Coldmarch

The Coldmaker Saga #2

by Daniel A. Cohen

BOOK TWO OF THE COLDMAKER SAGA

The Great Drought began eight hundred years ago when the sins of the Jadans angered the Crier, who ripped their Cold away.
Most of the land died. The Khat became nobles. Jadans all became slaves and their warriors disappeared.

Until now.

Return to a world of endless heat in the sequel to COLDMAKER.

Under the burning sun Micah escapes the city he has always called home. His father dead, his mentor slain, his workshop burned to the ground, all he has left are his two closest friends: fellow runaway slave, the fierce Shilah and Cam, the last good noble. They are hunted by the oppressors they dared to challenge.

For though they are alone, they are not empty handed. Micah wields a machine that will alter their fiery land forever: an invention of his own making that can create Cold. In a world where rivers boil in their beds and the sky glows red, this changes everything.

They must take an ancient, secret path north to the Jadan promised land – to stay ahead of their enemies and to keep their secret safe.

But freedom can be costly and unpredictable: once ignited, it spreads like fire.

Or Ice.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2018

About the author

Daniel A. Cohen is the author of DRAGONDAO, THE COLDMAKER SAGA, and numerous other novels and short stories. In addition to his writing career, Daniel is a professional saxophonist in Austin, Texas, spending his days in front of the page and his nights in front of crowds. Sometimes the crowds cheer, and Daniel often wishes the page would do the same.

Reviews

[Kitty G Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I was sent this for free from the publisher in exchange for a fair review *

This is the second book in the Coldmaker series, and I absolutely loved the first so I was really hoping to enjoy the second one too. I'm very glad to say this one was superb as well, and I found myself sucked into the plot and back to the plights of the characters easily.

Once more we are following Spout who is a Jaden character on the run. In the previous book Spout discovered something big that is likely to change the fate of the Jaden slaves forever, but only if he is able to walk the Coldmarch with his few friends and convince others to join his cause and believe in him.
Spout is a great character because he's not a hero in the usual sense, he is just a normal boy who likes to invent things, and yet his destiny seems to hold him to a higher set of ideals. As he goes through this story he is faced with people who want to follow and kill him at various points, and he's still unsure exactly how he managed to get their trust/hatred anyway. I liked seeing that he wasn't invincible, and that makes him more relatable. He's a good character to root for.

Cam is a noble friend of Spout and he was very much the comic relief and added a lot to the story. His jokes were often poorly timed, and yet they had the desired effect of making you laugh and cringe all at once even in the serious moments.

The world of this story is a world where cold is revered and very few slaves have ever seen or touched more than a tiny amount of it. The water of the world is scalding and cannot be drunk without cold being added to it, and the day-to-day life balance is in favour of the rich who can afford cold.
This new discovery that we found in book one could force a shift in society if it can be used properly and if it manages to garner the right support, but it's a big risk and the plot is weaving as the characters struggle to get it along the march.

The pacing for this book was once again fast and fun, much like the first, and I really enjoyed the plot too. I think there is a growing sense of rebellion in this one and the stakes are high too, so I have no doubt if you enjoyed the first you will also like the second one. 4*s from me :)

[Daniel Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it.

[WayneM0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me a while.
More my fault than a reflection of the book though.
Been bingeing Star Wars
It's most definitely for work purposes as we are doing a trivia night.

Anyway this should be about this book as I really liked it.
It's got a few pacing and characterization issues at times but overall it's a great read.

World building is great and a real feature.
Very vivid and really evokes a string sense of place.
You really do feel like you can reach out and touch it.

The characters are solid but do seem to be a bit disconnected at times.
I really connected to the journey they are taking physically, mentally and spiritually though.
Spout is really the main one and Shilah is great too but I like Cam. He is just trying to be the best companion he can be even though often things don't turn out the way he expects.
There's a few new characters too who I really think add to the story.

The plot is solid and while parts I think have a basis in real world history there are some very unusual elements too. The pacing is a bit slow for a lot of the book but really picks up at the end.

This is all about the journey from top to bottom. And I do love a good journey tale (have I mentioned I love Star Wars).
I'm very interested to see where the next book takes us.

[SAB · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish this book, but it was NOT this books fault. In fact, I had entered a book slump (I didn't think it was a real thing! NOTE: It is) and I ended my book slump by finally finishing this story - huzzah!

This book picks up where the first book ends, but there was enough hints at what happened previously in case you forgot - without being too overt.

The world expands further with more cities and towns being introduced as the characters continue on the Coldmarch, as well as some new creepy creatures (the Hookmen were really interesting!) and some new magical uses for Cold. I've previously mentioned the writing in this book could be considered Middle Grade, however some of the violence here - and it does get pretty violent - is definitely not. I appreciate that the author isn't afraid to go a bit dark here.

Does the book suffer from middle book syndrome? Maybe a little, but Spout gets quite a bit of character development by the end of the story. It's also a bit hard to imagine how Cold, Frosts and Wisps are doing what they do and what they look like, but that might just be me. The only other thing I'd mention is that this book seemed to have some religious themes/parallels going on. I didn't notice this in Coldmaker.

Overall a good entry to the series and I'm looking forward to reading the next one - which I hope will be released as I can't see it listed on Goodreads yet!

[Seraphina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book is soooooooo good!
I don‘t yell at books often, but this one sucked me in all the way and I felt genuine fear for the Characters when dangerous stuff happend!

This book is even better as the first one in the series!

[Naiké · Rating 4 out of 5]

That ending was WILD.

I really like this trilogy so far, it's honestly so underrated, it deserves a lot more hype!
This story really gripped me right now because of the Black Lives Matters movement and how much racism was represented in this book through the eyes of the POC.

"Black skin is a sin."

The series tells the story of a young Jadan called Micah. The Jadans are slaves and have a dark skin, unlike the nobles who are white and see themselves as superior. Micah grew up in this world and it was told to him so many times that he believed it too. He believed that he was worthless and inferior to the nobles. Until he didn't anymore, which was amazing character development in the first book of this trilogy.

In this second book, he sets out to free himself and the people close to him and goes on the Coldmarch, while running from the Vicaress who is chasing him because she wants him dead. His group barely survives, escaping very closely a few times and come across some new characters.
I LOVE Picka, bless that little camel's heart.

And then that ending OH MY. I was gaping at my book for the last 50 pages. It was just BAM BAM BAM. It was grand, amazing, I was screaming. Dunes is my man.

Please go read this trilogy, it's great and I highly recommend it.
I will admit that it has its flaws (like Micah thinking about touching a girl's skin while he is in mortal danger, but hey he's a teenage boy what can you expect right?), but I don't care because it's good.

[Jardin Telling · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic continuation of the Coldmaker series, Coldmarch comes at you with adventure, excitement, new characters, and a storyline that will leave you begging for more (and there better be more!!). If you haven’t already read the first in the series you’re doing yourself a disservice; this book creates an intriguing plot with relatable characters that will draw you in from the minute you start reading. 5/5 stars ☺️

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still don’t know the background of this world. Is it fantasy or is it post apocalyptic? Hope the last book answers that

[Joshua Klaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely phenomenal read. If you read one book this year, please read Coldmarch.