I found this book by accident. I was looking up a book that I though I might like to buy, in particular a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon and this book was listed as "a book that was commonly purchased at the same time" or "If you like this book you may also like this one." I decided to give it a try without looking to see who the author was, I quickly discovered that the author is the one that wrote Clockwork Three, which I had read, and liked. The subject matter seemed interesting to me. Icefall is about a princess named Solveig, and her siblings, Asa and Harald. Their father is at war with King Gunnlaug, and has sent the children away to hide for safety. Asa, the oldest of the children was meant to be a Peace Keeper Bride, but she has refused to marry King Gunnlaug. Harald the youngest and only son is Heir to his father's throne, and capture could be costly. Solveig, the middle child is basically worthless to her father; she brings no advantage to an arranged marriage and this position is not really valued in the Old Norse custom. She still makes a great voice for this book though. The language in this book seems fairly authentic, Alric the skald (or storyteller) trains Solveig to be a storyteller as well, and guides her in knowing what story the men need to boost their spirits, or feel calm. When the stories are told by Solveig and Alric, the writing changes a bit, the use of keening that is reminiscent of the epic Beowulf, using beautiful two word descriptions rather than the names we usually think of, and throughout the book adding a very Old Norse type feel to the book. I love the appearance of the Berserkers. The twist of their role being partly the beasts (such as bears and wolves) was an interesting diversion from the truth of who they really were. I loved that Alric always had advice and helped Solveig think for herself. I love that the skald tells stories to honor the King, Odin, Thor, and Fria. I loved that Kirby kept with Norse tradition making the mead hall and the oral telling of stories the center of the community. Kirby's story had a lot of depth that I noticed because I had just taken a class on the history of the English language and where English came from and so without having that background the story would have still been good, but possibly wouldn't have affected me quite so much or I wouldn't have paid attention to some of the details. I did keep thinking of all I learned in my class while I was reading Icefall and had some amazing "aah-haa" kind of moments. Defiantly a good read, but possibly some details may slip by, or not be fully appreciated by those that aren't into Norse Mythology and Anglo-Saxon customs.
Icefall is about a princess named Solveig, and her siblings, Asa and Harald. Their father is at war with King Gunnlaug, and has sent the children away to hide for safety. Asa, the oldest of the children was meant to be a Peace Keeper Bride, but she has refused to marry King Gunnlaug. Harald the youngest and only son is Heir to his father's throne, and capture could be costly. Solveig, the middle child is basically worthless to her father; she brings no advantage to an arranged marriage and this position is not really valued in the Old Norse custom. She still makes a great voice for this book though.
The language in this book seems fairly authentic, Alric the skald (or storyteller) trains Solveig to be a storyteller as well, and guides her in knowing what story the men need to boost their spirits, or feel calm. When the stories are told by Solveig and Alric, the writing changes a bit, the use of keening that is reminiscent of the epic Beowulf, using beautiful two word descriptions rather than the names we usually think of, and throughout the book adding a very Old Norse type feel to the book. I love the appearance of the Berserkers. The twist of their role being partly the beasts (such as bears and wolves) was an interesting diversion from the truth of who they really were.
I loved that Alric always had advice and helped Solveig think for herself. I love that the skald tells stories to honor the King, Odin, Thor, and Fria. I loved that Kirby kept with Norse tradition making the mead hall and the oral telling of stories the center of the community.
Kirby's story had a lot of depth that I noticed because I had just taken a class on the history of the English language and where English came from and so without having that background the story would have still been good, but possibly wouldn't have affected me quite so much or I wouldn't have paid attention to some of the details. I did keep thinking of all I learned in my class while I was reading Icefall and had some amazing "aah-haa" kind of moments. Defiantly a good read, but possibly some details may slip by, or not be fully appreciated by those that aren't into Norse Mythology and Anglo-Saxon customs.