Mini Review: The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars :star :star :star :star

Source: hardcover via bookoutlet.com

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publication Date: [this edition] October 2014, originally 1980

The Ice Dragon is an enchanting tale of courage and sacrifice for young readers and adults by the wildly popular author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin. Lavish illustrations by acclaimed artist Luis Royo enrich this captivating and heartwarming story of a young girl and her dragon.
In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire the ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember. 
Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara’s home. And only a winter child—and the ice dragon who loved her—could save her world from utter destruction.
This new edition of The Ice Dragon is sure to become a collector’s item for fans of HBO’s megahit Game of Thrones.

This was a beautifully written book aimed for children. I honestly think middle grade readers might gravitate more towards it because of the melancholy tint. I didn't know it was set in the world of GoT—a fact that made this book all the more intriguing and fun to read. I really feel that it was just one of those solid good books that you can read on a snowy or rainy day when you have a bit of time and want to read something short. It made my imagination wander in to the world of Westeros and, incidentally, my sequel to Game of Thrones arrived in the mail shortly after I finished this one. So I plan to continue with the series, even though the long length of the books does seem to have me putting it off for a long time. 

I recommend this book for fans of the author, George RR Martine, fans of high fantasy, fans of the Game of Thrones show, and even fans of dark middle grade stories (like Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman). 

Dust Off Your Classics: Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Dust Off Your Classics has become an ongoing challenge created by Trish @ Between my Lines and myself. See the home page for details and more reviews of classics.

A note: I grew up watching Hammer Horror films, I saw the movie 'Vampire Lovers' many times. It's based on the story Carmilla! It was a major budget film from the 70s where the vampire was a beautiful woman (Ingrid Pitt, anyone?!) and the victim was a young virgin. :O In fact, there's a great article on Nerdist about it, if you're curious. I took a few of my pictures from that article too, just because I feel the movie really did capture how I pictured the characters to be.

A young woman living at her father's castle is the narrator of this novella. When a mysterious and beautiful stranger is stranded at the castle in odd circumstances and becomes a guest, the heroine quickly forms a close bond with her --but she subsequently discovers that her "friend" has a dark and lethal secret.

My Review

How I finally got Carmilla... A month before Halloween I borrowed Rags & Bones from the library. It's a collection of classic retellings by famous (mostly YA) authors. I didn't read the whole thing, but I did look at the table of contents and saw "Carmilla" written by Holly Black. I read and LOVED it. It made me thirst for the original so badly. Also, I knew I had to read another classic for this challenge. Now determined to get a copy of this book for my shelves, I browsed Barnes & Noble and Amazon and I couldn't get past all the ugly covers because I'm picky. Anyway, I found a GORGEOUS copy at The Book Depository by a little publisher and it even had illustrations! I'm
telling you all this because if you want to get some classic or gothic book that has a gorgeous cover
for a good price maybe you'll remember Pomegranate Press. (I'm not an affiliate or anything, just a fan) ;)

As you may know, I LOVE vampire books. Starting with Anne Rice, I've branched out into futuristic and classical vampire stories. I don't discriminate. I value sparkly and bloody for different things. One of my favorites is the ultimate-- DRACULA by Bram Stoker. Carmilla was written 20 years prior to Dracula. let that sink in for a minute It's a very short, gothic vampire tale with lesbian attraction, love, and horror. So yeah, I knew a bit about Carmilla before going into it And that added to the whole mystique.

Carmilla starts right off with an introduction to the mystery. We know something is up because the start has a little note saying this was all the confession/diary written by the heroine before she died many years after the story ended. Told in the narrative, we never learn the family's name. All we learn is that her father is Austrian and well-off (hence the castle, their home). The heroine is an only child
who is a bit lonely living with her father. After a crazy "accident" happens involving a carriage and a girl and her mother, things get interesting. The mystery woman convinces the father to take in her daughter, Carmilla, until such time as she can return for her.

With the seemingly innocent story set, things get really good. The pace is perfect, the story is short but doesn't feel rushed (although I would've appreciated a longer story because I loved it so much)! Things got creepy fast, with our heroine falling in love with Carmilla and Carmilla returning it but saying odd things and disappearing.... Then the bizarre dreams start and our poor heroine falls ill. It's not the typical loss of blood + bite marks on neck. I loved that. It was incredibly refreshing.

