Interesting and a really gripping read. Would recommend to anyone who likes dystopias, and I really enjoyed the Worldbuilding around climate which felt really original.

I've tried to read this several times and each time I get to chapter 3 or 4 and just forget to keep reading. There's nothing to really get you from the outset and grip you.
Maybe one day I'll try again but for now it's a DNF

I am very sorry, but I have tried to get into this and I just couldn't. It was just not for me. I didn't realize there would be so many different character point of views and it confused me at times. I am sure it is a fantastic story, however I have realized that I am not the intended audience. Thank you for the opportunity.

I would prefer to not rate this, but since it is not optional, I am sorry to have to rate it one star.

You can't talk much about this book without giving things away but all I can say is that while I loved the concept of this novel and the characters I hated the way it was executed as it felt disjointed and focused the reader out of the story but if you can cope with multiple episodal stories then give this a go.

I was continually confused as to what was going on, with both Rey and Odessa. Up until the final few chapters so many different strings seemed to lead to nothing, and whilst they do all serve a purpose I personally do not like how they left so much unresolved for majority of it. This style did not make me connect to any of the characters as everything that was going on seemed to be for nothing.

Set in the near distance future, Earth is almost completely covered in ice and near uninhabitable. The people of Earth have split into different seperate groups. The people of Cerebus rule everything, or at least they try to. The Earthlanders serve the people of Cerebus and the people of the Jekyel Republic are outsiders who do what they want and do not want to associate with either the people of Cerebus or Earthlanders.

We follow Reynal, a Earthlander and Odessa and genetically modified citizen of Cerebus. Rey (yes I thought of Star Wars when he was first called that as well) is a glorified smuggler who works for his adoptive father. Odessa is a medical student who is on her first compulsory trip to Earthland. Both get caught up in a 200 year old plot to end the ice age that has struck the Earth.

Whilst we have these two main characters, we also have POV’s from multiple other characters. It got really confusing with all of these perspectives that did not really add to the overall story (but they did clear up what was going on). These extra POV’s all make sense by the end of this first book and tie everything together but when you are reading them I had a constant blank look on my face as to what the purpose of them was.

I was continually confused as to what was going on, with both Rey and Odessa. Up until the final few chapters so many different strings seemed to lead to nothing, and whilst they do all serve a purpose I personally do not like how they left so much unresolved for majority of it. This style did not make me connect to any of the characters as everything that was going on seemed to be for nothing.

Whilst it does set up what is to come very well, I felt that it dragged too much and could have given a bit more of what was to come a tad sooner.

DNF - sorry, I just could not get into this book. Just not my cup of tea, even though at first it sounded like something I'd like.

I’m so glad I got to read this amazing book after some of my recent disastrous reads. This book takes your over-rated dystopian genre and snows all over it. The plot is such a strong sci-fi, the kind of sci-fi we fail to see in YA genres for some reason because I think “adults” think that “kids” can’t process/handle all that info.

This book covers two main POV’s, one of Reynal Królik (an 18 year old ice-sled messenger on Earthland) and the other of Odessa (a genetically engineered 19 year old MED-cadet from Rhone). If the term a genetically engineered MED-cadet did not turn your head into a whirlpool then I’ll be disappointed because one of the reasons I read this book is because I wanted to know more about this character.

I liked that there were a few other POV’s as well besides the main characters because I always love it when the authors force you to connect the dots. It makes for an engaging and engrossing read.

The writing was super easy and adaptable. I had trouble putting this book down, once I reached 15% of the book because the writing was constantly flowing, and I was already invested in the characters. In the early 15% it took me a little while to adapt to the new characters, setting and plot in the beginning but that’s normal I guess.

The plot is very unique (obviously) and it’s not similar to anything I’ve read so far. I was constantly amazed by the detailed world-building and how similar yet different their world felt.

The characters are nothing like your average sci-fi. They are very smart, independent and strikingly realistic. I’m so tired of seeing dumb YA characters who make terrible decisions constantly, even though the surrounding in which they grew up in should obviously make them sturdier, as was the case in this book.

I love the lack of romance and the amazing characters development. This fact deserves a whole star in itself.

There’s great diversity in the book too, as you can see in the names: Mustafa, Darjeeling and Navid. These names are very common in South Asia or even in Muslim communities (There are no religions in the book as everything was wiped out in the beginning off the ice fall) And I also loved the Icelandic curse words that were used often.

