Book Review: Omen of Ice

I got this book as part of my Owlcrate Box for August 2023 "Through the Seasons" monthly box. It was a beautiful book with a custom cover and blue-dusted edges. In the past this was not something Owlcrate did, but in the last couple of years, they have really started doing custom covers, sprayed and flourished edges, fully custom hardcovers underneath custom dust covers, and included author's letters inside the books.

This book, "Omen of Ice" is book 1# and the debut book in the Young Adult category for Jus Accardo. The story is amusing, the world is lovely and it's clearly inspired by old Faerie tales, Elven tales; and she's very clearly been inspired by other fantasy books but in a good way. There are a few things I don't like about the book that are really just nitpicks. The characters' names were hard to read, just repetively throughout the story, and thank goodness one gets shortened. Another thing was I felt like there wasn't enough backstory on Valen. I feel like we didn't really get enough backstory for either character. I didn't see enough motivation for them to do the things they chose to do. Thirdly and probably my main complaint, this book is read via each character in first person. I've seen similar books use this type of formatting and it's difficult to keep track of the story. It's written in first person so the format is understandable, however, it makes it difficult to remember where you've left off with one character and sometimes I would be reading along and forget who I was reading about.

Valen is the prince of the winter court and right off the bat, Tania notices something out of place about him in comparison to other elves. His eyes are purple, and we focus on that for quite a while. It plays an important part later in the story, but in the beginning of the book, and can sound a bit cheesy talking about his eyes. Valen drinks a lot, and snogs quite a bit. It's never written about in the book but it is mentioned that he likes to be with the girls. Many girls. He's all alone on one side of the castle, which seems odd to Tania, but so is the way the whole court treats him. His mother was murdered mysteriously after she was kidnapped and Valen never knew who did it or why. Only that she appeared at the edge of their land, baby Valen in tow, and died from wounds sustained earlier. (It makes sense later)

There is a wrestle for power and the claim of the throne. Valen has made it his life's mission to remain as useless as possible. To remain as little a threat as possible. Ooh, I just love a good power struggle. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the beginning, but as the ending comes to a head you'll realize why the pieces all fit together.

This book is 400 pages long so it's a short read. I finished reading this book in just a few days. I did enjoy the story and the banter between the characters. I like smart, sassy, cheeky characters who find a way through their differences. It's a little odd for a female "Warrior" to be assigned to a male elven prince though, especially since he's stronger, faster, and able to withstand more than her. Other than tradition, there's literally no reason to be there and I'm sad to say, she fails at her job because she's too much of a hothead. She puts the two of them in danger more than once, and then almost has to sacrifice her life for Valen.

I'm all for powerful, strong, female roles when it makes sense and goes along with the story. This, however, didn't seem plausible from the get-go and the setup for the plot seems a little fishy from the beginning of the story. Already I had my suspicions by chapter four or five and then confirmed at the end.

This book was very royalty/court, put on a show, do your job kind of vibe and I really enjoyed it. The secret of Valen's puts a kink in their plans, and the side characters add some depth into the story. Now Tania is a druid, so she's not helpless. However, it seems like her placement with Valen is just too soon for her. Like she wasn't trained long enough to be placed in such a position. I also didn't like the dynamic of the Druids. The children are taken from their parents and they never know them. Raised in a very hive-like mentality. The magic concepts in the book are pretty simple and go along well with the overall vibe of the characters and the story.

The separation between the Winter Court and Autumn Court was very cool to read about, and the creatures they encountered were excellent as well. I'm a hopeless romantic though and there were times I wished Valen would just "save her" and felt pulled back into the story every time that happened. Tania deals with bad guys all on her own too, which gives you a good balance between girl boss and damsel in distress.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and I can't wait to read the next one. For the parents reading, there are no sex scenes in this book, there are a few F words and some gruesome battle scenes. Overall it's pretty equal to a PG-13 flick.

Jus Accardo spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. She really wanted to follow in her grandfather's footsteps as a chef and even got accepted into the Culinary Institute of America. Alas, it was not meant to be as she realized her passion was writing not cooking. She's written other books in the Adult Fantasy category. The Denazen series and the Eternal series are just a couple that she has written. Omen of Ice is her breakthrough in the world of Young Adult. I've not read any other books by her as I'm not a fan of Adult Fantasy, but hopefully, she will write a second book to this one.

This book is a very good read, and if you can find it for a good price, I recommend picking it up and giving it a read-through. Happy Reading, and may you walk the road less traveled!