ofliterarynature reblogged
stuart hill’s Icemark Chronicles series is a really great series for beginner fantasy readers. it’s like Baby’s First LOTR in that it’s a trilogy of long, middle-grade fantasy novels (each book is about 500 pages), mainly about war, that juggles multiple viewpoints and tons of characters. but it’s written in a way to support and scaffold understanding of such complex stories and make them accessible to new readers. for example:
- each character who has a long title and name, which are used repeatedly and interchangeably, and written in a way that the reader understands who the character is even if they don’t remember exactly. Thirrin Freer Strong-in-the-arm-Lindenshield, Wildcat of the North? no confusion whatsoever that she’s the fierce, strong warrior queen the series is based around.
- each character who does not have a long title or name is given a descriptor to remind the reader who they are (Maggiore Totus is the tutor of the royal children)
- hill uses signal words and theme words, or, if you want to get technical, epithets, to draw your memory to other moments in the story. Thirrin has her fiery halo of hair, which is mentioned multiple times when she is particularly passionate during diplomatic meetings. during battle, the story always notes the “strange coughing bark” of the Snow Leopards. the villain always rides his horse into battle with “arrogant hand on arrogant hip”
- each species/people have their own battle cries that serve as a quick reminder of who is fighting and for what. i can’t tell you how many times Thirrin and her army have shouted the battle cry of the Icemark (“the enemy is upon us! they kill our children, they burn our houses! BLOOD! BLAST! AND FIRE! BLOOD! BLAST! AND FIRE!) and how it legitimately sends shivers up my spine every time. in contrast, the main enemies, the Polypontians, cry “Veni, vidi, vici!” (I came, I saw, I conquered).
- deaths of characters are frequent but almost never a surprise. in the second book, Their Vampiric Majesties mention at least five times that they could not bear to face the endless centuries without the other, making it very, very clear to the reader that one of them will die before the end. and he does and it is not a surprise.
- for that matter, you can go into a battle scene knowing who will survive. a character will mention that they feel strangely certain the Mother Goddess has other plans for them, comment on how calm/strong/ready they feel, or make plans for a drinking contest with their friend after the battle, and you can be sure they will come out alive.
- the plots are pretty simple overall, but enough events get added to keep the pace moving and interesting. here’s how the first book goes: Icemark gets attacked -> Thirrin becomes queen -> Thirrin searches for allies -> the Icemark defends its home. that’s it! but there’s so much more going on with character development and some really delicious writing that never once in the 500 pages did i feel bored or that it could be shorter.
- this is not so much an accessibility thing, but i think it’s extremely cool how hill meshes barbarity and nobility. the icemark is a “barbaric” country and Thirrin is often referred to as “the barbarian queen”. it’s true the people of the icemark are loud, passionate, rowdy, and even violent, drinking and eating to excess and enjoying fighting almost too much. they ally themselves with monsters: werewolves, vampires, Snow Leopards, the Holly and Oak kings, Oskan Witchfather and his White Witches, anything from the Land-of-the-Ghosts that will listen to them. but they are also shown to be noble people who defend fiercely because they have people they want to protect. each species of the alliance has leaders who are kind, just, wise, powerful, or just plain nice, and each species’ culture is shown as complex and interesting. they fight with honor and avoid unnecessary cruelty. contrasted to that, the polypontians are called “civilized”, running their empire with science and rational thought and employing much more advanced technology, but they are cruel, dishonorable, and arrogant.
- if i had a criticism for the series (actually i have several dont worry) i would say that hill buys in too strongly to the idea of “the divine right of kings” (or in this case, queens and monarchs) as every monarch on Thirrin’s side is a good ruler, a good person, and exceptionally talented/strong/powerful/beautiful as compared to the rest of the characters. many of the characters are given epithets like “beloved of the One” (Sharley, Mekhmet) or shown that the Goddess loves them more than other, less important characters (Thirrin, Oskan).
- oh! also cool that the “barbaric” society has no problem with a queen instead of a king (even after Thirrin gets married, she’s the leader, not her consort) and Thirrin’s mother was from a matriarchal tribe, the Hypolitan, led by a female Basilea, that allies itself with the Icemark at various points. they also worship the Mother Goddess, though religion is based around magic and nature rather than churches. i don’t think there is a religious leader in the story at all. (Other species worship other gods: the werewolves worship the Blessed Moon and the Desert Kingdom worships a male god called the One)
- i think i lost the plot of why i wanted to write this post but this is a good book series, okay? it’s written for middle schoolers but it’s still good to an adult. please read it.
