Rating: 
Summary: Am I Reading the Same Book???
Review: Am I reading the same book that is referred to by all these rave reviews? To put it succinctly (which the author knows not) this book is slowwwww..... If you like at least a moderate amount of action to help keep the story vibrant, then look elsewhere. These other reviewers fooled me into buying this snoozer. I figured out that this must be some kind of conspiracy in which the author's family members are generating these faux positive ratings & reviews. Don't fall for it like I did!!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful: Even Better Than Harry Potter!
Review: "Up came her arms to encompass a world beyond his own. Her mouth fell open and a terrible dark substance poured from her tongue and blasted against the ice. The cavern shook. The mountain rumbled with a deep bass noted that sounded like the Stone Gods shattering the world. Yet the black ice remained intact. The walls bent to her power, yielding like saltwater ice, yet they did not let it pass. The ice stretched and contorted, forming grotesque black bulges and pressure sores where the ice was stretched so thinly it was almost white."A girl named Asarhia March, almost-daughter of Surlord Penthero Iss, has a horrible power that occurs in one person every thousand years. Young Raif Severance who immediately feels a connection with her rescues her from her almost-father. Raif is running from his Clan as a traitor. His Clan is caught in war with Clan Bludd, and both blame each other for something they claim they didn't do. Raif and Ash must find a legendary cave made of black ice to cure Ash of the Blind that follow her. This book is greater than any other book I have ever read, even Harry Potter. It's full of plots and sub-plots and only at the end do all the pieces fit together. But, the end of this book is not the end of the series; the next one is still being written. It's impossible to guess at what will happen in Cavern of Black Ice because of all the treachery, darkness, and mystery. I'm sure that all 736 will go quickly as you read.
Rating: 
Summary: Too long
Review: The book is overall reasonably good but like her previous books Jones goes into the most minute details that does not advance the plot. I kept skipping big sections of the book because it was not relevant to the plot. There are some illogical scenes in the book and sub-plots as well.
Rating:
Summary: A Cavern of Black Ice
Review: Having enjoyed, but not been terribly impressed with Jones' previous trilogy, I was surprised to find A Cavern of Black Ice so impressive in scope, tone and writing. This set of characters is more clearly drawn and the story more focused. Ms. Jones' style has shifted to a darker, more tragic background to the world she has created, which is artfully done with the constant references to the cold and dark. The character of Raif I found to be much more personable and clearly drawn than Jack, the baker's boy. Similarly, Asarhia has much more depth and interest than the prior heroine, Melliandra. I am eagerly anticipating the next installment, but am wondering what is taking so long!
Rating:
Summary: Cavern of Boredom
Review: I don't know what the other readers here saw in this book, but I personally thought it was boring as allgetout! Jones is an excellent writer, and in my opinion, this is her one and only downfall... she's just too dang informative! There was WAY too much info in this book, so much so that it took 4 times to pick the darn thing up and finish reading it. In fact, I found myself skipping entier paragraphs when she started to explain something I didn't really need to know.
Sorry, but I just don't care for the overboard way she writes. This book could've easily been a third of its length and probably come out to be a much better read in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Riveting. I could not put the book down. Dark, yet somehow not depressing. Leaves you wanting more, much more.
Rating:
Summary: A great book, but it would be better if not part of a series
Review: This is probably the best book which I have ever read. The characters are great, the plot's great, and so is the setting. There is, however, one problem which I feel makes the book worse. I think that this should have been just a single book, not part of a series. Before actually saying why this book is so great, this is a very short summary of the book so people reading this actually can somewhat figure out what I'm talking about. The two most important main characters of the book are Raif Severance and Ash March. Raif is an outcast clansman from Clan Blackhail , and he helped to rescue Ash from her foster father Penthero Iss. Ash is very important to the story because she is a Reach, someone born every 1000 years who has the power to unleash great horrors from behind the Blindwall, where the most terror filling beasts are held imprisoned. If she touches the Blindwall, it will fall appart and the creatures within will be able to walk the Earth again. There is only one way for her to stop herself from breaching the wall, and that is if she discharges her energy inside the Cavern of Black Ice, where her power will be contained and the Blindwall will not be damaged. So, she and Raif must travel north to find this cavern, before she loses control and destroys the wall. May be fairly confusing if you haven't read this book yet. It seems to me that J.V. Jones was trying to wrap up the book too much at the end. She tied up a few loose ends-will Ash and Raif make it to the cavern, and will Efie (Raif's sister) manage to stay away from the people Mace Blackhail (chief of Clan Blackhail) has sent after her.Those really could have stayed unanswered until the next book, and I find that I am not so excited about A Fortress of Grey Ice as I could be. I have bought the book, but instead of being really excited about it and reading it straight away, i've put it away until i finish a few other books. Really, appart from that, this is probably one of the best books which I have read, right up with R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy, and also in my opinion with The Lord of the Rings, though in truth it is very different from both. Something which makes this book so great is definitely the setting. The setting was very important to the whole story because so many challenges which characters face are caused by the snow covered plains, the taiga, and the bitter cold of the north. Reaching the Cavern of Black Ice would have been simple if there wasn't so much danger of frostbite or disease caused by the amazingly cold temperatures. Without the same setting, there wouldn't be a challenge, and then the book would just be boring. Also the characters