2 out of 4 stars
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Ice Cold, Part One: The Dark Zone is a fantasy novel written by Taylor Caley, where there is definitely more to the inhabitants of this Earth than meets the eye. Unbeknownst to those who live a in a fairly normal 2010, there is a whole tribe of people who live in the surrounding mountains that are quite happily trapped in their own world away from society. However, when this tribe of people begin to realize that their lives are in mortal danger, they discover that they are up against more than they can handle.
For generations the Ravennites, children of the lost Seluitah tribe and refugees of the Old World live in peace together away from the wilds of society. However, growing tension between them and a group of people who also inhabit their mountains changes how they look at their own existence. When Alex Lee, a young teen from the outside world accidently stumbles upon their tribe, the Ravennites begin to recognize him as someone who could help win the war against their greatest enemies. These actions set Alex on a path that he would never have imagined in his wildest dreams.
The premise of Ice Cold was incredibly fascinating; to have a tribe of people living mere miles away from a normal 21st century existence whose people haven’t any clue of their presence is fairly mind-blowing. The mix of ideals and religions that the Ravennites possess is very interesting and would definitely benefit from further exploration within future novels. Within all of this is an exciting coming of age story that would be beneficial for young teens to discover for themselves.
While the premise of this story was very interesting, I unfortunately found myself having a very hard time actually getting into it. While Alex’s character had some decent character development, the rest of the characters seemed to lack the depth that he possessed, and felt fairly one-dimensional. The descriptions of the landscape were definitely the most detailed, I felt as if I were in the mountains of the Ravennites and could see myself amongst the trees. Regrettably, those descriptions didn’t make up for the fact that the dialogue fell pretty flat. Throughout the first half of the novel, I ended up a little confused as to who was talking because all of the characters seemed to posses the same narrative voice. Although this did change a little towards the end of the novel, it wasn’t a drastic enough change to redeem the dialogue. However, the novel did contain a fairly steady pace and didn’t take off on any random tangents. It was also very well edited and lacked any obvious grammar or punctuation errors.
I regrettably give Ice Cold a 2 out of 4 stars. I think that older kids and younger teens might enjoy Alex’s adventures, but for me, I think that it could have definitely used a little more detail to the story line and depth to the characters.
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Ice Cold
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