Gdzie noc skrzy się lodem

Skane #2

by Lisa Lueddecke

Śnieg, mnóstwo lodu, mitologiczne wierzenia, magia i zbliżające się olbrzymie niebezpieczeństwo mrożące krew w żyłach.

Krwawoczerwone niebo pojawiło się nad śnieżną wyspą Skane, powodując, że na wioskę spada lawina strachu i…

W desperackiej próbie powstrzymania zbliżającej się zarazy starsi mieszkańcy wioski postanawiają zabarykadować jej granice, aby nikt zarażony nie zdołał się przez nie przedrzeć.

Nastolatka o imieniu Janna postanawia nie odwracać się od ludzi szukających schronienia. Zostaje jednak wygnana na kłujący mróz poza granice wioski.

Czy uda jej się przetrwać zbliżającą się zamieć śnieżną?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Emotional, Magic

360 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2018

Reviews

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Bright is the moon on a cold Winter’s night. And bright are the bones it illuminates.”

This was just as dark and wintry and beautiful as I hoped it would be. ❄️❄️❄️❄️

So despite numbered as book 2, A Storm of Ice and Stars is actually a prequel to A Shiver of Snow and Sky.

Janna lives in a small village on the island of Skane, where they grow up on stories of the cold. Where monsters lurk in the woods, and an act of carelessness can so easily lead to death.

When a man is killed suddenly, Janna falls under suspicion. She is always spending time in the woods away from the village, death always seems to follow her - she much be a witch.

To avoid being burned at the stake by her own kin she flees the village with her best friend. Where new and frightening adventures soon find them.

This book is also tinged throughout with grief, Janna has lost someone close to her and her struggles with it are really powerful.

“I want to swim in darkness with you and drown in the stars. I do not want to be alone down here.”

There are also fears of the plague that comes whenever the sky glows red. Very prominent during these Covid times.

Overall, though not massively different in plot to the first book. It is full of beautiful writing, fearsome creatures and unexplained terrors. Also the ending which links to book 1 was wonderful.

“Stars above snow below, hear the echoes of my soul. Raging sea and Summer rain, don’t let the world forget my name.”

More people need to read this duology!!!

*********************

On my December TBR.

Loved A Shiver of Snow and Sky so can’t wait for this one! ❄️

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a prequel to A Shiver of Snow and Sky, but I definitely feel that it needs to be read after. It’s set in the same gorgeous universe and has the same lovely and evocative writing as ASOSAS, but the foreshadowing for it is a little spoilery - I think it makes more sense to read it second.

And it is stunningly written, as the first one is. They are however very similar. They both have the red lights, and outcast girls, and journeys across the island. That was, for me, a little bit of a shame, as ASOIAS didn’t feel different enough. Having said that, I still loved it. And I loved the characters and the way their circumstances worked out - the background of Janna and Solvi was heartbreaking, and Enja and Siiva are great additions to Janna’s quest. I love the little ways you see it start to interact with Osa’s story from ASOSAS. And I adore the ending. It is perfectly done, and clever too. It’s not really what you expect going in, but it perfectly honours the world that has been built.

This book is definitely deserving of its 4 stars and I’d recommend it if you enjoyed the first one.

[Goska Majewska · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 to Max. Zaczęło się nawet fajnie, ale jak przez 3/4 książki są opisy zimy i idą idą i dojść właściwie niewiadomo gdzie nie mogą to już przestaje być ciekawe. Autorka chyba tez nie bardzo wiedziała co wymyślić. I to widac.

[Verónica Fleitas Solich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I liked it much more than the previous one.
Without a doubt the characters are more powerful and deep, and without a doubt the story demands more commitment from the reader.
And that end...
Wonderful.

[Wiola Myszkowska Re:telling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rozbrajają mnie jej opowieści.

[Maja Baek · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. I really tried to like this.

I loved 'A Shiver of Snow and Sky'. I loved Skane and the characters and the mythology and it was just....Wonderful.

But this one? Disappointment.
Firstly, I found Janna to be completely unsympathetic. She managed to make everything about her, and the constant complaining about her surroundings was just draining. It wasn't until the very final scene between her and Sølvi that I really felt for her in regards to her loss. I wish that the scene had been used earlier on in the novel, perhaps I would have empathised more with her throughout then.

