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dmoony's review
DNF at 16%
Not bad or anything, just a little too jovial/middle grade for my taste rn
Not bad or anything, just a little too jovial/middle grade for my taste rn
aoc's review
3.0
I find it difficult to review or even describe The Face in the Frost simply because I walked away so conflicted. Unfulfilled, you might even say.
Entire thing is kept surprisingly vague beyond the fact that Prospero, our principal wizard protagonist, lives at his summer home and one day things just start acting weird as if he's being targeted by some unseen force. I'm talking feeling of being stalked, shadows dancing in the attic, etc. This seems to coincide with a visitation from his old friend Roger Bacon as he is uncovering knowledge regarding a certain mysterious tome of power. One thing leads to another and two wizards have to run as they try to piece together what could be so important their lives are now in danger.
And now for the good part - most of the novel. No, seriously. After a certain event unfolds at the library our pair initially heads to, Prospero sets out on his own in what, more or less, turns into a narratively expanded travel journal. Beyond a single thread he follows up on the story is kinda put on the back-burner as he visits villages and other locations only to get waylaid by a rival from his past. Entire thing is presented evocatively like a worldly wizard would actually treat such matters. Essentially, it's a soft magic approach where the system itself is never really explained but rather kept vague on purpose. It works wonders because you're engrossed in the events themselves. This pays dividends later on when we get the other half of the other story and it clicks together naturally. Which leads me to...
The parts I sadly did not like. Which would be the main story and the very conclusion. In a way you could say this entire affair was just one adventure in an old wizard's life. You could also say it's inconsequential with dubious stakes and off-screen resolution, and I'd go with latter myself. Even the antagonist with his single-mindedness came off as a token addition even if that very nature of his is used as an excuse for fibbing in the finale. And what a finale it was as story just cuts off abruptly I genuinely thought some of the text went missing. Just when you're about to get an explanation... a drunken mirror yawns.
Entire thing is kept surprisingly vague beyond the fact that Prospero, our principal wizard protagonist, lives at his summer home and one day things just start acting weird as if he's being targeted by some unseen force. I'm talking feeling of being stalked, shadows dancing in the attic, etc. This seems to coincide with a visitation from his old friend Roger Bacon as he is uncovering knowledge regarding a certain mysterious tome of power. One thing leads to another and two wizards have to run as they try to piece together what could be so important their lives are now in danger.
And now for the good part - most of the novel. No, seriously. After a certain event unfolds at the library our pair initially heads to, Prospero sets out on his own in what, more or less, turns into a narratively expanded travel journal. Beyond a single thread he follows up on the story is kinda put on the back-burner as he visits villages and other locations only to get waylaid by a rival from his past. Entire thing is presented evocatively like a worldly wizard would actually treat such matters. Essentially, it's a soft magic approach where the system itself is never really explained but rather kept vague on purpose. It works wonders because you're engrossed in the events themselves. This pays dividends later on when we get the other half of the other story and it clicks together naturally. Which leads me to...
The parts I sadly did not like. Which would be the main story and the very conclusion. In a way you could say this entire affair was just one adventure in an old wizard's life. You could also say it's inconsequential with dubious stakes and off-screen resolution, and I'd go with latter myself. Even the antagonist with his single-mindedness came off as a token addition even if that very nature of his is used as an excuse for fibbing in the finale. And what a finale it was as story just cuts off abruptly I genuinely thought some of the text went missing. Just when you're about to get an explanation... a drunken mirror yawns.
imkevbo's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
onetrueceyton's review against another edition
3.0
Finally got thru it. Not my favorite, but I'm glad I did.
bookish_smorgasbord's review against another edition
5.0
What can I say? This is the umpteenth time we've completed our annual Face in the Frost read-aloud. Between the summer fade and winter chill, this classic fantasy offers a comforting retreat and wondrous adventure. Two friends and fellow wizards Prospero and Roger Bacon embark on a quest to defeat a sinister evil spreading across their world. If you have the "Magic Mirrors: The High Fantasy and Low Parody of John Bellairs" edition, you'll also find the beginnings of a sequel, drafted and never to be completed.
cimorene1558's review against another edition
4.0
Funny and inventive book--it's somewhat unlike the John Bellairs most of us are familiar with (this was his first book), but none the less good for that. Slightly insane fantasy with ghostly overtones is the best description I can think of--much more fantasy (wizards, alternate world--although one that earthlings can travel to) than [b:The House with a Clock in its Walls|295801|The House With a Clock in Its Walls|John Bellairs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173479580s/295801.jpg|1098801] and so on. Much funnier than most of his other books, too.
tasharobinson's review against another edition
2.0
What an odd, dissatisfying book. It's recognizably by the author of The House With A Clock In Its Walls in prose style and overall character oddness, but it's more colorful and abstract, with less of a sense of narrative focus. There's a plot here, about an evil wizard who wants to kill the protagonist for a rather vaguely expressed reason, and a great deal of journeying to face that wizard, with a lot of odd and interesting adventures along the way. But the protagonist never comes into focus as a character—one minute, he's scared of his own shadow, and the next, he's standing up to a small army. He's a wizard whose powers vary greatly from scene to scene, and whose abilities literally seem based on whatever he makes up—which would work fine for a humor book, but this is meant to be fairly gothic fantasy. The lack of rules or focus make for a very unpredictable book, but not a particularly cogent one, especially when the resolution comes down to three unexplained deus ex machinas in a row. A quick read, for an adult novel, but not at all a gratifying one, as colorful and strange and intermittently funny as it is.
lyleblosser's review against another edition
4.0
A delightful tale, full of danger, humor and all the good stuff that epic fantasy tales should have.
danieltol's review
1.5
Meh
Instantely forgetable. Sometimes I forgot what happened 10 minutes ago inside the book and was confused.
Might also be because I was listening to the audio book.
Towards the end I was barely paying attention so the cliffhanger ending confused me.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this is an Appendix N book I would never have picked this up, nor will I ever again.