A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 3)
by J. V. Jones
from Tor Books
fascinating, compelling characters, is a sharply observed saga of a cold, splintered world on the brink.
A Cavern of Black Ice (Sword of Shadows)
by J. V. Jones
from Tor Fantasy
A Cavern of Black Ice opens J.V. Jones's Sword of Shadows trilogy. (Her first novel was The Baker's Boy.) The story is set in a land divided among small warring clans of hunters and more sophisticated southern cities whose lords covet the clan territories.
Young clansman Raif has a touch of "old blood" magic that guides his arrows to the heart. Bad times come when a hunting party that includes his father and clan chief is wiped out by a supernaturally aided attack, and Raif's open suspicion of the brutal new leader eventually drives him into exile. Meanwhile, Iss, overlord of Spire Vanis city, keeps a chained-up sorcerer whose powers he channels by revolting means, and has unexplained but shuddersome plans for his "foster daughter" Ash--herself an unwilling focus of dread forces. Raif and Ash find themselves fleeing together through wintry, hostile clanlands, pursued by Iss's vilest henchmen, seeking the dubious goal of the Cavern of Black Ice.
What lifts this tale far above routine quest fantasy is Jones's deft characterization, relentless intensity, and unsparing depiction of pain and slow-healing injury. She has a flair for memorably horrid images. Here a sorcerer gloats over one of his nastier tricks: "A man could not fight when his corneas were snapped from his eyes like badges from a chest."
This hefty volume is over 800 pages long, but the narrative grips hard once it's gained momentum, and the pages turn increasingly fast. Strong meat. Next comes book two, A Fortress of Grey Ice. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
As a newborn Ash March was abandoned--left for dead at the foot of a frozen mountain. Found and raised by the Penthero Iss, the mighty Surlord of Spire Vanis, she has always known she is different. Terrible dreams plague her and sometimes in the darkness she hears dread voices from another world. Iss watches her as she grows to womanhood, eager to discover what powers his ward might possess. As his interest quickens, he sends his living blade, Marafice Eye, to guard her night and day.
Raif Sevrance, a young man of Clan Blackhail, also knows he is different, with uncanny abilities that distance him from the clan. But when he and his brother survive an ambush that plunges the entire Northern Territories into war, he yet seeks justice for his own . . . even if means he must forsake clan and kin.
Ash and Raif must learn to master their powers and accept their joint fate if they are to defeat an ancient prophecy and prevent the release of the pure evil known as the End Lords.
It is said in the Known Lands that when one prophecy dies in its fulfilling, somewhere another moves into place. When Jack, the baker's boy, successfully fulfills the prophecy that centered around his birth, a new prophecy arises to the north, where lie other lands, harsher places, populated by people just as intriguing and complex as those we met in the Book of Words trilogy. Two young residents of the northern territories--Raif Sevrance, member of the Clan Blackhail, and Ash March, a girl who is suddenly overtaken by powerful dreams--find themselves first drawn together, then swept up in a series of events that will bring their peoples into a vast war. Dark magic, great bravery, treachery, danger and heroism join in a three-book series that brings to a new level the writing talents of J. V. Jones.
A Fortress of Grey Ice: Book Two of Sword of Shadows
by J. V. Jones
from Tor Fantasy
Raif, wrongly accused and cut off from his clan by the treachery of their new headsman, has a talent for killing that is part of his curse and his burden. But he bears another burden of greater weight. Ash is a sacred warrior to the Sull, an ancient race whose numbers have declined.Raised as a foundling, she never knew her true heritage, she must learn to accept the terrible gifts of her heritage.
But as Ash learns more of her greater fate, Raif's task looms dark and desperate, for he must journey through the nightmare realm of the Want, a place where even the Sull now fear to tread. For deep within the Want is the Fortress of Grey Ice, and there he must heal the breach in the Blindwall that already threatens the world. Should he fail, not even Ash's powers can save them...
Master and Fool (The Book of Words , Vol 3)
by J. V. Jones
from Aspect
The Known Lands are teetering on the brink of war. Desperate to avert worldwide catastrophe, Jack, the baker's boy, must learn to harness the full strength of his magic to face his ultimate destiny--a final confrontation with the murderously evil Kylock.
The Known Lands are teetering on the brink of war. Alliances are made, armies are mobilized, and once strong loyalties are shattered. Melliandra is married to the Duke of Bren and widowed on the same day, her husband murdered by the wiles of Baralis. Baralis's own candidate for duke, Kylock, gives in to madness and brutally kills the duke's daughter on their wedding knight. The knight Tawl is framed for both crimes and must flee the city of Bren, forced to break his sworn oath to protect Melliandra. Meanwhile, Jack, the baker's boy, has grown in the study of magic, learning to control his powerful strength. Searching for Melliandra, he finds both her and Tawl--thus fulfilling another part of Marod's prophecy. The alliance between Annis, Highwall, and Halcus lay siege to Bren, escalating into all-out war. Desperate to avert world-wide catastrophe, Jack and Tawl travel to the mystic island of Larn to find more answers, and Jack's magic comes into its full power as he destroys the seers of Larn and their hideous worship forever. He learns of his mother, and yet more pieces of his past come together. Returning to Bren, Tawl enlists the aid of his brothers in the knighthood who are becoming disenchanted with their order, which has been taken over by a greedy mercenary. Already dangerously unstable, Kylock is pushed closer to insanity as Baralis struggles to suppress his natural magical talents. Kylock's prophesied relationship to Jack grows clearer as his magical powers come closer to erupting. With the thunder of battle growing louder outside the city-state of Bren, Jack learns fully of his past, and he knows that the fulfillment of Marod's prophecy rests upon his confrontation with Kylock.
