Ice Magic, Fire Magic (Hadley Rille)
by Shauna Roberts
Ice Magic, Fire Magic sucked me right in with a unique magical system, and kept surprising me with reversals and twists. Some of it was predictable, but even then the manner of the foretold events unfolding was unusual.
Fila, the protagonist, has one of the most unique character flaws I’ve ever seen. The intrigue was a little heavy-handed but that was needed to break through to the special character-traits of Fila’s kind, who are born incapable of violence or suspicion. Only hard lessons would crack that hard shell, unless she gave in to something tempting her that would leave Fila no longer herself while turning her into someone strong enough to handle an unwanted future. The romance was vitally necessary to the plot; the supporting characters breathed (although I had trouble picturing one of the races, the Toilers).
This novel was good enough to earn a space on my shelf as a book I will read over and over again, as a comfort read. FYI, the other comfort reads on my shelf are Bujold, McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis. Ilona Andrews, and C.J. Cherryh.