While I found this book fabulous and loved its amazing and enjoyable characters, I did have an issue with Winnie (another genetically engineered MED-cadet), maybe because she was portrayed as giggling all the time or maybe it’s because Odessa kept mentioning the fact that Winnie was like her sister and she loved her so much but it felt like a lot of telling and less showing because I wanted to see Winnie and Odessa act like sisters instead of just having Odessa think it.

And also those occasions where Reynal was info-dumped by the Professor, regarding his past and his mum. I would have liked it if the information was weaved into the story line instead of having the Professor and Reynal go on mini walks/adventures and get Reynal a.k.a us, bombarded with so much information at once.

Besides these two shortcomings, I absolutely adored the book! I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book by the authors. And if you too enjoy a good sci-fi and do not find multiple POV’s confusing, definitely give this a try!

Lots of love,
Raven

Post-apocalyptic ice age Earth? Sign me up! Icefall was a pretty big chunk of a book but it was so well-written that it honestly felt like it took me no time at all to read. This definitely doesn't fit into the typical YA book formula but rather breaks the mold and creates a category all on its own. The world building was amazing and the writing style was so incredibly unique. It's action packed with a bit of science and sci-fi elements thrown in and it all comes together to make up this fantastic book. Very eagerly awaiting the next installment!

This is a good, long read. The story moves at a fair pace and there were no dull moments where I felt bored or like I wanted to give up, which is saying something because it took me a long time to get through it due to personal circumstances, normally it’s hard to pick up a story after leaving it for a while- but not in this case!

The story itself is set in a post-apocalyptic ice age world; something unique to this genre that I haven’t seen before. The main characters are crafted vividly in my mind and I find myself really caring about what happens next to them (which is quite the adventure I have to say!

Icefall is a Science Fiction Genre novel set in a future world, an ice age world, and the narrative is from more than one viewpoint, which helps to widen the view and storyline, and works well with this book. It is fast paced, well written and pull s the reader into the book, carried along by strong and interesting characters.

I don't know if it's just because my brain is stupid, but the multiple POVs really confused me, especially as I had no idea what was going on in the first place. Then again, I managed to get my head around 'Cloud Atlas' and 'A Song of Ice and Fire', therefore the logical conclusion is that my confusion was not inherently to do with the many POVs, but the specific writing of this book.

Basically, me and 'Icefall' just didn't get along, I think. The plot wasn't really clear until around 20%, and by that time there were like five POVs and I was confused as hell and to be honest I didn't really care about what was going on by the time something was, finally, Going On.

But a bunch of other people seem to like it, and I can't even really pinpoint exactly what i didn't like about it except from the fact that I had no idea what was going on 80% of the time, so it might just be me and my weird brain.

In conclusion, it wasn't for me but it might be for you, so if the blurb intrigues you then you should probably go for it.

Review: 4/5

I want to start off by saying, visually the novel is very appealing. When I read, my brain will paint a full world regardless of what is written there. This book’s world has been meticulously built and is enjoyable to read because I get to be a bit lazy with my imaging and still receive a bountiful image.

As I was reading, I couldn’t help feeling that this story might be more accessible as a graphic novel or comic series. The way the book is setup lends itself to that sort of medium as well. It is broken down into changing viewpoints (both characters and written point of view) and chapters, but episodes as well.

Because the book is broken into all these pieces that are intrinsically connected, it is sometimes difficult to follow. The pacing suffers because of this, making it difficult to keep reading at some points, particularly the beginning of a segment. Each ending segment, however, was a spectacular cliffhanger or sense of resolution. I would find myself trudging through the beginnings just to get to the satisfaction of a good ending.

This book would be a good fit for students who are interested in action or futuristic role-playing video games. I think my students might enjoy that the book is broken into so many small parts, especially those students who are not very good endurance readers. They would be able to read a portion of any chapter and feel a sense of accomplishment that they received a part of a story that was complete. This is the difference between a 3 and 4 rating for me. Even though it doesn’t fit my preferences of how I like to read, I see the value for that low endurance reader or the reader who wants to have a good story and may not have enough time to commit to reading a whole book (like during finals or state testing!)

There is some inappropriate language, especially toward the end. I will have to say, that at first, I found the final ending of the first 6 episodes lackluster, but reading the final text messages in the epilogue smoothed things over for me a bit. This is definitely a book for a the young adult, sci-fi reader/watcher.

