A review by marci_travels
Ice Crown by Kay L. Moody

5.0

I finished this yesterday. It's a quick read and a good one. Taliese is a Storm child, banished to an area of the Kingdome because of past family transgressions. The first few chapters are a subtle commentary of the politics of poverty and the aftereffects. Taliese and her mother are malnourished because they are poor, they are ill-educated because they are poor, people commit other crimes which resentences them to remain in the Storm. And the cycle of poverty not only continues but the victims are blamed for their inability to change.

Until Taliese. She is a seven-year-old girl who can shape the elements. She enters the prestigious academy, a twin to another in the city, where she trains and over the next ten years becomes the head of her class. She is excited to try for the Master Shaper title which she thinks will end all of her problems.

Meet Aaden. He is the top of the class at the OTHER academy. He has his own past to overcome and everyone who hears his family name "SATO" seems to know all about his family and to have an opinion on them.

In classic fantasy fiction, there can be only one winner. Ever more dangerous feats of magic are performed in trying to win.

For fans of The Night Circus, classic fantasy, dark academia, and twisty plots.