"Certain vague and strange sensations visited me in my sleep. The prevailing one was that of a pleasant, peculiar cold thrill which we feel in bathing, when we move against the current of a river. This was soon accompanied by dreams that seemed interminable, and were so vague that I could never recollect their scenery and persons.... [they] left an awful impression, and a sense of exhaustion, as if I had passed through a long period of great mental exertion and danger." Pg 64

The prose is just downright eery at times, other times reading like a completely accurate account of something that happened to a young girl. I love that at we find two girls in love; which is pretty amazing considering the date of publication. :$

I can't recommend this gothic vampire tale enough. You definitely need to give it a read if you like gothic literature. It was easy to get through, and it has prompted me to add Le Fanu to my TBR classics list (I haven't added to that in awhile) :P

-Diamond

The Grey Elk by Kevis Hendrickson

The Grey Elk by Kevis Hendrickson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars :star :star :star :star


I was looking for something short to read before bed and came across this on my iPad. I had downloaded it from Smashwords and I'm so glad I read it. It's perfect if you want a really solid, good short story. It's a well written fantasy tale of a man and his journey through life. I loved the ending. It gave the story a feel as though it could be passed to my children. At 10 pages its very short..but doesn't feel short. It's the perfect length. I'll certainly read more from this author!! Highly recommend it.



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Age of the Aura, Phase I: Champions of Power by Samuel Odunsi Jr.

Age of the Aura, Phase I: Champions of Power Review 

I went into reading this thinking it was a short story. It is, technically. But it doesn’t read like a short story. It reads like a full novel, creating a full galaxy with its own stamp. First I want to mention how much I LOVE the cover. I know you’re not supposed to “judge a book by its cover” but no matter what people say—the cover can make the story so much more intriguing that it may otherwise be. This cover drew me in, the bright green flash of lightning bolted in my minds’ eye in the beginning when the Aura (the green sphere) created chaos. 

The book follows a few different characters throughout. It goes back and forth describing different planets and telling some stories from each—giving the reader different perspectives on the life on each of these planets. One thing I loved were the names. When the Sorastarians were introduced, I was like “no way!” It’s funny, I’m half Persian and in Iran there are many different religions. Besides Islam and Judaism, there is a smaller sect called “Zorastarians” and they’re thought of by the Muslims as being “strange, kind of weird people.” I thought this was perhaps a funny coincidence (unless the author knew about it, then it was a clever use of words!) Other names were very cool too, Loren, Edith, Ambrose, Toran, etc.

My favorite character was Loren, the main character. However, I do wish his grandfather was more involved in the story. (I won’t tell you why he isn’t). From the beginning I got really attached to the grandfather and always liked him a little more than Loren. Not that I don’t like Loren, because I do. 

I’m going to be honest, I think I would’ve grooved with the story way better if I was more into sci-fi as a genre. So I’m rating it with that in mind. That being said, the story was strong but there were things that were problematic. It is written very formally. This didn’t bother me much, it added to the style. As far as the writing I think some of the transitions could have been improved, smoother perhaps. Sometimes I had to back track a few pages to figure out who we were reading about, and which planet we were on! The story also lagged in the middle. The beginning and the end were super awesome-action-filled and then the middle was just slow, imo. Even with all those things I still think the creativeness of the story and the unique world were very impressive. I’d read the next book. I’m not a sci-fi nut, but if you are I DEF recommend it.

 This book made me realize a few things. It made me realize that I haven’t read much sci-fi beyond Ray Bradbury (I don’t have much to compare/contrast this book to). Perhaps because I am not well-read in sci-fi I didn’t really appreciate the ins and outs of the story. I don’t know. But I’m glad I didn’t give up in the middle. The ending was good, and a bit of a cliffhanger! I think since this a prequel a lot of stuff had to be fleshed out, so I'm actually looking forward to the next book as I think I'll really enjoy it. Can't wait to see what happens with Lowen!

 My Rating: 3/5 Stars