This is a great start to what looks to be a fantastic new young adult series.this is a must read pick it up and get stuck in

In “Icefall” we get introduced to a world that is covered in ice, and reminds us more of the ice age than a world where people can live in. But people live in this world. Some are born naturally, others are created in a lab, in a way to create “perfect” people. Those who aren’t born in a lab are quite rare. Mostly because those who get created in a lab can’t reproduce, because they get pills so they aren’t able to, and don’t feel like creating new people.

Cerebus is the one with power in this world. They control pretty much anything. The Eartlanders (aka the people who live on earth and are natural born) rebarely have any free choice, they have to give lot of their food to the Cerebus, which leaves them with barely and food left.
And, as expected, not everyone agrees with the Cerebus. But help can get from unexpected people, especially if they are from Cerebus.

In the beginning I had to get used to this book, it gets better when you make progress. When you get used to the writing style the book also gets better.
About the writing style, you definitely have to get used to that. This is because of the different POV’s per character. So, for this book contains both an I-perspective and a he/she-perspective, which changes per character. Especially in the beginning this got super annoying. A book just needs one POV, regardless of the number of characters.
The book contains two main characters, Odessa and Rey. An Eartlander and a Cerebus. Odessa’s chapters are written through her eyes, and Rey’s chapters are in a he/she-perspective. Every chapter we get a different character, and a different perspective. And this was my main issue with this book. It a thing that can be amazing for a book, or be its downfall. And for this book, it actually was a downfall, sadly.

The characters are better, luckily! They all have their unique elements that makes them enjoyable! Though there are certain moments that it looks like the characters know each other for way longer than a few hours (which is the reality).
Also, certain events happen a bit too fast, and certain events are a bit too slow for my liking. Which makes the book sometimes hard to read, because after an exciting event, you knew it would be slow after. Which sometimes makes the book a bit wordy and boring.

Of course I have also positive things about this book! The world building for example was something I really loved in this book. The world is really unique and I enjoyed the descriptions of the world so much!

I would love to read the second novel in this series, especially since there is a lot of room to improve!

I ended up giving the book 3 out of 5 stars!

I couldn't read the book due to issues with the acsm file I was provided with from NetGalley

This was a really fun start to an adventure and a very veryyyy deep story. I mean really dense but not necessarily in a bad way. Kinda had to power through some of the more technical stuff and the sheer amount of characters and POV changes threw me for a loop and caused me to have to backtrack a little, but I did enjoy it very much. This has the making of a series that will definitely make you want to revisit it and take in all of the details-definitely not a book you can just fly through in a day or two.

The care that was taken when building this world in evident and each character does feel unique enough to keep track of them even in this gigantic cast, though maybe not quite so many need to have their own POV. The stakes were appropriately ramped up as the secrets were uncovered and the characters were brought together.

I love the remnants of pop culture that was referenced in this book as well, showing that even far into the future some things will be held on to, even in times of total apocalypse.

I can't wait for the next book to be released and hope to get my hands on it when it does!

We are in a post apocalyptic universe mixed with dystopia. Centuries ago the Earth suffered a collision between blocks of water and it atmosphere, the major consequence is the return of the ice age. In parallel to this event, 4 people, who learnt about this event well before it happened, have built a haven of peace for a tiny part of the population. Centuries later, this part of the population lives in ease while others undergo the difficult conditions of the weather and must in addition give away some of their wealth. The mixture is rather successful, we do not know right away the whole truth about this universe and I liked to dive into it and discover it gradually.

For the characters, I found them rather endearing and pleasant to read. Odessa and Reynal are independent and they quickly realize that some impostant stuffs are happening around them. But what I especially loved was the lack of romance. So yes, I know, some adore it in novel, but personally I see it way too often and I liked that it is not forced on our characters even if the situation can evolve, I like that it is not present in this first book.

As for the plot, it's rather exciting but irregular, sometimes the rythm was slow which is related to the format of narration, designed in episode . Another point that adds to this sensation lies in the fact that our main characters meet only at the half of this book. So yes, there is action, but on the global plot things are slowly advancing to my eyes. I find however that this first book is solid in terms of construction and now that the plot is well launched want to read to read book 2.

The Listed books below I didn't finish because I either lost interest or didn't like them to finish them!

This epic read is an exceptional tale of prejudice, fear and hope. It is well written and tells of the journey of Reynal, his new found female friends and his adopted brothers, Navid and Darj. There journey is filled with suspense,death and distrust. The tale is woven expertly and the story enthralled me so deeply, that I didn’t want to put the book down until I reached the end, and still yet, I kept looking for more. I am curious to know what happened, and how and if Rey accomplished his task, of moving the moon in the upcoming episodes.