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blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
This is a different sort of fantasy, I do know that fantasy is about war a lot, but this takes it a step further. It is military fantasy and the author does it so very well.
In the third and final book the world is crumbling. An evil elf wants destruction, and our hero, Major Konowa is bent on finding and destroying her. Since this is military fantasy there is a lot of fighting. First they have to fight they way out of the desert they are in. Evil beings and trees are after them (yes trees ;). And then there is the final battle against the Shadow Monarch. Evans keeps the tempo up and when I am closing in on the end I still do not know how this all will turn out.
While reading it I find myself thinking of the Hornblower adventure books (even if those are set at sea), and the Richard Sharpe series, because the military feeling is clearly 19th century. I do like it because it is so very different. There are usually no guns in fantasy, and I always like those who try something new.
I know that the whole military aspect may be a bit of a turn off for some, but after I had read book 1 I was hooked. You root for the Iron Elves and Konowa. And there is even a tiny bit of romance, I say tiny because it is tiny, but at least it has me hoping he will get his girl.
Conclusion:
A nice conclusion to this series and with an ending that made me happy. If you want to try something different then give book 1 a go (because you do need to read the books in order.) And it truly is fantasy for everyone.
Rating:
Nice, oh and I must mention how much I love the title!
In the third and final book the world is crumbling. An evil elf wants destruction, and our hero, Major Konowa is bent on finding and destroying her. Since this is military fantasy there is a lot of fighting. First they have to fight they way out of the desert they are in. Evil beings and trees are after them (yes trees ;). And then there is the final battle against the Shadow Monarch. Evans keeps the tempo up and when I am closing in on the end I still do not know how this all will turn out.
While reading it I find myself thinking of the Hornblower adventure books (even if those are set at sea), and the Richard Sharpe series, because the military feeling is clearly 19th century. I do like it because it is so very different. There are usually no guns in fantasy, and I always like those who try something new.
I know that the whole military aspect may be a bit of a turn off for some, but after I had read book 1 I was hooked. You root for the Iron Elves and Konowa. And there is even a tiny bit of romance, I say tiny because it is tiny, but at least it has me hoping he will get his girl.
Conclusion:
A nice conclusion to this series and with an ending that made me happy. If you want to try something different then give book 1 a go (because you do need to read the books in order.) And it truly is fantasy for everyone.
Rating:
Nice, oh and I must mention how much I love the title!
leontiy's review against another edition
5.0
Originally posted to: http://leocristea.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/ashes-of-a-black-frost-chris-evans-iron-elves-3/
Ashes of a Black Frost is the final book of the Iron Elves trilogy, and damn what a book it is. I’ll say already that this is a five-star review, without a shadow of a doubt, and it quite possibly the best of the series. How often can you say that about the final instalment, eh?
In this book, Evans had to bring together any loose ends and deal with the growing issue of the Oath and the Shadow Monarch—as well as dragging his army hither, thither and yon in order to do so. It was always going to be a challenge to end a series that has followed a regiment across continents, especially with a single goal in mind. It could have been easy to set a straight line and make the plot follow it, but Evans was wiser than that.
Ashes picks up directly after the events of The Light of Burning Shadows and not only does Evans manage to not lose pace between the two books, he manages to perfectly convey the sheer silence that hangs in the air after a battle. It was a beautiful, solemn, devastatingly sad beginning to a novel—and it was absolutely perfect. There was no belabouring of the death, blood and gore, rather, Evans chose (wisely!) to focus on the emotions and the utter stillness of the aftermath. It was touching and deep and I’ll be damned if it could have been written any better. The beginning of Ashes was quite literally astounding.
The bar had been set.
It’s difficult to review a book that felt so utterly perfect: sure, there were things I personally didn’t like, but that’s only because I as a writer would never choose to write them; as a reader, I was completely satisfied with every decision Evans made, and entirely pleased with the execution. Everything in this book worked, had logic that backed up even the strangest of occurrences (like the transformation/evolution of the sarka har), or was so fluidly presented that you just “went” with it. The humour is there as much as ever, intermingled with the constant devastation of a regiment whose numbers are quickly dwindling—and have been since they left friendly soil.
This was a skilfully written climax that leaves the reader wanting for nothing—not emotionally on behalf of the characters, or as a reader. Every base is covered. More than that, every second is satisfying, right up to the last line. Evans has demonstrated, right here, how to end a series.
The romance that’s been building between Konowa and Visyna continues to develop in such a real and satisfying fashion: there’s no awkwardness in the execution of the love-story, there’s no sense of “Konowa needs to get the girl because he’s the main character”, there’s no one thing about the plotline that smacks of being forced. It’s natural; Konowa and Visyna act and react with and to one another in the way they do, because they are Konowa and Visyna. It’s a beautifully written, real, and heartfelt romance that doesn’t jar against the background of war, war, war, and march, march, march. It’s not padding; it’s as much part of the trilogy as the battle against the Shadow Monarch herself .
