The Ice House

Full review to come nearer the time but suffice to say that I was gripped. So many deep themes in this book. It really didn’t matter that I had not read the first one – although I am of course going to track that down now. Excellent.

A short review for now, a longer one to follow, I need to fully digest this story!. The Ice House is, like The Honours before it, an amazing read. I was gripped from the start; the book didn't take the route I expected - but I should know by now that predictable is not the way of Tim Clare, and what a world he has built over these two books - its astonishing. I would say that reading The Honours first probably made this easier to follow (but I can't "unread' that so how would I know...?)

Pretty amazing and a very different story. Really enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to reading more in the future by this author.

Wow. After finishing this book I thought how am I going to review this! How can I explain how much I enjoyed this action packed riveting novel?

There are two veiewpoints: Hagar and Delphine. Hagar is an assassin but she’s also connected to this politician, she feels his pain, it’s complicated. (Read the book) She is trying to sever her connection with him and we learn why and how she intends to do it. Delphine just wants to find her family but to do that she has to work with these people.

I couldn’t really decide if Hagar was a good person or a bad person, I didn’t know if I was meant to be on her side or not.

I loved the fantasy world of this book. So imaginative. There’s so much going on in this book: intrigue, tension, mystery, violence, weird fantasy creatures. It’s never boring.

Umm.. it can be a little gory too. Do you ever get the urge to look away from a tv show/movie when it’s gory? Like a hospital scene or a really disgusting murder scene? You want to look away but you keep watching to see what happens? Well I never thought I’d have it with a book and I read horrors (real life gore is worse for me or this scene!) The scene was of a horse being butchered, it’s a very well written scene, not overly gory. Perfect, really. Um.. as much as it can be perfect.. it’s very disconcerting.

I love Tim Clare’s writing style: when he describes a scenes it’s like he’s painting a picture with his words and you can see every detail. It makes the fantasy world come alive in your mind, enriches it and captures your imagination. I really wish they’d publish an illustrated edition of this book because it would be amazing. Please?

I loved everything about this book, the characters, story, world, style. Looking forward to the next one….

But before that I am going to read The Honours and then reread this book. It’s so good.

The Ice House
Tim Clare
Allen and Unwin $29.99
ISBN: 9781786894816
Cover Art: http://assets.allenandunwin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/original/9781786894816.jpg

In 2015, Tim Clare released his debut fantasy book The Honours. That book felt like a reinvigoration of classic British fantasy. Set around a stately home, Alderberen Hall, in the 1930s, if focussed on a precocious 13 year-old called Delphine Venner. The Honours had everything readers might expect of a grand British fantasy – a gateway to another world, strange creatures, secrets and a plucky heroine who gathers allies for a final battle. The end of The Honours could well have been the end of the story and the book works perfectly well as a stand alone. But in The Ice House, a name meant to trigger an association with the earlier book, Clare returns to Delphine and her world. And while this now feels like the second book in what could be an ongoing series, it is a very different beast.
The Ice House opens seventy three years after the end of The Honours. Delphine is an old woman and her friend Alice is in an old age home and her memory is slipping. She still keeps company with a giant scarab beetle called Martha, the last of her kind left in our world, and puts feelers out to anyone who might know of gateways to another reality. For those who remember the sprightly thirteen year old, the ageing Delphine Venner is a bit of a shock, but also for Delphine herself.
Because despite her age, Delphine is pretty handy with a gun and resourceful in a fight when the other world comes looking for her.
Meanwhile, in that other world in a coastal city constructed on stilts called Fat Maw, Hagar, an immortal being in a child’s body, is planning an assassination. Hagar is connected to a peer called the Grand-Duc Morgellon, peers are both immortal and can regenerate from their injuries. As his valet Hagar feels his pain for him which makes her plans to draw him out of hiding and kill him more than a little complicated. But Hagar has other worries. A doctor she has been working with has been found dead in mysterious circumstances and her plans are unravelling. For most of the book Clare follows Hagar’s story backwards in time, each jump going further back but serving to illuminate another part of her plan as it developed over hundreds of years.
In classic British fantasy style, soon both Delphine and Alice have gone through the portal (lookingglass/cupboard) and into Hagar’s world, but not in a way that feels at all derivative. The process de-ages them both to their early 20s and once again Delphine finds herself in a new body, this time suddenly, but one that has all of the moves of her younger self. She finds herself in a world that was only vaguely touched on in The Honours, and which Clare now fleshes out through geography and exploration of different races of beings many of which just served to terrify Delphine when she was 13. As well as humans the world is populated by the wolf-like and winged Vespari, the bull-headed Harka, the scarab Hanta and strange mushroom people
It is here that The Ice House completely diverges from The Honours, with most of the action and its resolution set in this world which Clare explores and describes with technicolour relish. Hagar and Delphine’s stories converge in the city of Fat Maw, a city in the middle of a huge celebration. And following this bacchanal, the potential of a civil war brewing. While this provides the excuse for plenty of action along the way, Clare builds to a explosive page-turning showdown finale deep in the bowels of an ancient temple.
The Ice House provides context for the actions and characters in The Honours and some deeper explanation of their powers without having to revisit the action in that book. But Clare significantly expands his universe by taking the action deep into the world on the other side of the portal. But even here Clare only scratches the surface of this world, leaving plenty more to be explored.
The Ice House is a stunning follow up to one of the most interesting fantasy debuts of the last few years. Clare follows in the footsteps of other modern British fantasists like China Miéville and Jeff Vandermeer in drawing on a British fantasy tradition to create a world that is at once familiar but also full of dangerous otherness. Plenty of mysteries still remain in both worlds and a cliffhanger ending means that the end of this tale is almost certainly not the end for Delphine Venner. But if Clare can deliver something different again in book three that is by no means a bad thing.

This is a very well written grown up fantasy. I wasn't aware that there was another book before this one but that did not spoil my enjoyment of this story in any way. I will now be seeking out the earlier book and I look forward to reading new stories from this author in the future.

A stunning follow-up story to Tim Clare's The Honours, this is a gripping story that will definitely keep you on your toes. Slightly verging on the brink of gore at times, it is, nonetheless, a very interesting and fascinating fantasy read, revolving around Delphine and her appointed assassin, Hagar.

Truth be told, you probably have to read The Honours before moving to The Ice House, but the read is definitely going to reward you. A recommended read for fans of the fantasy genre.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I did not want to rush through this epic fantasy novel created by Tim Clare!
Full of multi faceted creatures and characters, a blending of religion and urban fantasy, with a reassuring vision of a world which turns back time, I won't lie, I was annoyed when life intruded into my reading time and I was wrenched away from it all!

I loved that the female characters were strong, confident and kick ass, and that it didn't compromise on the strength of the male characters. The romantic relationships and situations were beautifully described, and added depth to the characters.

The Honours is the first novel by the author, and I suspect reading it first will help you to better understand this fantasy world, and what leads to the events taking place in this novel. But I can also confidently say that although I haven't read the prequel, I could still understand everything that took place as everything was explained really well. I did read it very carefully though, and didn't skip a single word! The ending was left very open to a third book, which I will definitely be buying!

Delphine, Hagar, and especially Martha were all fantastic characters I really came to care about.
And Butler made me smile a number of times. So quirky, confident and charismatic.

The writing style is nuanced, with a gentle wisdom embedded in the novel which took me by surprise more than once. The political strategies and changes in power were very cleverly woven into the story, and the author managed to touch on some very deep concepts whilst also retaining a lighter fantasy feel.

I'd say that this one has a very high chance of being in my top 10 novels of the year, and I will definitely be rereading it again. Loved it!