The Girl and the Mountain

The Book of the Ice, Book 2

By: Mark Lawrence

Narrated by: Helen Duff

Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

The second novel in the thrilling and epic new fantasy series from the international best-selling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns.

On the planet Abeth there is only the ice. And the Black Rock. 

For generations the priests of the Black Rock have reached out from their mountain to steer the fate of the ice tribes. With their Hidden God, their magic and their iron, the priests’ rule has never been questioned. But when ice triber Yaz challenged their authority, she was torn away from the only life she had ever known, and forced to find a new path for herself. 

Yaz has lost her friends and found her enemies. She has a mountain to climb, and even if she can break the Hidden God’s power, her dream of a green world lies impossibly far to the south, across a vast emptiness of ice. Before the journey can even start, she has to find out what happened to the ones she loves and save those that can be saved. 

Abeth holds its secrets close, but the stars shine brighter for Yaz and she means to unlock the truth. 

©2021 Mark Lawrence (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Worth Every Second...

Helen Duff gives and inspired performance. I loved this second edition to The Book of Ice series and can't wait for the next.

Amazing!!

Now I can rush out and get book three, so glad I don’t have to wait since it was just released. Book 1 was very good. But i couldn’t stop comparing it with the Book of the Ancestor, and (only because Ancestor was fantastic, start to finish) I couldn’t love it as much. Now though, I’m so in!!
Great story, character development, plot twists, action, tension. Perfect narration. More please!

so well done

during this book i went:
oh cool
of course she did
is this dude in every book
holy shit thats who that is
oh wow thats not what i expected
oh no this guy again
oh no this other guy again
oh
oh
oh dang not her
oh
oh wow
woooow howd i miss that
wow that self reflection was beautifully written
wow that societal diagnosis was tragically accurate
wooow
oh no not now
oh wow the next one isnt out yet

Great book

I loved how different this book was, and after reading about Yaz's story in the first book, I was hooked by the girl who controls the stars and river of power flowing through her. This second book was a little more intense, but through all the trials Yaz and her friends went through, they made it out.

so much better

I have to admit once they got out of the underground tunnels and started tracking on the eyes and expanding the world a bit, this series got a lot more interesting. I was iffy about even reading the second book but this one has me hooked and I'll definitely purchase the third one

Solid but not Great.

A definite improvement over the first book once you get past the first quarter or so but still far from Lawrence's best works. The supporting characters really need more fleshing out, and the initial split POV (which ends at the same time the plot picks up) does not work. You would honestly not be able to tell the difference between the voices if you weren't given the names, and even then; it still feels more 3rd person omniscient than anything.

I would still say the highlight of this trilogy so far is the worldbuilding and how it relates to the overall world we were introduced to in the superior Book of the Ancestor trilogy, but the final book does have the potential to be a game changer.

The narrator does an absolutely excellent job at voicing characters, especially our protagonist Yaz. The problem is that outside of character dialogue, it sounds more like someone narrating classic literature like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, etc. more than a fantasy novel with a good deal of action. Even the most action packed scenes come across like someone reading about a tea party. Her voice is very lilting and slow.... a definite easy to snooze off to technique!

Just great!

Every book has been captivating.
Great read , grrreat narrator. Can’t wait till the next . Yeah

Ouch!

Another great book from Mr. Lawrence with perfect narration by Helen Duff. The story dove tails nicely into the world from Book of the Ancestor. The world building and the characters’ personalities and coping mechanisms to that world are new and remarkably novel but logical. Personally I loved Tap Root- he’s like a cross old man….only he’s REALLY old! My title suggests we have a cliff hanger ending. As I am old, I dislike them.

Powerful Second Book!

Mark Lawrence does it again! Amazing tie-in with the Holy Sisters series! The narrator is quite soft-spoken, so I needed to increase the volume but the story was strong enough to help me push through! Looking forward to the next book!

Escape from the Ice

The Girl and the Mountain the 2nd Book of the Ice by Mark Lawrence is an excellent continuation of the series that began with The Girl and the Stars. First, let me compliment Mark Lawrence for including a review of book one in the preface of this book. That preface included a list of important characters and their places in the story line. It had been well over a year since I read The Girl and the Stars and this review really helped. Too Few authors consider this option, and often times I feel adrift in the story and must reread the previous book. As an Audible listener, I would have loved to have a written script of the preface to refer to on the author’s website because this is a complex story with a lot of characters.

Even with the preface, it took me a while to sink back into the plot of the first book. The Girl and the Mountain is set on Abeth, the same world where the Ancestor series was set. I must admit that I enjoyed the Ancestor series more than this series due to the martial aspect of that trilogy, however this story remains compelling with lots of action and excitement. While you can read this series by itself, I would recommend starting with Red Sister.

Mark Lawrence does an excellent job at bridging SF and Fantasy in his writing, imbuing his story with both fantasy and technology, philosophy and magic. As a result, I find it is hard to classify his novels into a single genre. The second book of the series continues the world building of Abeth, and Yaz the main character of the book is a likable and fierce protagonist. I listened to the audible version, and the narration by Helen Duff was excellent. Now I have to wait for The Girl and the Moon.