And it was one of my favourite parts of the whole damn series. But hey; I’m a sucker for a good love story.
The pacing was excellent, the fluid switches between POV were excellent, the conflicts—both within and without—that the characters faced or were presented with couldn’t have been more beautifully executed. Evans knows his characters and not for one second did he betray them, whether by way of their actions and conduct, or their emotions and mentalities. Evans, quite frankly, nailed it.
I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by this book: I had a few reservations with The Light of Burning Shadows, mainly regarding the execution of the ending and the details/logistics of the battle, and I carried them with me into Ashes. I needn’t have bothered.
Evans had me from the very first paragraph: I could so vividly sense the numbness Konowa felt as he stumbled around the littered battlefield in a daze, that I was there. All the relevant emotions were present and accounted for during this book; I felt relief, I got teary-eyed, I was happy for the characters’ happiness. As I said, Evans nailed this one in one shot.
Ashes of a Black Frost neatly demonstrates just how to end a series: with poise, passion and determination and by staying true to your world, plot, and characters, all whilst gearing towards an ending that doesn’t have to be what was expected.
The Iron Elves trilogy was a superb offering of neoclassical fantasy, and this final instalment seals the deal. There is little more to be said other than: Read It.
Ashes of a Black Frost is the final book of the Iron Elves trilogy, and damn what a book it is. I’ll say already that this is a five-star review, without a shadow of a doubt, and it quite possibly the best of the series. How often can you say that about the final instalment, eh?
In this book, Evans had to bring together any loose ends and deal with the growing issue of the Oath and the Shadow Monarch—as well as dragging his army hither, thither and yon in order to do so. It was always going to be a challenge to end a series that has followed a regiment across continents, especially with a single goal in mind. It could have been easy to set a straight line and make the plot follow it, but Evans was wiser than that.
Ashes picks up directly after the events of The Light of Burning Shadows and not only does Evans manage to not lose pace between the two books, he manages to perfectly convey the sheer silence that hangs in the air after a battle. It was a beautiful, solemn, devastatingly sad beginning to a novel—and it was absolutely perfect. There was no belabouring of the death, blood and gore, rather, Evans chose (wisely!) to focus on the emotions and the utter stillness of the aftermath. It was touching and deep and I’ll be damned if it could have been written any better. The beginning of Ashes was quite literally astounding.
The bar had been set.
It’s difficult to review a book that felt so utterly perfect: sure, there were things I personally didn’t like, but that’s only because I as a writer would never choose to write them; as a reader, I was completely satisfied with every decision Evans made, and entirely pleased with the execution. Everything in this book worked, had logic that backed up even the strangest of occurrences (like the transformation/evolution of the sarka har), or was so fluidly presented that you just “went” with it. The humour is there as much as ever, intermingled with the constant devastation of a regiment whose numbers are quickly dwindling—and have been since they left friendly soil.
This was a skilfully written climax that leaves the reader wanting for nothing—not emotionally on behalf of the characters, or as a reader. Every base is covered. More than that, every second is satisfying, right up to the last line. Evans has demonstrated, right here, how to end a series.
The romance that’s been building between Konowa and Visyna continues to develop in such a real and satisfying fashion: there’s no awkwardness in the execution of the love-story, there’s no sense of “Konowa needs to get the girl because he’s the main character”, there’s no one thing about the plotline that smacks of being forced. It’s natural; Konowa and Visyna act and react with and to one another in the way they do, because they are Konowa and Visyna. It’s a beautifully written, real, and heartfelt romance that doesn’t jar against the background of war, war, war, and march, march, march. It’s not padding; it’s as much part of the trilogy as the battle against the Shadow Monarch herself .
And it was one of my favourite parts of the whole damn series. But hey; I’m a sucker for a good love story.
The pacing was excellent, the fluid switches between POV were excellent, the conflicts—both within and without—that the characters faced or were presented with couldn’t have been more beautifully executed. Evans knows his characters and not for one second did he betray them, whether by way of their actions and conduct, or their emotions and mentalities. Evans, quite frankly, nailed it.
I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by this book: I had a few reservations with The Light of Burning Shadows, mainly regarding the execution of the ending and the details/logistics of the battle, and I carried them with me into Ashes. I needn’t have bothered.
Evans had me from the very first paragraph: I could so vividly sense the numbness Konowa felt as he stumbled around the littered battlefield in a daze, that I was there. All the relevant emotions were present and accounted for during this book; I felt relief, I got teary-eyed, I was happy for the characters’ happiness. As I said, Evans nailed this one in one shot.
Ashes of a Black Frost neatly demonstrates just how to end a series: with poise, passion and determination and by staying true to your world, plot, and characters, all whilst gearing towards an ending that doesn’t have to be what was expected.
