Matt Benson
A4
The Cry of the icemark
Stuart Hill
472pgs.
****

Recommendation: If you like adventure and fantasy this book is for you. It is packed with action and has all sorts of suprises for you. It is and enthralling story.

Summary: Thirrin is 15 her dad just died and she inherited the throne to a tiny northern country called the Icemark. The biggest empire in the known world, The Polypontian empire, is attacking from the south. Luckily though the snows have stopped the advancing army for the winter. Thirrin as a short few months to accomplish the impossible. She has to form alliances with hostile neighbors and get an army formed before the snows melt. After finding allies in the unlikliest of places the snows melt, and the Polypontous are again on the move. Will Thirin's army be enough to stop the Polypontous from taking over her proud country? Will the alliances she made see her to victory?

Explanation of Rating: This book is incredible. It pulls you in and you can't put it down. There are no lags in the plot. It is adventurous, enthralling, enchanting and heroic. It is superbly written to keep you entertained from the start. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Favorite Passage: Spurred on by desperation the polypontian charge was a mealstrom of disciplined fury. They smashed against the shield wall, bearing the soldiers of the Icemark until their line was bent like a bow. But at the center stood the burning figure of Thirin Freer Storg-in-the-arm Lindinshield, Wild Cat of the North, and she held her housecarls with a will that grew in strengththe more she demanded of it. Her high pitched voice rose like the cry of a hawk above the din of battle, and her soldiers rallied again and again as she called them to hold the line.