A Man Betrayed (Book of Words/J.V. Jones, Vol 2)
by J. V. Jones
from Aspect
The electrifying sequel to the bestselling The Baker's Boy. Demented Prince Kylock murders his father, gaining the vast empire of the Four Kingdoms. Meanwhile, Jack, and Melli, who have escaped from the Four Kingdoms, as separted--Jack is under the spell of a woman's seductive shemes, and Melli is captured by brutal slavers.
Prince Kylock, heir apparent to the ruling throne of the Four Kingdoms, murders King Lesketh. With this foul act, 'A Man Betrayed' brings the reader further into the turbulent world of the Four Kingdoms. Picking up where ' The Baker's Boy' left off, the betrothment party from the Four Kingdoms is well on the road to meet Kylock's bride-to-be, Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Bren. This is purely a political move meant to solidify The Four Kingdoms' power in the Known Lands. Meanwhile, Jack and Melli, long since escaped from the Four Kingdoms, are separated. Jack falls into the company of a smuggler and black marketeer while Melli is now the pride of a slave trader on his way to Bren. Nabber has followed Tawl westward to Bren only to find Tawl fighting for his living as a pit fighter. Kylock resumes hostilities with the Halcus in what grows to be a full-scale war. As the wedding comes closer to reality, loyalties change hands, marriages are announced, Kylock asserts his Machiavellian power . . . and Jack comes closer to understanding his powers and his origins.
The Baker's Boy (Book of Words)
by J. V. Jones
from Aspect
The first novel in a brilliantly crafted trilogy. As the King of the Four Kingdoms lays dying, traitorous conspirators prepare a political marriage to ensure their control of the crown. But the young Melliandra refuses to betroth a sinister Prince and flees the castle in the company of a miracle-working kitchen apprentice.
An ancient prophecy, court intrigue, and a world war directed by magical means are the basis for this three-book series set in the world of the Four Kingdoms. It stars Jack, a young man of unknown parentage whose magical talents will be either his salvation or his bane; the highborn young woman Melliandra, determined to run away from her life of privilege rather than be married to a man she despises; the tragic knight Tawl, whose mission is doomed from the day he undertakes it; the evil Baralis, traitor to his King; and a cast of many more, all finely drawn. For countless years magic has fueled a conspiracy to capture the crown of the Four Kingdoms. Now, as the King lays dying, traitorous powers prepare a political marriage to secure the taking of the throne. But the highborn young Melliandra refuses to bethroth a sinister prince, and flees the castle with Jack, a kitchen apprentice terrified by his sudden power to work miracles. Stalked by the conniving sorcerer Baralis, Melli and Jack embark on a dark and wondrous journey--in which an ancient prophecy, The Book of Words, will bear frighteningly true.
The Barbed Coil
by J. V. Jones
from Grand Central Publishing
On Earth, the Barbed Coil is a ring that transports Tessa McCamfrey to another world. After Tessa appears in the city of Bay'Zell, she quickly meets up with a mercenary named Ravis, who takes her under his wing just in time for the pair to be drafted by Camron of Thorn. Camron is bent on defeating the mad king, who is being controlled by a larger version of the Coil. And Tessa's newly discovered gift for magical illuminations might be the best weapon in the fight. J. V. Jones, one of fantasy's hottest new authors, provides plenty of action in The Barbed Coil.
On Earth, the Barbed Coil is a ring that transports Tessa McCamfrey to another world. After Tessa appears in the city of Bay'Zell, she quickly meets up with a mercenary named Ravis, who takes her under his wing just in time for the pair to be drafted by Camron of Thorn. Camron is bent on defeating the mad king, who is being controlled by a larger version of the Coil. And Tessa's newly discovered gift for magical illuminations might be the best weapon in the fight. J. V. Jones, one of fantasy's hottest new authors, provides plenty of action in The Barbed Coil.
Tessa McCamfrey, young and rootless resident of Southern California, has never found much in life that interests her. All of that changes when she stumbles upon a ring that transports her to a distant time and place. There she discovers her unexpected talent: She can create luminous, magical illustrations that have the power to influence others' lives. She becomes involved in the fate of kingdoms when her power is brought to bear against an evil king whose mind has been taken over by a golden crown called the Barbed Coil. As in The Book of Words trilogy, J. V. (Julie) Jones imbues every one of her characters with personality, from the dashing mercenary Ravis, who becomes Tessa's protector in this strange new world, to the sailors, innkeepers, soldiers, and others who populate her lush, involving story.
A Fortress of Grey Ice (Sword of Shadows)
by J.V. Jones
from Orbit
A Fortress of Grey Ice (Sword of Shadows)
by J.V. Jones
from Orbit
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