A Cavern of Black Ice

Rating:
Summary: Generic book that is boring and poorly written.
Review: This book is extremely unoriginal, its characters are paper thin with no depth, and it is written very badly. I tried hard to finish this book, but i just couldn't stomach it after 300 pages, to the fire with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and Chillin Read !
Review: This is the first book I read from J.V. Jones and I must say that it has been a wonderful start,the book is great and she excels in describing the settings and places throughout the story and developing the characters as well. The cliffhanging effect in the end will surely drive me mad untill I get my hands in the next installment ! The only reason why I gave it 4 stars was that the book could deal with more action, as to keep the pace a bit faster and steady instead of rising slowly as it seemed to me. Nevertheless this is an amazing read with it's frozen and dark settings and if you have the chance, go and buy it as fast as you can !

Rating:
Summary: Rad new book from JV Jones!
Review: This book is an excellent read if you're into fantasy and magic and stuff! The characters were so real, as well as the landscape. The book starts off kind of slow but picks up almost right away after the prologue. Raif and Ash are the best characters. I want to know what happens to them. Also what happens to Effie, Drey, Mace, Angus, Angus's family, and the rest of the characters! The Book of Words, JV Jones' other series, is also well done and good for entertainment. Very relaxing and entertaining read!

Rating:
Summary: Bit of a cliffhanger ending, nonetheless a wonderful read
Review: Two days ago I finished and still find it a beautiful story, with intricate plotting and nice character development... a real page-turner! Though I sometimes also thought that the plotsetting -its background explanation- could have been developed further than it actually has. In what was told I got a feel for it alright, but I am more than convinced that many layers of subtleties in Clan civilization could have been added and make the whole story more enjoyable and psychologically sounder or at least more interesting. I have the feeling Ms Jones held herself back on this and therefore left some rough edges. Thus, quite much of the contents she focused on describing and explaining the scenery and surroundings at hand. Which is OK, but felt a bit overdone from time to time. I am much more interested in the Clan ways and how these explain the way people deal with eachother. Compare this to Janny Wurts' 'Empire' series, then you know exactly what I mean.

Nonetheless the story was a real throat-gripper and got me hooked from page 1.

Ms Jones' extraordinary craftmanschip also shows in the way she writes about the cold and what it does to the human body. She's done her homework excellently!

Many of the characters I loved dearly: Raif, Ash, Angus Lok, (the) Naysayer... All in all I only missed such a deliciously devious character like the archbishop Tavalisk in the 'Book of Words'-trilogy. Penthero Iss or Marifice Eye, though quite villainous, not even come close to it - they lack the sophistication.

Beautiful character's names! Unusual but still many times wonderfully resonating with their actual personalities. You did really well there, Ms Jones!

Unlike Kyle Snay below I find in the last chapters much that remains untold and should have been exploited in order to avoid the nasty cliffhanger effect and find some sort of conclusion: what finally happened to Angus Lok, and his daughter, Cassy? What finally happened to the Dog Lord, Vaylo Bludd; Effie; Drey; Sarga Veys? What finally happened to Raif and Ash? And most of all: what are the Phage (Angus Lok seems to be one of them)?

Finally: I completely missed the meaning of the final chapter (Heart of Darkness). It definitely has a connection with the other series, the 'Book of Words'-trilogy, but in what way I still do not understand. Anyone out there able to give me a clue? Help is much appreciated.

One minor irritation (editors take note): a few times in the book Ms Jones writes of matters 'in' hand, and this should have been 'at' hand. Not always this was wrong, mind.

I also read and very much enjoyed the 'Book of Words'-trilogy and assert as many already have done before me that Ms Jones is truly a great fantasy author. I'm already looking forward to the 'Sword of Shadows' next installment: 'A Fortress of Grey Ice' (hardcover expected to be published August 2000). I think she is one of the very few among other greats like Terry Goodkind, Clive Barker, Janny Wurts, and I hope that many a book will follow. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Character-Driven Story
Review: I purchased this book on a whim (okay, so the cover art did its job!) and was quite pleasantly surprised at its quality and depth. J. V. Jones has crafted a masterful and exciting novel that relies on depth of character more than it does on any trite plot devices to move the story along and keep a reader's interest. In my experience, much of contemporary literature (fantasy and otherwise) lacks characters of genuine psychological or emotional depth or interest. A Cavern of Black Ice is a much-welcome alternative to many of the emotionally and intellectually flat fantasy novels currently on the market. I applaud her efforts and look forward to reading the next installments in the series. I see this work as fully the equal of that of such others authors as Georege R. R. Martin, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card and Kate Elliot.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Wow. this was the first book I read by J.V Jones, and I will definitely read the next one. I think her greatest strength is characterisation. As one reviewer previously mentioned, she is not prejudiced toward any of her main characters, and she sometimes makes it hard for the reader to criticise the evil deeds of certain characters. I found myself wanting to hurry through chapters which did not concern Ash March or the clan guy (forgot his name, it's been so long). I really recommend this to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Misguided cover art
Review: I already wrote a review about the content (3 stars), but I forgot to mention the cover art. I hope the next sequel has a cover art that actually depicts a scene from the book. The cover on this one never happened. True, there was a battle with a pack of wolves, but Ash was unconscious and Raif was bundled in 30 million layers of clothing. Did the artist even read the book?

Rating:
Summary: Nice Story... but Too Wordy
Review: This is my 3rd JV Jones book I've read. I thought the story line was intriguing and the characters were easy to "get to know", but the only problem I had was that it's too "wordy".

The book is long, which isn't a problem. However, too much of the content tends to focus on describing and explaining the scenery, background, emotions, etc instead of focusing on dialogue and actions with the characters. Consequently, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs simply because they didn't contain much "substance" and I found myself distracted from the story. Every once in awhile I'd go back and read the paragraphs I'd intentionally skipped and would realize that I didn't miss anything.

One nice thing about the book is that although it's the first of a series, it does provide some sort of conclusion at the end. There's nothing worse than reading a series and discovering that a book ends with no sense of finality to the underlying subplot in the story.

I'll probably pick up the sequel but will wait for the paperback.

Rating:
Summary: "An Excellent,Action-Packed Story"
Review: "Surprising plot twists and a wide array of characters, set in a very believable background, tells the story of a exiled young man in his quest to save a Surlord's foundling daughter and find the Cavern Of Black Ice."

Rating:
Summary: Good, but a bit overhyped
Review: I ordered this book because of all the glowing reviews. Next time I will go by the flip test.

Ms. Jones is certainly a credible, if inconsistent, author. Her Book of Words stuff was wonderful, though I've been put to sleep by other works. Cavern of Black Ice certainly has strengths, but I didn't really find characterization to be one of them. She sometimes falls into the Goodkind trap as well, endeavoring to make everything so intense that it sags into melodrama.

This is a good book. I don't think it is a great book, but it is worth a read. I wouldn't buy in hardcover, however, unless you like the cover art.