captivating, character-driven fantasy in finely detailed settings. In a top-level view, the plot is Fantasy 101 - evil creatures out to destroy the world have been locked away in another plane of existence. But every 1000 years, a person is born who is able to either break the prison or seal it for another millennium. Jones neatly avoids the trite by setting the story in a place where clan-based society clashes with a more urban-based culture and by populating it with well-developed and interesting characters. It doesn't hurt that the plot is also very well developed, with lots of strands all tangled together. Themes of war, political show more maneuvering, and personal loyalty are explored to great benefit. There's some serious potential for the rest of series in pulling all these strands to completion.

I had a couple of minor quibbles with the book. First, it's too long. If the rest in the trilogy are as long, the three volumes will run to 2400 pages. Mind you, I whipped right through it, but a few sections bogged down a bit and could have used some tightening up. My second quibble is that the descriptive passages can get a little overdone. As with my previous comment, a bit more aggressive editing would have moved the action along at a crisper pace. In spite of these comments, A Cavern of Black Ice was a good read, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the story. show less

Cold as stone, sharp as chipped edges. A life filled with ice and the struggle to survive in a world readying for the darkest of nights. What a series.

I have few words to describe how easily these books drew me in, wrapped me in fur warmth and then left me reeling in the blizzard of hope and hopelessness. In the past week I devoured four books in this series like a man left in a storm starving and cannot wait to read more.

There's a good tale hidden in this work but it could have lost a good third of the book and still been there. The narrative was so glacially paced that I ended up skimming about a third of the way in just to see what happened in the end. And then of course it was a cliffhanger, since it's part one of a trilogy. Not compelling enough for me to try parts 2 & 3.

I thought this was a good start to this series. While it is very standard fantasy, I thought the characters were good and the plot is interesting. The world itself may be the weakest part, it didn't feel original or convincing.

A Cavern of Black Ice is the first novel in the Sword of Shadows series by J.V. Jones. The central plot revolves around Ash March, the almost-daughter of Surlord Penthro Iss. Ash was found as a newborn abandoned at the gate of her foster-fathers city, Spire Vanis. Ash was born with a deadly, incredible power that she little understands and others will give anything to control.

Raif Severance grows up in one of the outlying clan holds. The clans are rough and tumble places that are always at war with each other, where honor is placed above all. Treachery in the form of his clan’s new chief, Mace Blackhail, forces Raif to be cast out of his clan. Raif and his uncle Angus Lok come across Ash after she flees from her foster father. show more Recognizing Ash for what she is, Angus convinces Raif to help him get Ash to the Cavern of Black Ice, the only place where her powers can be discharged safely.

The action is a bit slow paced at first. But the story is compelling and the characters wonderfully drawn. Readers should be aware that as this is the first book in a series, it ends on a cliff hanger. There are lots of loose threads that need to be tied up, but A Cavern of Black Ice is definitely worth the time of any dedicated Fantasy reader. show less

I read this book (first in the Sword of Shadow series) many years ago and stalled after the second book because Jones hadn't finished writing the series. I remember really loving this story arc, and was surprised to find it even more enjoyable the second time through.

This first book is an excellent introduction to a long story arc. (In fact book 5 is due to be released this fall (2012). It is too bad that there are such long delays between book releases.) With that said, this is a wonderful fantasy series. I liked it as much as Goodkind's Sword of Truth early books and Jordan's Wheel of Time. The descriptions are rich, the setting in a cold climate unique, and the primary and secondary characters very interesting.

I highly recommend show more this book to those who like fantasy stories with a big story arcs with plenty of interesting characters. Magic, so far, plays a very small role, but that may change further down the story line. This story relies more heavily on character development and relationships.

Hats off to Jones for this wonderful start to a potentially very interesting series. Looking forward to the next installment of Sword of Shadow! show less

I thought it was a good read overall. The writing on a sentence level was of higher quality than most average fantasy novels. The plot was a little slow and the setting was a bit static and bleak (there are only so many ways you can describe a tundra and keep me interested), but it kept my attention enough to read it fairly rapidly. The protaganists were interesting and well developed. On the other hand, the antagonist was a bit archetypal. The evil man in an evil tower dreaming of power is a bit overplayed of a motif, even though some small attempt was made to give him some depth. The book also barely passes my "really bad things happen to good characters" test which is the difference between an author who is telling a story and one show more who is inventing a story. Overall I look forward to seeing where this series goes. show less