Reviews

Blade of Fire by Stuart Hill

mythicaltunes's review against another edition

1.0

Got about 30% of the way through but got way too peeved with certain timeline continuity issues. I was also just not feeling compelled to read more.

jj_ashwood's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

daffz's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this book slightly better than the first, it had more characters and more variety in places that were described. This makes it a nicer read with some more change between chapters, instead of constantly staying in the north we saw more of the world. It was nice to see Thirrin's kids and to see how things have changed in 20 years.

I did think the villains were still a little undeveloped, even Medea, who makes a pretty big decicion not to help her family, barely gets a good motivation for her actions. I'd think she would need a better reason to betray her country. I did like her end, though, and I'm sure we'll see her again in the next book. Also, Bellorum's sons were basically clones of him, which was a little sad.

The friendship between Sharley and Mekhmet was one of my favorite things in this book. It was really cute and honestly it almost felt like a romance story to me. It read more as romantic than Oskan and Thirrin's interactions in the first book. It made me a little sad that it wasn't really, unless this gets added in the third book.

Still, a very good book that I really enjoyed. The world of Icemark was expanded in this novel in a very interesting way.

winter_dream's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jess_is_a_mess's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

roshk99's review against another edition

4.0

Fantastic book, second in the series, Sharley is a great character and the switching perspectives just made this a stronger book.

rbrodeur's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.75

sirlancelot2021's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

evergrowing's review against another edition

4.0

I adore, adore this series. I would have preferred for the focus to stay more on Thirrin and Oskan rather than switching to their children. But I still loved it.

nerfherder86's review against another edition

4.0

This is a sequel to [book: Cry Of The Icemark]. It takes place 20 years after the first book, when the teenage Thirrin from book 1 is now a grown woman, queen, and mother to 5 teenagers. The main focus of this book is 14 year old Charlemagne ("Sharley"), who because of a disabled leg is the family pet and not a warrior like everyone else he knows. War comes to the Icemark again when bad guy Bellorum decides to get revenge on this puny kingdom that defeated him 20 years earlier. I really liked this book even more than the first one, because there is more character development, more humor (smelly cats and ravenous leopards, oh my!), and more magic. Lots of battle action just like the first one. Plus a very interesting parallel-universe look at Arab culture, Italian culture, African culture, etc. This takes place in a fantasy world but it's easy to see what everyday Earth cultures he pulled from in creating it.