Frostwing

City of Shadows #2

by Richard A. Knaak

From the best-selling author of the Dragonrealm comes the shadowy fantasy concerning Grigori Nicolau, a wizard whose dreams have been haunted for centuries by the malevolent gargoyle called Frostwing. Now, in modern Chicago, Grigori not only must face the truth about Frostwing, but the sinister web spun by a sorcerer deal long ago, a web designed specifically for him. "Knaak weaves a tale that is both unexpected and enchanting...you've never read anything like this before."—Holly Lisle, author Fire in the Mist

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Richard A. Knaak is the bestselling author of Dragonlance novels, the Dragonrealm and Black City Saint series (his own creations), six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and six works in the Warcraft universe. He has also written several non-series fantasy books.

Reviews

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book, playing with memory, identity, and loyalty to people whose identity is changing. And a neat system of magic! One thing you always have to say about Knaak, he can pull out the world-building.

(And this is a book by Knaak in which, unlike Janus Mask, figuring out the twist makes the plot more interesting, not less!)

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title character is actually the best character. The hero and heroine are extremely flat. Tersa is totally unbelievable as a character and is too cliche. She is simply there to support the male characters who are totally uninteresting.

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grigori Nicolau's nights were not good ones. Sleep was always a luxury...when he could find it. For he was afraid. His moments of troubled sleep could be torn apart by the visitation of a reoccurring nightmare...a nightmare in the form of a creature from hell. A creature named FROSTWING. A gargoyle who would come and steal away his most precious memories leaving him with nothing from his past...a past that had already stretched over 600 years. He knew that running during his waking moments never seemed to take him away from those nightmares, but when his running eventually brings him to the Windy City, answers...and hope...could be waiting for him. The first in a house of horrors, and the latter in the eyes of a certain real estate agent who could help him end the curse.

Richard Knaak is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has made his mark in the world of publishing with epic tales of fantasy creating such books as THE LEGEND OF HUMA as well as his famous monster-hero KAZ THE MONOTAUR for Wizards of the Coast Dragonlance books. HIs most reoccurring series of books are his LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM and most recently the REX DRACONIS universe of books. But fantasy aside, Knaak has written some outstanding books in other genres. His BLACK CITY SAINT series is straight 1930s urban fantasy with three books in print and a 4th soon to arrive. FROSTWING is an early entry into that world of contemporary settings and fantastical horrors and creatures. The influences that this early writing can be seen in his later forays into the UF vein of books.

Knaak has always been a superb weaver of stories and adventures, providing his readers and fans with heroes you can cheer for and villains you can boo. But he also has the gifted ability to create characters that can be a little...or a LOT of each...and make the readers love them and hate them individually. His story telling and world building is always on point as he creates realistic settings and plausible conditions that keep the fans wrapped up in his stories...and FROSTWING is one of those. As Knaak drives the story from scene to scene he weaves threads of the story intricately creating a marvelous tapestry by the end that makes you sit back with the joy of the story...and the sadness of its being done.

Always one of my favorites.

[The Black Hat Writer · Rating 1 out of 5]

STEEL-BLUE EYES MET STEEL-BLUE EYES...

That's what the book should have been called because he repeated that corny phrase numerous times--much as he did with many other things.

This book had a lot of potential. Frostwing is a very interesting character, and Grigori had a captivating backstory, but he seemed so adolescent in his thoughts and knowledge that it was hard to think of him as being a "centuries-old wanderer" (another term repeated many times). He was a bumbling fool with no clue to anything; and, apparently he was quite stupid as he couldn't get the obvious hints that Frostwing gave to who he was.

Speaking of those hints: I predicted the outcome as soon as Frostwing said, "[Hate me all you like; but, you must also hate yourself.]"

Teresa was a cliché of the sexist stereotypical ignorant, childish woman character there to make the male look more heroic. The part where she was going to fix him a sandwich almost made me puke. Especially when Nicolau's thoughts rambled into some mind-numbing spew about Marie Antionette. It had virtually nothing to do with anything beyond telling us he was old (which is mentioned on just about every page) and how attractive Teresa was and how much he cared for her (which is conveyed on just about every page since she comes into the story).

I also like how he swore to never use his mind-control powers on Teresa, but kept seeming to find excuses to break that promise to himself and do it, anyway. I don't think Knaak really kept track of the development of his story as he wrote it.

It really feels like Knaak didn't even bother to revise his writing. It's like he wrote one draft and passed it along to the editor to proofread it for grammatical errors and then publish it. It felt like no care went into this. It should have been edited for content so the word-count could have been cut down and less redundancy in the actual writing. This book very much had a self-published feel to it. It seemed very amateur.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book pulled me in, had an interesting (and novel!) story, at least for me, and helped shape my thinking on a particular topic. There are parts of it that seem a little awkward - it is not a flawless work, but I thought it was interesting and enjoyable.

[M.A. Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool. I can't say much without spoiling the end, but it was very refreshing to read a tale of an immortal with nothing do do with vampires!

[Jess Groeneweg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was captivating and interesting. The second half was a little too wordy and slow to keep my interest.

I love the idea of a guardian gargoyle and a house that pulls people towards it as its victims. I can imagine so many haunted Victorian buildings with the long driveway and a house full of secrets.

Now that I marked rhe good parts, it will be a quicker read the next time I pick it up and I can go right for the second half and focus on how they beat Frostwing and his master.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story about the pursuit of magical power. The somewhat stiff dialogue detracted from the story, but still an enjoyable read.

[Ed Cooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Grigori found himself in a vast workroom, a chamber reminiscent of the dark abodes of fictional wizards.'