'A Cavern Of Black Ice'- J. V. Jones

Now they do say that you should never judge a book by its cover, and in this case it is certainly true.  J. V Jones has begun a very readable, yet dark, series here, but it is not one that involves half naked women riding around on horses.  There is a lot of horse riding and fighting (it is epic fantasy after all), but where it is set it is cold.  There is frostbite to worry about. The wind could kill you.  The protagonist that is the subject of the cover is pretty well covered up and not riding around in leather.

The art work aside I really enjoyed this book, once I got past the gruesomeness of some of the writing, it is by the way not for the faint hearted.  From the very beginning there are some stomach turning moments that do not even make sense until much later on and may appear to be gratuitous.  This novel though is about courage, courage to go with your own morals rather than those of the people around you.  Courage to keep going, to keep hanging on.  In particular I like the young clan warrior Raif, who in leaving his clan behind expresses more what it means to be clan.

She does an absolutely super job of hinting at a big picture behind it all, drops some enigmatic details, develops some background characters, without really giving any of it away.  This first book does not end on a cliff hanger per se, but it does leave you wondering where it is going.  I will definitely keep reading the series anxious to find out what happens.

A last important point is that the author, a rather attractive lady, is my age and comes from Liverpool in the UK, where I had the great misfortune to mispend a lot of my youth.  Which makes it entirely likely that I totally failed to chat her up at some point in the past in some seedy and disreputable bar.  It is not true to say that good things do not come out of Liverpool, but it is true to say that once they get out, they stay out.  I think I will add her to my list.