I had some issues with The Iron Ship, the first book in the trilogy but was intrigued enough that I wanted to read the second book as well. One of the things that bothered me in the first book was that it was all so slow-going. A lot of it was either people preparing for a journey or people already on a journey (and only in some cases I had a vague idea about what expected them at the end of the journey). But the end promised that in the next book there would be more action.
Well. Trassan, the character who prepared to go on a journey in the last book, goes on that journey. It takes for most of the book. Then, towards the end of the book, something big happens. Guis, one of my favourite character from the first book, barely appears (he only has one chapter). Katriona, my other fave, got furious about the lack of laws forbidding child labour and did something about it. She was awesome. Just like in the previous book where she dealt with embezzlement. No, I'm not being sarcastic here, I love that we get a female character like her in a fantasy novel. But I still have no idea how her story connects to the larger plot.
Garten, the character who spent the last book with lots of bureaucracy and diplomacy, does more diplomacy. Then, towards the end of the book, something big happens. Aarid who got worried about something in the last book and went somewhere to discuss his worries finally arrived there. He waited for a while and then something unexpected happened. (Not towards the end. More halfway through. But then we didn't hear from him anymore). Rel, who spent the last book getting from one point to another, continued traveling. By the end, he has arrived somewhere. I think.
We also got new characters. Like the immortal guy who is into BDSM but has some trouble with the 'sane' and the 'consensual' bit of it. He was also an ass in general and while there was some entertainment value in a fantasy novel talking about "a series of sexual practices outlawed in many kingdoms" I just didn't see the point of that plotline at all. It could have definitely been shortened a lot.

So overall, I feel conned after reading this book. Because it was just like the first book. Long stretches of not much happening, right until the end where things go boom (literally in some cases) and you are promised that things get more exciting in the next book.
And I feel even more conned because of course, I'm going to read the final book. I want to know what happens next. Even if there's a danger that 200 pages of it are going to be people traveling through the ice/the dessert and discussions of a minimum wage before something happens. Because I really want to know hat is going to happen to those characters (and that world in general).

Epic fantasy has become a hit-or-miss situation for me. The stories and themes which mesmerized me a decade ago, not really working anymore. Sure, there have been a few novels which lived up to their hype, but many more quickly lost my interest and faded into my growing D-N-F pile, patiently waiting to start a new life upon the shelves of the local used bookstore. So when I read The Iron Ship back in 2015, I had high hopes, as well as a lot of real trepidation, as to whether this ambitious epic fantasy would capture my imagination, but it did – missteps and all. The City of Ice immediately becoming one of my most anticipated novels of 2016, because I had a feeling K. M. McKinley was going to pull everything together in this second installment, and I was right: this book is a great one.

Following in the age old tradition of sprawling epics with multiple point of view characters, The City of Ice mainly focuses on the Kressinds (though there are other characters I’ll mention later). These very different siblings scattered across the world, dealing with unique problems all their own, but also unwittingly embroiled in a global threat to their entire way of life!

Our lead Kressind this time around is Trassan, who invented and now stands upon the prow of the mighty Iron Ship, which uses magic to break through the icy southern seas in route to a forgotten city of ice, where the vast knowledge of ancient times lies undiscovered. Left back at home, Trassan’s sister, Katriona, is waging a fighting for fair labor rights for the mistreated workers of her country, while a continent away Rel Kressind flees from certain death near the mysterious Glass Fort. Meanwhile, Aarin Kressind has braved his fears to travel to the Final Isle, waiting to visit an ominous oracle regarding the souls of the dead. And, lastly, Garten Kressind finds himself neck deep in political machinations, as he attends the election of a High Legate in ancient Maceriya.

If this is not enough story for everyone, K.M. McKinley also has several minor plot lines going on at the same time. From the Fifty Shades of Grey-like tale of Madelyne and The Infernal Duke of Maceriya to the brief appearances of Adamanka Sharane, last of the Iron Mages, sole devotee of the Iron Church, messiah to a forgotten people, and the herald to the ancient gods, to Vols Iapetus, ancestor of the Driver of the Gods, to Josan and Josanad of the Morfaan, the author keeps the names, places, and excitement coming in an endless wave of epic fantasy fun.