Secondly, I found the plot to be predictable, as well as far too similar to 'A Shiver of Snow and Sky'. As a prequel it didn't really add anything new in regards to Skane, and the ending felt incredibly forced into "needing to make sense with the main book". If Janna hadn't seen who the baby was going to become, would she just have noped out and not saved her?

Thirdly, the dialogue.... I have lost track of how many times I had to stop reading and roll my eyes. The dialogue (as well as Janna's monologue) felt incredibly forced and full of clichés. It felt like I was reading a soap opera and not the thoughts and conversations of a young adult.

Fourthly, I have no idea what the editors were doing with this, if they were sleeping on the job or what, cause.... After the "burning at the stake" scenes, Janna's mother brings her the letter from Sølvi. Later on, Janna goes "hey I'm so glad i remembered to take this with me"... The fuck?

Honestly, I could go on and on about this but....Let's stop for now.

TL;DR I was just...Disappointed. I know that the author is a great writer, as was clear from 'A Shiver of Snow and Sky', but something went wrong here. I would greatly recommend 'A Shiver of Snow and Sky' it is a wonderful and magical book. But for this prequel, I'd say: Maaaybe not. But hey, that's just my opinion.

[Wiktoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Zamysł na książkę bardzo dobry, a nawet odzwierciedlenie tego co jest w 1 pierwszej części, jednak słabo wykonane.
Początek w porządku, środek książki mocno mnie wynudzil, opisy podróży i lasu, praktycznie rzeczy powtarzające się cały czas z drobnymi dodatkami. Mam takie wrażenie że do 2/3 książki autorka nie miała pomysłu na clue fabuły, później całe napięcie budowane od początku rozwiązane na 3 ostatnich stronach. Zakończenie było super! I naprawdę mi się podobało, ale środek niedopracowany i stąd ta ocena. Książka idealna na zimę i mroźne wieczory ze względu na swój klimat.

[Andrew]

DNF (for time being) at 58% [16th December 2018]

I think am not in right frame of mind for this at the moment. Bit too slow and I want something more punchy. Will hopefully return to this at a later date, as I really liked the world and the writing.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5?

[Nikola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Początek słaby, akcja bardzo wolno się rozwijała. Dopiero w połowie coś zaczęło się dziać - to mnie zaintrygowało... Nudziło mnie ciągłe powtarzanie i "przypominanie" czytelnikowi, co czuje bohaterka.

[thebooksthief_ Ania ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️/5
Książka trochę się dłużyła ,ale poza tym bardzo ciekawa,klimat tez bardzo mi się podobał .

[Crimelpoint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dużo bardziej podobała mi się pierwsza część.

[Christina Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is beautifully evocative and the landscape of Skane feels almost like the main character in this prequel to A Shiver of Snow and Sky.
Janna, Enja and her pet fox are interesting, brave main characters and the quest they go on treads through places left untouched for hundreds of years. I loved the runes in the caves, the mythology and campfire stories and the wolves prowling the perimeters of isolated villages.
Yet, somehow, I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first. Janna spent so much time in her head that the pace was slowed considerably and the only switch to Enja's perspective came right at the end and felt jarring. I could see the way the stories were going to come together quite early on, and felt like, despite this being a prequel, readers coming to this before the first (but chronolgoically later) book would be confused.
Still a beautiful book and well-worth reading if you enjoyed the first, even if this book feels quite different.

[Christine Spoors · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this duology, this second book is a prequel but I recommend reading it after as it does have large spoilers for the first book. The harsh snowy settings in these books I just adore so much. I feel like I could read a million books set on this island, even just little stories about everyday lives.

I did find this book slower than the first, hence the 4 stars, however it was still very enjoyable and I’m so glad I read it. I absolutely loved the two main characters in this one, and the journey they embarked on together. The ending had me CRYING and I’ll be thinking about these two for a while.

I can’t wait to read a new series by this author in 2020 as I just adore her writing.

This was my last physical read of 2019!

[zosienka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jejciu ta historia jest tak piękna. Na początku byłam nieco sceptyczna, jednak z czasem akcja szybko się rozwinęła. Ale brakowało mi dokończenia niektórych wątków. Mam wrażenie, że niektóre rzeczy są niezbyt dopracowane, co jest minusem dla tej książki. Bohaterowie byli ciekawie wykreowani (jednakże brakowało mi czegoś więcej o Erim, Enji, Ragnie oraz rodziców Janny). Sama historia jest wspaniała, więc ocena 4.1. Mimo tego, że pomyliłam w jakiej kolejności czyta się tą serie, sięgnę jeszcze po pierwszy tom.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was crazy cool from the first page. What was even better was the storyline and how it wrapped up to the first novel. I thought this novel was set after the first but it turns out it was before the first novel. And how it came to be was even cooler! This is as much as I can say without spoiling anything but I definitely recommend!!!

