Book Review - From Ice to Ashes

I picked up this book at the Sunflower State Book Festival last October. The author, Maia Carlson, sat in front of me. At the time she was a high school senior who had self-published several SF/F novels.

From Ice to Ashes tells the story of a young woman, Glace, who seeks revenge on the warlord who had murdered her family. Fleeing from a failed assassination attempt, Glace meets up with a magic user named Ianira. Ianira creates a living weapon for Glace to use against the warlord. Things become complicated when Glace begins to see the living weapon as a living being and becomes his friend.

The ideas behind this novel are very unusual. The whole idea of a "living weapon" is fascinating. The characters are strong, not always sympathetic, but compelling.

What makes this book hard to read is that Carlson often switches the point of view from one character to another within scenes. It's jarring and takes you out of the story. Fortunately there are only a few viewpoint characters, so the problem is manageable.

I hope that this young author learns, grows, and continues to release books. I give From Ice to Ashes 3 out of 5 stars. The book is available at Lulu.com.