The Iron Elves trilogy was a superb offering of neoclassical fantasy, and this final instalment seals the deal. There is little more to be said other than: Read It.
preiman790's review against another edition
4.0
it's always a bitter sweet moment when you finish the last book in a particularly good series you ache to know what happens but don't want the ride to be over, and of course there is always the fear that the ending will leave one disappointed. well on that last i can promise that this volume does by no means disappoint. if the series had to come to an end and i suppose it did i could not have asked for a better ending. it was exciting and at times a little heart wrenching. i will say that the final confrontation felt a little abrupt but that i suspect was by design. so i finish the iron elves with a sad satisfaction and hope that the author in his infinite wisdom, at least +3, will see fit to grace us with another adventure for the iron elves some day.
tarana's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent finish to the trilogy. Most subplots were wrapped up. Knocked off a star - book was a bit bloated.
drey72's review against another edition
3.0
drey’s thoughts:
Ashes of a Black Frost picks up after the bitterly hard-won battle with Major Konowa Swift Dragon emerging from the haze of blood and guts barely cognizant of those around him. He’s lost so much to get to this point, and it’s not even a point he wanted to be at. But being a soldier, he has to go on, because the Iron Elves’ salvation is the most important task to him. Plus, someone has to kill these obnoxious hordes of evil.
This is still an epic military fantasy read–there’s lots of battle, orders, guns, strategies, and guts and gore and death. But there’s also the characters caught up in the mayhem and chaos. The Major is one, of course. Worried about his family and friends, missing (yes, even if he only admits it to himself) his crusty Sergeant–one of my favorite characters in this story, trying his best to keep the remnants of his troops alive to get to the end, hoping to get to the Shadow Monarch to end this curse, the Major is a pivotal character in this series. However, my favorite character in this installment is Viceroy Alstonfar, the diplomat-turned-entertaining-solder-and-strategist. He takes the place of Yimt in providing a touch of humor in this otherwise bleak and despairing landscape. And I’ll leave the character-talk here since I can’t discuss some of the other characters from the series without letting you know whether they’re alive or dead, which would be very spoiler-esq. And you all know I don’t do spoilers!
Will Konowa find his Iron Elves? Will he be able to free them all from the curse of the Shadow Monarch? You’ll have to pick this up and find out. Fans of military fantasy will love this conclusion to Chris Evans’ Iron Elves series.
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
Ashes of a Black Frost picks up after the bitterly hard-won battle with Major Konowa Swift Dragon emerging from the haze of blood and guts barely cognizant of those around him. He’s lost so much to get to this point, and it’s not even a point he wanted to be at. But being a soldier, he has to go on, because the Iron Elves’ salvation is the most important task to him. Plus, someone has to kill these obnoxious hordes of evil.
This is still an epic military fantasy read–there’s lots of battle, orders, guns, strategies, and guts and gore and death. But there’s also the characters caught up in the mayhem and chaos. The Major is one, of course. Worried about his family and friends, missing (yes, even if he only admits it to himself) his crusty Sergeant–one of my favorite characters in this story, trying his best to keep the remnants of his troops alive to get to the end, hoping to get to the Shadow Monarch to end this curse, the Major is a pivotal character in this series. However, my favorite character in this installment is Viceroy Alstonfar, the diplomat-turned-entertaining-solder-and-strategist. He takes the place of Yimt in providing a touch of humor in this otherwise bleak and despairing landscape. And I’ll leave the character-talk here since I can’t discuss some of the other characters from the series without letting you know whether they’re alive or dead, which would be very spoiler-esq. And you all know I don’t do spoilers!
Will Konowa find his Iron Elves? Will he be able to free them all from the curse of the Shadow Monarch? You’ll have to pick this up and find out. Fans of military fantasy will love this conclusion to Chris Evans’ Iron Elves series.
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
mrhslibrary's review
5.0
I really enjoyed reading this book. I was hesitant to begin because I felt let down by the second novel so I was pleased to find that Evans found his stride again. The action moved along at a good pace, there was good character development, closure and explanations for characters and their decisions from book two and interesting plot turns. I was surprised by how quickly the book ended but reflecting back I realize that the whole novel was about the end. This is one series where I feel the author did a better job on the 3rd book then the first! I recommend this series.
lisa_setepenre's review
3.0
A tight, suspenseful novel – so many times yesterday I said, "just another chapter". I think the ending did lack some impact for me, but that might have been because I read the first and second books so long ago to remember anything that hinted towards that ending. The ending was a little disappointing since it didn't seem to solve all the mysteries in the text and added a few others.
havoc's review
1.0
true rating 1.5
there was enough to the series that I decided to finish it off to see where it was going. it was going to a disappointing end. as I got closer and closer to the end I began to worry there was a forth book since I didn't know how it was going to finish off in the last few chapters since everything else took so long to get through. Welp it did finish off with not much fan fare, skipped over some of the questions I was looking forward to answering and moved on to it's boring ending.
there was enough to the series that I decided to finish it off to see where it was going. it was going to a disappointing end. as I got closer and closer to the end I began to worry there was a forth book since I didn't know how it was going to finish off in the last few chapters since everything else took so long to get through. Welp it did finish off with not much fan fare, skipped over some of the questions I was looking forward to answering and moved on to it's boring ending.
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