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

left me on the edge of my seat!

loved it! just like with Mr Lawrence's other books, the characters are flawed but lovable and dynamic. love the story, love the narration.

Entertaining

Can be long at points and hard to go on. But I enjoy the other books, and characters. It is good story.

Sister Pan!

I listened to book 1 and 2 because I knew it would eventually tie into the Book of the Ancestors trilogy and it finally did in the last few chapters. Now I am excited to start book 3.

Just great!

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

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.

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.

It was a struggle

I was pretty excited to read Book 2 after I read Book 1, however, I was a bit disappointed. The characters and their technology was so advanced that it was kinda hard to follow. The story itself also began to drag and took a dip in interest for me. I found myself struggling/just wanting to get to the end. The end however, definitely got interesting but not interesting enough for me to read Book 3.

I also wished the narrator would pick up the pace and read more lively during the action scenes.

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.

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.