Certainly, all that sounds ominous and overwhelming when I describe it that way. However, I want to assure everyone that each one of these plots is very organically woven into the ongoing narrative. Every character given the utmost opportunity to strut their stuff, develop their part in the tale before passing the torch to the next in line, who then rinse and repeat the process. All of this keeping the narrative fresh, both entertaining and informative, as key information regarding the ongoing mystery is revealed, driving The City of Ice to its explosive conclusion rather than weighing it down.

So it goes without saying that I really enjoyed the novel. Loved the multiple point of view characters. Thought the pacing was excellent for a book with so many divergent story lines going on. And found the world building even more amazing than book one (which is a great compliment, since I thought that was the greatest element in The Iron Ship).

But was there anything I didn’t like about it, you ask? Of course.

First off, I thought a few of the characters did not get as much page time as they deserved, specifically Katriona, Rel, and Aaarin Kressind. These guys were some of the most important players in book one, yet here they took a backseat to their siblings. While I understood why and thought the author still found a way to incorporate them into the story, I just wished they had played a larger role in this part of the tale.

Second, the Madelyne-Infernal Duke story line seemed a bit out of place. Nothing wrong with the Fifty Shades of Grey relationship these two had with one another, but it just did not seem to add very much to the ongoing story line. Perhaps I will be proven wrong by the author on that point, but right now, these two felt like filler material.

Overall, The City of Ice exceeded its predecessor in almost every way. It was near perfection to me. The diverse cast, unique settings, and mysterious, overarching plot persuading me every night to put off sleep just a couple more hours to remain in pursuit of the answers I desperately craved from the narrative. K.M. McKinley skillfully keeping all the revelations just out of my reach, frustrating me yet enthralling me with this masterful epic fantasy, which has renewed my love of the sprawling epic with a huge cast of characters.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

This is the second book in a series and can not read easily on its own (which I did).

I had some problems understanding storyline and characters because I was missing the basis, laid in the first book (which I've bought now).

The story is epic and complicated, gods and magic, dragons and worlds, with deep complicated questions about the price of knowledge, or the superiority of beliefsystems.

The Kressind siblings are in different storylines and here is my (small) problem with the book, there is soo much going on. Its never boring, but I had to regularly look back to see the why, who and where of certain situations.

Good writing, but nothing to use as easy reading material.

Do not even think about starting here! If you haven't read the first one, go here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1239740819 and read 'The Iron Ship' first! These are really not 'books in a series' but one continuing story... scratch that; it's several continuing stories, some of them with very little relation to one another. (And if you don't start at the beginning, they will seem like they have absolutely no relationship to each other.)

I have to admit, the looseness of the plotting could be seen as a flaw in this epic work. However, at the end of the day, I don't really mind. I really like this story (stories.) I found all of the separate plot threads engaging, I enjoyed all of the imaginative detail, and the big epic-fantasy threat-to-the-world-itself works well here too (and succeeds in tying together all of the separate dramas going on here just enough.)

There's a bit of something here for everyone... wizard battles, steampunk-ish technology, a nautical quest for the city of the title, ancient technology, dire hordes from other worlds, alien/inhuman powers, rogues and conmen, brave warriors and military action - and even a dash of sadomasochistic romance.

I recommend the series - but again, start at the beginning!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Solaris for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own.

I was going to start out this review of K.M. McKinley’s City of Ice by saying that I could pretty much cut and paste the first paragraph of my review of its predecessor The Iron Ship, since it matched exactly what I’d say about City of Ice. But then I realized why say I could when I actually can do that. So here it is, with some edits.

The Iron Ship City of Ice is a sprawling, slow build of a story that mostly follows the POV exploits of five siblings whose stories generally wend their own way. With its large cast, leisurely characterization, separate plots, unhurried approach to worldbuilding, and focus on an accretion of detail (admittedly, sometimes to a somewhat befuddling amount), I can’t say McKinley’s debut sequel is particularly energetic or compelling. But it does suck you in (again), even if City of Ice feels its length a bit more than The Iron Ship did.

