JV Jones

Lacedaemonian

A Plume of Smoke
Joined
May 10, 2004
Messages
3,099
Location
The Road
Anybody on the boards a fan of this ladies work?

I could not get away with a Barbed Coil. The heroine driving a yellow Honda Civic at the begining of the novel does not do it for me. Yellow Honda Civics and fantasy do not go hand in hand. The only time I've really bought into the parallel universe (ie our reality and a fantastical world) is with the Narnia series, though I am sure nostalgia is clouding my judgement here. I also enjoyed Philip Pullman's Dark Matterials, which of course the concept of parallel universes were a integral to the story. The Dark Materials series were perhaps the strangest books I've ever read, though I think I enjoyed the two heroes more than the homage to Paradise Lost. I love Blake, Milton, Keats and the likes, but it was the excellent Lyra and Will who kept me reading with fervour.

The Book of Words series; The Baker's Boy, A Man Betrayed, Master and Fool were excellent reads with some really dark villains. In fact it was these dark villains which made this series exciting for me. In fact all the characters were multi dimensional and were not essentially good or evil. This is just a run of the mill 'small character becoming big and defeating the invincible enemy' fantasy novel but the baddies are bad in every sense of the word. The main baddie shows a paedophilia tendency in one scene. Grim but subtley done.

JV Jones' best work to date is her Sword of Shadows series. This series is another trilogy; A Cavern of Black Ice, A Fortress of Grey Ice and the not yet published Sword from Red Ice. I have been absolutely captivated by this series. It is a perfect work of heroic fantasy. The peoples, locations and characters are beautiful and the story is gripping. You really feel the melancholy of the main characters. The third book in the trilogy was due out nearly two years ago, and it was three years ago when I read A Fortress of Grey Ice. It has been an unbearable wait to see how the story will end, with frequent visits to Waterstones to find out that the book has been put back again and again. JV Jones' previously excellent web site has not had any significant updates in that period either, and she has not responded to any of my emails. Hopefully come September all will be forgiven....
 
I read and enjoyed the Barbed Coil and the Book of Words series. As far as the Cavern of Black Ice - I couldn't handle it. It was too depressing for words. I thought I might kill myself if I kept reading so I never read the second book.
 
***SPOILER***
It is a very heavy and depressing tale. It gets even heavier and more depressing in the Fortress of Grey Ice. Can you remember the baddie from the book of words, Baralis? Well he makes an appearance in the Sword of Shadows series, with the possibility that he might be fighting on the side of 'good'. Note the word might. It is a superb story and it carries the added intrigue of what role Baralis might play. I concede that it is deeply depressing at times, but then some stories are...
 
Yes, she does seem nice, although this picture is rather tiny (and posed) to really make much out:


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Your descriptions of the Book of Words and Sword of Shadows series seem quite interesting - I believe I shall look out for the first volume of either of these during my next monthly book buying binge.
 
Well, I finished the Baker's Boy over the weekend. It partook of many standard fantasy elements - the medieavelist setting, intrigue in high places, a prophecy, adolescent protagonists and suchlike. It also had a few akaward or clunky passages, not surprising in a first novel. But the pacing is brilliant. Multiple character viewpoints are a major element of epic fantasy, and these Jones handles brilliantly, giving each character and incident enough development, and moving on to the next thread at just the right moment. A deft weave, indeed. While I found the young girl, Melliandra, more convincing than either Jack, the baker's boy, or the knight Tawl, the villains were truly delectable, especially the sybaritic, devious bishop Tavalisk. Jones' forte seems to be food and cruelty, an unusual combination well handled. I kept wanting to stop for a snack while reading the book! There are lots of interesting currents and counter-currents at play, and I'm definitely up for the rest of the trilogy. Thanks for the heads-up on this one, Peter!
 
Well I thought that she had. I still have not purchased a copy of Sword from Red Ice, as my funds are going to be tight over the next two months. Shoplifting is always an option, I was quite talented at this as a child. Food for thought.
 
Lacedaemonian said:
I still have not purchased a copy of Sword from Red Ice, as my funds are going to be tight over the next two months. Shoplifting is always an option, I was quite talented at this as a child. Food for thought.
I wouldn't worry about it at the moment by all accounts the book its dam near impossible to get hold of anyway I'm still waiting for amazon to deliver my copy three weeks after it was released!

Also in the thread about Wterstones, WH Smiths etc (I think) someone else mentioned it wasn't on the shelves either!!

This is my current pet pieve so I'll stop now before I rant!:(
 

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