Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for book one of the Book of the Ice series. Please read with caution if you have yet to finish The Girl in the Stars.
“To touch the sky, be prepared to climb.”
And climb we must.
Mark Lawrence’s second installment to the Book of the Ice series, The Girl and the Mountain, is darker than the first. Lawrence returns right to the “cage-hanging,” where The Girl and the Stars left off. Yaz’s friends Erris, Kao, Maya and Quell are struggling upward to save her. While they were able to escape the deadly drop, they find Yaz gone, and end-up in the middle of a malicious plot that subjects thousands to a fate they didn’t ask for. One more deadly than simply being tossed into a hole.
While the plot is slower than the previous entry, that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep turning the pages. The darker undertones hinted at from The Girl and the Stars are further revealed to the reader. The Mountain hides something sinister within its depths, and Yaz is tasked to discovering what that is, in order to save her friends. However, when the truth is revealed, it’s far greater than what anyone expected, and it threatens more than anyone of them could have imagined.
The romance between Yaz and Thurin is not as imminent as in the first installment, but there’s some tension thrown-in with the introduction of a new character. While this added some interesting reading, I felt it only served as a slight distraction from the main plot compared to the love triangle between Yaz, Thurin and Quell in The Girl and the Stars. It would had been stronger if there was more romance between Yaz and Thurin, but the tension here falls a bit short. Of course, this all might be fleshed-out in the final novel and I understand that Lawrence’s novels are never “romance-heavy” to begin with.
One character’s death didn’t quite have the impact for me like I thought it would. And, while the author had one of the characters reflect on the loss they’ve experienced, it was tainted by the immediate introduction of another character and didn’t allow for the character(s) to process the loss. Granted, this character could have a huge impact on the plot of the final installment, or the author could have some big reveal in the next book. Still, rather than being devastated by this character’s death, I felt like they were brushed-aside.
What I really loved about the novel was the reveal of the plot of the antagonist within the story, and Lawrence does an excellent job of slowly un-fueling the horrors that awaits Yaz and her friends if they fail. Without giving too much away, Yaz and her companions are up against powerful, deadly forces that seek higher endeavors than earth itself and, when revealed, made for a shocking and thrilling read. As well, I enjoyed learning more about some of the characters and their backstories, such as Hetta and Maya. And my favorite part was when our cast of characters embarked on a dangerous trek across the ice, which fully underscored the dangers of Yaz’s world.
Compared to the first book, The Girl and the Stars, the second is slower paced at the beginning, but really picks up towards the end. The cruel survival the characters have to undergo throughout The Girl and the Mountain really cements the cruelty of Yaz’s world. And the loss she and other characters, undergo emphasizes this theme to the max. Lastly, if you’ve read the The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, you’re in for a little treat.
Lawrence has once again delivered on a novel that is bleak, while serving-up a lot of action, with masterful worldbuilding and fantastical lore that is thrilling to read. I am very much looking forward to the final installment of The Book of the Ice trilogy.
Stay safe everyone and happy reading!
The Girl and the Mountain is available now in the US and is due out April 29, 2021 in the UK!
Julia Kitvaria Sarene