and character developement are very imortant to the book. I think Raif was the perfect character to play the role of helping Ash to reach the Cavern of Black Ice. His pride for his clan never ceased to piss me off, how he wouldn't do anything to dishonor them, even though he was an outcast. It was because of his loyalty he felt that he was so determined to reach the cavern, and it was because of his loyalty that he so often got into situations in which death was right ahead of him in his path. Ash was also a great character, her stregth of mind and will were very important in reaching her goal. Both characters developed well, coming to like each other more and more, while not losing traits which they had earlier in the book. Really, this is probably the best book I have ever read, so I would recommend it to anyone who can endure 932 pages in one book. If you have any doubts about it, just buy it and read it, because it's worth the money and the time spent reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Original, long and . . . bitterly cold
Review: A Cavern of Black Ice is the first part of the story of Raif Severance, a young exiled clansman, and Asharia "Ash" March, the runaway step-daughter of a city's sorcerer-lord. Their stories begin separately but merge into one, as Ash--inside of whom a massive, frightening power is building--must reach the legendary Cavern, the only place where Ash can discharge the power without breaching the world of the damned. The story thus becomes a race against time and the merciless elements of Jones' northern lands. Jones deserves credit for painting such a _different_ landscape: stark, vivid, and breathtakingly cold. Breath instantly condenses to ice crystals on fur-lined hoods; eyelids freeze shut in the night; and wounds and frostbite . . . it's all very intense, to say the least. Some may find all of this engaging; others may find it an exercise in shock-value. Personally, a bit of each appears to be true. Jones writes with a brutal power of description, frequently employing creative and graphic similes which sometimes work and sometimes are just too over the top. The book is _very_ long and could have been shortened without much loss, and some parts are confusing and need a bit more explanation of the history and powers involved. (And some are simply designed to bait hooks for the next volume.) The supporting characters and villagers--they, their names and voices never quite find a comfortable niche, falling somewhere between medieval Scots and American hillbillies. Though often described in detail, the main characters themselves are not especially unique (with the exception of Magdalena Crouch, assassin), yet you find yourself caring for the young heroes, alone in the deadly wilderness on their desperate quest. A solid, graphic, often gripping effort, yet one that demands significant time and attention and seems to require much more reading for an appreciable payoff. Recommended for mature, hard-core fantasy readers.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible, and very disturbing at times
Review: As a reader, I usually try to finish what I start, and I've worked my way through several lengthy books that I didn't find to be enjoyable. However, I could not bring myself to finish A Cavern of Black Ice. After five hundred pages of dreary descriptions, annoying characters, and almost no plot events, I finally put away my copy without bothering to reach the ending. The most unpleasant feature of this novel is the numerous scenes of torture and physical injury. The descriptions of torture and executions are unnecessarily graphic (for parents, I would recommend that children under 15 not be allowed to read this book at all). Now I am not completely opposed to the inclusion of such scenes in any book, but these incidents are entirely gratuitous. They could have been left out without damaging the plot line, and the result would be a much more enjoyable novel. Another annoying facet of this book is the descriptions and characterizations of the different genders. Without exception, the males are large, tough, and muscular while the females are small, thin, and weak. The cover art may lead you to believe that the lead female character is some sort of warrior, but that just isn't the case. I've never understood why sexism like this is so rampant in fantasy writing. Would it really be that difficult to include a strong and powerful female character? There is also a rape scene which is, again, totally superfluous. With that said, I'll now try to critique the novel while ignoring those two objections. Overall, I found the writing to be extremely poor. I know that some authors like to be more wordy and descriptive than others, but Jones surely goes to excess in this case. Everything - people, locations, objects, people's thoughts, and plot events - gets described in excruciating detail. A character can't smile, frown, speak, stay silent, walk, or stand still without a full paragraph to describe their actions. The metaphors that are used are often quite silly. For instance, strawberries are described as smelling like prostitutes, half of the locations smell like urine, and the physical characteristics of most male characters is often compared to meat. These may seem like minor complaints, but once you've read about men being described in terms of sirloin steak ten times, it starts to grow distracting. The end result of all this description is that the novel is very long (950 pages) and slow moving. There is literally one entire chapter devoted to showing a man walking down a staircase. One other flaw in this novel is that it stays focused on unpleasant and nasty scenes. It is an endless stream of torture, fighting, sickness, and starvation. There are almost no pleasant and enjoyable scenes, and the author never even tries to give us a break by adding some humor or poking fun at the conventions of the fantasy genre. I much prefer authors like T. H. White and Piers Anthony who don't take themselves too seriously. So what is A Cavern of Black Ice about? It's set in a frozen wasteland where characters with names like "Mace Blackhail" and "Vaylo Bludd" spend most of their lives try to hack members of rival clans to pieces. One clan member named "Raif Sevrance" gets kicked out of his home (this takes about 300 pages to happen) and shows up at just the right place to rescue Ash, a young teenager who's running away from her evil foster father, while further subplots follow almost every character, no matter how minor.
Rating:
Summary: Surprised
Review: Bought this on a whim. Glad I did. Very engaging and good. Looking forward to the next one. Hope it's soon.
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