The setting is “Earth” (not ours), a world with a sister planet known as the Twin that is edging ever nearer as part of a millennia-long cycle. It’s also a world whose gods (most of them) were expelled from the huge “Godhome” by one of the main character’s ancestors. While The Iron Ship centered its action mostly in The Hundred Kingdoms — a burgeoning industrial society with magic — City of Ice offers up two additional settings. One is a sort of pocket dimension where lies the Castle of Mists, home to the Morfaan — a powerful race whose great civilization mysteriously fell millennia ago, but who reenter the world periodically via two representatives (a brother and sister) who stay in a kind of suspended animation until their services are required. The other setting is the south polar ocean, being traversed by the first book’s titular ship, bent on exploring an ancient Morfaan city that supposedly remains in pristine condition, making it a potentially rich source of older technology/sorcery [warning: spoilers for book one ahead]

The five Kressind siblings from book one are back (though not to equal degree):
• Rel: a soldier posted at the edge of the Kingdoms
• Garten: a government bureaucrat sent to Perus City for the choosing of the next High Legate and the arrival of the Morfaan
• Trassan: the brilliant engineer responsible for building the great ship and overseeing the polar exploration
• Aarin: a “Guider” whose job it is to send the dead on to the next stage
• Guis: a failed mageborn who was possessed by a creature toward the end of book one
• Katriona: a businesswoman fighting the bias against her gender even as she attempts to force the other merchants into better treating their employees/indentured workers

Other important characters include:
• Madelyne, a young girl chosen by the Duke Infernal (a “lesser” god), for what purpose we don’t know until some time after she is selected, though let’s just say those who enjoyed 50 Shades of Grey will enjoy this as well
• Shrane: a witch whose role is to prepare the way for the Iron Gods to return
• Ilona: another Kressind family member who stows away aboard the polar ship, and a Tyn (a non-human race that can wield a different sort of magic, many of whom have been forced into near-slavery) named Issy. Did I mention the story was sprawling?
Valatrice: a talking dog on the the polar expedition

There are three major storylines: the arrival of the Morfaan in Perus during the choosing of the High Legate, the journey to the southern pole and the subsequent exploration of the Morfaan city, and Madelyne’s time with the Infernal Duke. Minor plot lines include Katriona’s attempt at labor reform, Airin’s mission to learn why the dead are becoming difficult to move on, and a few others. And behind it all lies the threat of the Iron Gods’ return, though I won’t say much about that to avoid spoilers. Did I mention it was sprawling?

As noted in in the intro above, City of Ice moves a bit slowly as did The Iron Ship. Unlike book one though, City of Ice did I thought lag now and then, and the shift among the many POVs felt a bit more scattershot. Some of the characters are given pretty short shrift, with Trassan, Garten, and Madelyn getting the lion’s share of time. The lack of story space at times does a bit of a disservice to the more brief narratives in terms of their impact or how compelling they are. Part of me wanted them be longer and more frequent (odd as that is to say about a book that feels a little overlong) or to be held over for the next book and covered more fully. Rel’s story, for instance, feels wholly disconnected both geographically and narratively, while Katriona’s, despite some strong moments, feels like it doesn’t quite mine its full potential. A somewhat related issue was what seemed a lack of balance when I sometimes wondered if I really needed all the detail I was getting about something that didn’t seem particularly important to either story or character.

That said, overall there is a scope, a depth, and richness to the novel that makes up for its sometimes too slow pace or scattershot structure. McKinley throws a lot at the reader — and it’s possible it might be too much — but if it doesn’t all hold together seamlessly, it’s still bracing in its ambition. The world is entirely fascinating, growing increasingly so as more of it is slowly revealed. And McKinley deals with some big issues here, such as the impact of industrialization on people and the environment, labor issues obviously, issues of class and governance, science and religion, bigotry, and abuse of power. City of Ice does have a bit of a “bridge book” issue, but only to a small degree. It answers some questions from The Iron Ship, raises others, and leaves you looking forward to the next book, meaning I stick with my recommendation to pick this series up, with fair warning that it does require a patient reader.

I cannot review this book because I was unable to read it. It opened as a web page my antivirus decided was unsafe and there was no way around it. I am very sorry to have wasted an e-ARC like this, and have it expire untouched. I blame my computer/firewall?
I do however thank you for approving my request.