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit slow going ❄️ ⭐️ but I loved the end and how it led into the first book! The first one is my favourite ⛰❄️

[Isa (Pages Full of Stars)]

I'm putting it down for now, because I've read the first 15% and it feels quite similar to the first book. Maybe I will come back to it after I read a few other books in between.

[Pris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprise for me after A Shiver of Snow and Sky. I liked this much, much more. It was beautiful, deep and very atmospheric. Janna and Enja are two beautiful heroes! 💙❄️

[bookishsoul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strasznie się na niej zawiodłam, liczyłam na coś super ŁaŁ a było tylko spoko, już nawet nie super(🥲) wgl nie wciągnęłam się w tą historię, nie było tego czegoś i nigdy już nie będzie, zmarnowany czas, nie przeczytałabym jej gdybym znała tą historię .
No cóż

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

świat cudowny i pomysl na fabule tez ciekawy, ale styl autorki totalnie mi nie podpasowal
+ za nietypowe zakonczenie

[Red · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Podzielam opinie, które gdzieś pod tą książką widziałam, że pierwsza część była lepsza i że podobała się jakoś bardziej.

[Kasia Kowalczyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5✨

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really should've gotten to this sooner. Luckily it is a companion or prequel rather than a sequel.

I thought the atmosphere was great but I found the story hard to follow at times, especially distinguishing different timelines in the audiobook.

Glad to have another series done!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous! A love letter to stories and Icelandic culture💕 so full of love and care and imagination I don’t know how anyone doesn’t love it. I miss the unforgiving magical world of Skane already

[dżulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

wbrew temu, że momentami ciężko się czytalo to kocham sposób w jaki została ta książka połączona z poprzednią, tak subtelnie i przyjemnie, 3.75

[Grainne Wrigley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this a good review but it’s not worth reading. The blurb suggested it was going to be about survival in a plague but the plague was almost entirely irrelevant the whole book, and about 150 pages was walking through snow. I couldn’t figure out what the story was but the descriptions didn’t add anything. It was mostly the protagonists inner dialogue about how hard it was walking through snow and some flashbacks that didn’t seem pertinent, I think because the characterization was so off. There were only 2 characters 3/4 of the book and the only detail about them was they liked to be in the forest rather than the village and they both were mourning their brother/boyfriend who had died a year ago, and the protagonist kept saying that the other character was like a sister but there was nothing personable about “Enja” the whole story apart from she had a fox, another detail which didn’t add anything. The story in the end made no sense, that they both wanted to kill themselves to save a women who they had stayed with once just because she was kind to them. The women is featured in one or two chapters, they are walking for about 150 pages because wolves told them too (which isn’t explained very well apart from they’re told the wolves are immortal) and in the last 20 pages they decide to kill themselves for the woman, discover what should be the arch nemisis with absolutely zero characterization (but there’s a better case to be made for a mean old lady that they left behind 250 pages ago), vanquish them, and then die.
I couldn’t wait for the book to end, I can’t think of a demographic who would want to read 2 characters that the reader has no reason to be emotionally invested in walk through snow for most of the book and do almost nothing else. I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt that the original was very captivating and there could be something I’m missing linked to that. However, it seems like it’s relying on the audience from the first book and didn’t care to even come up with a solid plot, any substantial villain or adversary, basic characterization, or any redeeming characteristics.
I would normally just stop reading the book, but I’m upset that I spent money on this book after getting one idea from the blurb and the first few pages for the last 200 pages to be this bad.

[applepie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i loved the story, the idea, but the execution just wasn't it. it got boring very fast. i was very confused as to why the plague was even introduced since it doesn't even affect the story. the relationship between janna and enja was amazing and i loved every moment of it. the flashbacks regarding janna and solvi's past were also nicely written, but boring and way too much detail for a memory. nonetheless i would recommend to give this book a try since you could like, just make sure that you love a lot of description and random insertions👍

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm just going to say that I cried at the end of the book. I still don't understand why I cried but it got to me to some serious level...