What do you think?
Rate this book
Pler #2
Icedancer
Lanna walks on platinum. As first of the Emperor's servants, she lives in opulence.
Within the palace, Lanna must gain a firm grasp on both politics and her powers - a mistake could kill her dreams of a better future.
But a presence she cannot explain haunts her, and the Emperor has taken a troubling interest in her.
Manipulated at every turn, who can she trust? She will need to find the truth before it is too late.
Within the palace, Lanna must gain a firm grasp on both politics and her powers - a mistake could kill her dreams of a better future.
But a presence she cannot explain haunts her, and the Emperor has taken a troubling interest in her.
Manipulated at every turn, who can she trust? She will need to find the truth before it is too late.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 18, 2020
4 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Anna Velfman
8 books27 followersIn another life, Anna Velfman graduated from Stirling University with an Environmental Science degree and moved to the Shetland islands having just got married. Later she returned to mainland Scotland to train as a teacher. However, having written online for years as a way to help manage her dyslexia, she decided she would be happier aiming to write full time.
When she is not writing, she can be found gaming on the PC she built, painting and sewing (badly,) watching anime and Kdramas, walking her dog, riding her bright blue ebike, or chatting with her readers on discord. She loves living in Scotland, where she is raising two boys with her husband.
She has a bi-monthly (sometimes) Podcast called Writer Rambles where she talks about her writing and chats to other authors about their work.
When she is not writing, she can be found gaming on the PC she built, painting and sewing (badly,) watching anime and Kdramas, walking her dog, riding her bright blue ebike, or chatting with her readers on discord. She loves living in Scotland, where she is raising two boys with her husband.
She has a bi-monthly (sometimes) Podcast called Writer Rambles where she talks about her writing and chats to other authors about their work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 17, 2021
The Pler Series returns for a second tale of political and romantic intrigue, and it’s just as riveting as book one. Even more so, actually!
Lanna continues to shed her naïveté in this book. As her star rises, a target grows on her back. She also hasn’t forgotten the farming village she’s left behind, though she hides it well for most of Icedancer. She’s also learned a few things about Flower Pavilion theatrics.
But does Lanna really have the power she seems to? And is there anything she can do about the problems she sees, or is there always someone working in the shadows?
Lanna finds one such person in Ethaan, head of the Hall of Enlightenment. He’s the only new character we actually meet besides Lanna’s assigned slave. While we also get to know Sonnatha, Itzander, Lucas and Ashioto more, the narrowed scope of Icedancer means characters like Epen, Frez and even Chowa become more peripheral.
Icedancer was refreshing in a lot of ways. The handsome emperor doesn’t get a pass just because he shows he cares and has plans to help the world (though the latter is exactly why Lanna helps him, and the former is a big part of why, despite herself, she finds herself wanting him). There’s so much more to powerful and cultured Ashioto, and Velfman (and the always formidable Lanna) never give in to girlish fancy.
Lucas, the mysterious voice only Lanna can hear, is also emerging as a very likeable and intriguing character. I’m excited to see what role he’ll play in the upcoming book.
In all, another excellent book in this series with the writing to match.
Lanna continues to shed her naïveté in this book. As her star rises, a target grows on her back. She also hasn’t forgotten the farming village she’s left behind, though she hides it well for most of Icedancer. She’s also learned a few things about Flower Pavilion theatrics.
But does Lanna really have the power she seems to? And is there anything she can do about the problems she sees, or is there always someone working in the shadows?
Lanna finds one such person in Ethaan, head of the Hall of Enlightenment. He’s the only new character we actually meet besides Lanna’s assigned slave. While we also get to know Sonnatha, Itzander, Lucas and Ashioto more, the narrowed scope of Icedancer means characters like Epen, Frez and even Chowa become more peripheral.
Icedancer was refreshing in a lot of ways. The handsome emperor doesn’t get a pass just because he shows he cares and has plans to help the world (though the latter is exactly why Lanna helps him, and the former is a big part of why, despite herself, she finds herself wanting him). There’s so much more to powerful and cultured Ashioto, and Velfman (and the always formidable Lanna) never give in to girlish fancy.
Lucas, the mysterious voice only Lanna can hear, is also emerging as a very likeable and intriguing character. I’m excited to see what role he’ll play in the upcoming book.
In all, another excellent book in this series with the writing to match.
September 4, 2021
Holy shit.
There's always the fear when going into a sequel that it will fall into middle-book syndrome. Thankfully, Icedancer was quite the opposite: it expanded upon all the character work and world building (!!!) from before, all while building up the storyline from the subtle hints and threads left behind in Snowblind.
This book has one of the best antagonist portrayals I've ever read.
The plot twist at the end of the book somewhat ruined this slow, creeping effect, but I get why it had to be done - the character's position needed to be cemented in Lanna's mind in order for her to go through with her plan.
Speaking of Lanna - I loved her character in this book just as much as in Snowblind. I love how she struggled between making the good choice and the right choice, balancing politics and morality. I love how, even at her own detriment, she always tried to do as much as good as she could. Her interactions with Lucas were great, and I can't wait to see more of them in the third book.
This book definitely amped up the world building, giving us lots of information about Pler and its history and yet leaving me (and Lanna) with more questions than we started with. I think the sci-fi/fantasy elements are balanced perfectly for this story. We get little snippets and explanations of the advanced tech of the Augmented and the previous human civilizations - just enough to make it feel realistic, but not too much that the book gets bogged down by info-dumps and technicalities.
As much as I have loved Lanna's journey so far, I do hope that Avalanche is different. Although Snowblind and Icedancer have had some action, it's mostly been political intrigue and clues of something greater going on being dropped here and there. We've had two books of build-up; now it's time for the avalanche.
