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Ice Mage

by Julia Gray

Reviewed by Ruby


In the country of Tiguafaya, land of fire and ice, there are disasters around every corner. There are pirates in the waters, deadly fireworms in the air around the very active volcano and yet the Senate doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. They blame the Firebrand, a group of teenagers that are trying to defeat the fireworms by use of magic. The Senate has outlawed magic, taking the only weapon the Firebrand have away from them. Determined not to quit, the Firebrand go into hiding to continue to rid their land of the worms.

I hate to say it, because I really enjoyed the first Julia Gray book I read (The Dark Moon) I really didn't like this book. I could not relate to any of the characters, most of which I couldn't understand their point in the story. I liked the idea of them being linked to birds, yet I've read it done better in His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.  I found the idea of one character being linked to two birds at the same time really interesting, but I don't think it was done as well as I could've been.

For being almost 600 pages, nothing really happened in this book. The first part was filled with maybe only a handful of interesting parts and the rest was people plotting and planning. The second part was slightly more interesting, but only slightly.

I'm not sure what the point of the Senate was. I know they were supposed to be corrupt and plotting to reach their own ends, but I'm not to sure what their ends were. They try to unify with the pirates, but that leads to nothing. They started sacrificing people so it would appear that they were trying to appease the dragon in the volcano, but in reality they were only getting rid of their own enemies. I don't think they did anything at all in the book accept to be a further obstacle to the Firebrand, much like the Ministry in Harry Potter.

Grade: C