Review: From Mountains of Ice by Lorina Stephens

From Mountains of Ice by Lorina Stephens

Sylvio spent the past decade banished from Simare's court, stripped of land, ancestral home and title - from Minister of National Security to back-country bowyer. But not any bowyer; Sylvio creates bows from laminations of wood and human bone, bows that are said to speak, bows known as the legendary arcossi.And now, after a decade, he is called back to the capitol, summoned by his Prince whom he suspects is a patricide and insane. His very life is in danger and with it the country he has served through all his days.From Mountains of Ice is a story of love, endurance and the meaning of honour.

This is another book that I have to give a very mixed review to, mostly because the writing was kind of poor, when the concept was strong and interesting. I used to think that all I needed was a good idea to write about and I too could become an author. Books like this make me realize that a good idea isn't enough if you don't have the writing chops to back it up.

What drew me to this novel was the idea of a fantasy setting that was very similar to a real time and place in our world, in this case Renaissance Italy. My favourite Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay does this so well; I really wanted to find another author who could pull off this tricky setting. Stephens doesn't really draw me into the setting and as a result the world seems confused and complicated, with little to ground you in the story.  I often thought that something as simple as a map illustration would have been beneficial, especially as the story gets geo-political.

About a third of the way through the story, finally the action picks up, but it fails to go anywhere.  It wasn't episodic enough for me, more like a long string of events that don't seem to lead anywhere.

I did like the protagonist Sylvio, although he and his wife Aletta were a little too perfect as characters. What I wanted more than anything was more time with them to get to know them better. Carmelo's back story sounded intriguing if only the reader got a bit more of it to explain his actions. This is particularly hard to overcome because the plot rests so much on why he hates Sylvio.

With a rushed ending and next to no plot moments that I can even remember having read the book a few weeks ago, I can't recommend this book.

I received this book for review from Librarything Early Reviewers Giveaway.