There's always the fear when going into a sequel that it will fall into middle-book syndrome. Thankfully, Icedancer was quite the opposite: it expanded upon all the character work and world building (!!!) from before, all while building up the storyline from the subtle hints and threads left behind in Snowblind.
This book has one of the best antagonist portrayals I've ever read.
The plot twist at the end of the book somewhat ruined this slow, creeping effect, but I get why it had to be done - the character's position needed to be cemented in Lanna's mind in order for her to go through with her plan.
Speaking of Lanna - I loved her character in this book just as much as in Snowblind. I love how she struggled between making the good choice and the right choice, balancing politics and morality. I love how, even at her own detriment, she always tried to do as much as good as she could. Her interactions with Lucas were great, and I can't wait to see more of them in the third book.
This book definitely amped up the world building, giving us lots of information about Pler and its history and yet leaving me (and Lanna) with more questions than we started with. I think the sci-fi/fantasy elements are balanced perfectly for this story. We get little snippets and explanations of the advanced tech of the Augmented and the previous human civilizations - just enough to make it feel realistic, but not too much that the book gets bogged down by info-dumps and technicalities.
As much as I have loved Lanna's journey so far, I do hope that Avalanche is different. Although Snowblind and Icedancer have had some action, it's mostly been political intrigue and clues of something greater going on being dropped here and there. We've had two books of build-up; now it's time for the avalanche.
April 4, 2022
A decent continuation from book 1, but for me not as strong. The plot starts to become very unwieldly and unfocused and once again this makes the characterization fall behind, making the story blur past in an unmemorable haze. I read the book over a couple weeks and if I had a break of more than a few days I really had to work to remember what had happened prior.
Now the Seer, Lanna has risen to the top servant rank, and has new threats to contend with, along with the fact her implant is killing her and she's also connected to one of the 'evil' Augs from the beforetimes. The Emperor is facing more and more unrest against his reforms, the palace politics are heating up and the truth behind everything is starting to be revealed.
There are so many subplots and background threads here I started to lose track. While it all weaves well together it absolutely takes away from the main story and Lanna remains as dull and arid as ever. She still has no internal drive and just let the plot carry her along. This does start to change a little towards the end but because there's so much focus on other things and other characters the development is easy to miss. I still have no idea what her wants, desires and fears are, and none of this directs her actions. This is made especially worse as every other character has these clearly conveyed which makes her as the protagonist weak.
The 'romance' with the Emperor felt a bit fan-servicey for me but it won't bother most people.
The quality of the writing however remains stellar as does the worldbuilding. It also has the favoured fantasy trope of rich descriptions- again something most will enjoy but I found myself skimming these sections as they bogged down the pace a lot.
I think those who enjoy plot-driven spectacle will like this book, it has a lot of elements in common with Horizon Zero Dawn, but if you want a complex flawed protagonist with memorable goals and ambitions this book misses the mark on that.
Now the Seer, Lanna has risen to the top servant rank, and has new threats to contend with, along with the fact her implant is killing her and she's also connected to one of the 'evil' Augs from the beforetimes. The Emperor is facing more and more unrest against his reforms, the palace politics are heating up and the truth behind everything is starting to be revealed.
There are so many subplots and background threads here I started to lose track. While it all weaves well together it absolutely takes away from the main story and Lanna remains as dull and arid as ever. She still has no internal drive and just let the plot carry her along. This does start to change a little towards the end but because there's so much focus on other things and other characters the development is easy to miss. I still have no idea what her wants, desires and fears are, and none of this directs her actions. This is made especially worse as every other character has these clearly conveyed which makes her as the protagonist weak.
The 'romance' with the Emperor felt a bit fan-servicey for me but it won't bother most people.
The quality of the writing however remains stellar as does the worldbuilding. It also has the favoured fantasy trope of rich descriptions- again something most will enjoy but I found myself skimming these sections as they bogged down the pace a lot.
I think those who enjoy plot-driven spectacle will like this book, it has a lot of elements in common with Horizon Zero Dawn, but if you want a complex flawed protagonist with memorable goals and ambitions this book misses the mark on that.
October 16, 2021
Icedancer picks right up where Snowblind left off, which I appreciated because it was quite a cliffhanger. It didn’t take me long to be intrigued by the story. Snowblind was a wonderful debut for Velfman, but I can see her growing in her art as a storyteller through Icedancer. The worldbuilding is amazing like it was in Snowblind, but I think I had a greater appreciation for the characters in Icedancer. The way the characters changed added a new dimension to this story, and there were new characters that significantly added to the story arc. I’m excited to read the next story in this series and more to come from Velfman.
June 30, 2024
Pretty good book. Not all expected, which is a nice change.
For my clean readers: lots of language, including f-bomb. Sexual content-the emperor has a harem, so not going to be able to avoid it. Sex is not described in detail, but it's hinted at everywhere. Violence-kidnapping and torture, attempted murder, and suicide. Slavery. Political moves that require despicable things to occur.
For my clean readers: lots of language, including f-bomb. Sexual content-the emperor has a harem, so not going to be able to avoid it. Sex is not described in detail, but it's hinted at everywhere. Violence-kidnapping and torture, attempted murder, and suicide. Slavery. Political moves that require despicable things to occur.
March 17, 2021
I loved it!
(Writing for both Snowblind and Icedancer) I really enjoyed reading both books. Fast paced and exciting, I couldn't seem to get enough of these books!
(Writing for both Snowblind and Icedancer) I really enjoyed reading both books. Fast paced and exciting, I couldn't seem to get enough of these books!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews