An Indie Review - The Ice - Ryan Cahill

 I'm going to start this by saying the same thing I usually say, I'm not a book reviewer and I'm not here to talk to you about the intricacies and technical aspects of writing a book. What I am is a huge fan of fantasy novels who was lucky enough to be given an ARC of The Ice by Ryan. With that in mind this review will be somewhat 'unconventional'

I want to start with a word to Ryan's work as a whole to this stage, I am a huge fan of the world he has created and the stories he has been able to tell within it. I'm loathed to compare Ryan to other authors anymore as he has done more than enough to stand on his own two feet as a powerhouse of the genre but I will say that if The Faithful and The Fallen is your childhood sweetheart, The Bound and The Broken is the person you have an affair with later in life.

Now, onto The Ice.

The Ice picks up events around three months before we first meet Aeson, Erik and Dahlen in Of Blood and Fire and follows everyone's favourite brooding, mysterious, magic wielding 400 year old rebellion leader Aeson Virandr as he sets off with his band of bought and paid for adventure pals on a journey to Valacia with the intention of stealing a dragon egg. Without giving too much away, what could possibly go wrong, right? (everything).

-“If this goes wrong, Aeson, you die”-

In my opinion Ryan Cahill is no longer an author with something to prove, however if this book proves anything it is that Cahill is a master of the novella format. He achieves so much in this book, certainly in terms of the development of Aeson Virandr as a person, not just a warrior. We get an insight into the paternal side of him, and a glimpse into what he was like as a husband. As someone who spent a lot of OWAR getting miffed with Aeson for his single mindedness around the rebellion this book has offered a fresh perspective on Aeson and really helped to round his character out for me.

This book, in true Cahill style is a slow burn (as much as a novella can be) that eventually builds to a fast paced thrill fest full of tension, action and heartache. Not a single page of this book is wasted and the fact he manages to achieve so much in around 54000 words is testament to his vision and to me indicates a writer who knows exactly what they want to achieve from their story.

One of the most impressive things Cahill achieves in this book for me is the way he manages to overcome the challenges authors must face when writing a novella, specifically one that is released as a bit of a prequel to their most recent books. When you read a flashback or a prequel I often find they lack jeopardy, we know the events that follow, we know the fates of the characters etc. You can combat this by introducing a new supporting cast to come along for the journey but I often find myself reading along, knowing these characters are expendable and not really caring, but not here. Cahill does an excellent job in bringing through this new supporting cast to the point at I was 50 pages into this novella and found myself caring more about some of the characters that I have done the main characters in full trilogies of other authors, a notable example of this being Malari who I thought was masterfully written and developed in such a short space of time.

I would describe this book the way I would describe all of Ryan's books to date. Special. They scratch an itch in my brain in a way that only one series has managed to do before. I will continue to recommend his work to all fans of fantasy, long may the journey into Epheria continue.

Also, I've seen a lot of people dropping in the quote about how you become prey in Valacia, but I feel the tension in this story can be better conveyed with a quote from our new supporting cast, Baltam...

-"What the fuck was that?"-