ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby

Some time ago, I read THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby and enjoyed it. It was a charming and beautifully written story and I was excited to see what he did with his second book, ICEFALL, which I heard was about a Viking princess. How could I not want to read a book about a Viking princess?

I fully intended to go to the book launch for ICEFALL, but I came down with a cold that pretty much destroyed all my mental capacity for a couple weeks and I missed it. I hear that there were Viking swordsmen, too. So sad!

Anyway, I finally had the chance to read ICEFALL over the Thanksgiving break and have been telling everyone I know that they should read this book.

So. You should read this book.

It's amazing. One of the very best I've read in a long time. If you combined KETURAH AND LORD DEATH by Martine Leavitt with THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner (both of which I love), I think you'd get something like this book. But there were Vikings, too, which just puts this into a whole new realm of awesomeness. I stayed up far, far too late reading it.

From the cover:

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.


Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?


There are so many things about this story that I want to rave about, but I also don't want to say too much about it. To be honest, I didn't even read the cover before starting this book. "Viking princess" was enough to make me want to try it, but if that's not enough for you, check out the music that helped inspire the story, as well as some of the pictures of what the setting looked like. And then go read the book.

What about you? Have you read anything amazing recently?