9780062886606
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Of Ice and Shadows audiobook

  • By: Audrey Coulthurst
  • Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
  • Length: 12 hours 45 minutes
  • Publisher: Balzer + Bray
  • Publish date: August 13, 2019
  • Language: English
  • (2974 ratings)
(2974 ratings)
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Of Ice and Shadows Audiobook Summary

The long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed YA fantasy Of Fire and Stars! Mare and Denna travel to a new and dangerous kingdom where Denna will be trained to tame her magic by a mysterious queen who is not all she seems. Perfect for fans of Malinda Lo and Kristin Cashore.

Princesses Denna and Mare are in love and together at last–only to face a new set of dangers.

Mare just wants to settle down with the girl she loves, which would be easier if Denna weren’t gifted with forbidden and volatile fire magic. Denna must learn to control her powers, which means traveling in secret to the kingdom of Zumorda, where she can seek training without fear of persecution. Determined to help, Mare has agreed to serve as an ambassador as a cover for their journey.

But just as Mare and Denna arrive in Zumorda, an attack on a border town in Mynaria changes everything. Mare’s diplomatic mission is now urgent: she must quickly broker an alliance with the queen of Zumorda to protect her homeland. However, the queen has no interest in allying with other kingdoms; it’s Denna’s untamed but powerful magic that catches her eye. The queen offers Denna a place among her elite trainees–an opportunity that would force her to choose between her magic and Mare.

As Denna’s powers grow stronger, Mare struggles to be the ambassador her kingdom needs. By making unconventional friends, her knowledge of Zumorda and its people grow, and so too do her suspicions about who is truly behind the attacks on Zumorda and her homeland.

As rising tensions and unexpected betrayals put Mare and Denna in jeopardy and dangerous enemies emerge on all sides, can they protect their love and save their kingdoms?

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Of Ice and Shadows Audiobook Narrator

Saskia Maarleveld is the narrator of Of Ice and Shadows audiobook that was written by Audrey Coulthurst

Audrey Coulthurst writes YA books that tend to involve magic, horses, and kissing the wrong people. When she’s not dreaming up new stories, she can usually be found painting, singing, or on the back of a horse. Audrey has a master’s degree in writing from Portland State University. She lives in Santa Monica, California. She is the author of Inkmistress and Of Fire and Stars, which was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Visit her online at www.audreycoulthurst.com.

About the Author(s) of Of Ice and Shadows

Audrey Coulthurst is the author of Of Ice and Shadows

Of Ice and Shadows Full Details

Narrator Saskia Maarleveld
Length 12 hours 45 minutes
Author Audrey Coulthurst
Publisher Balzer + Bray
Release date August 13, 2019
ISBN 9780062886606

Additional info

The publisher of the Of Ice and Shadows is Balzer + Bray. The imprint is Balzer + Bray. It is supplied by Balzer + Bray. The ISBN-13 is 9780062886606.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Natasha

March 18, 2019

3.5/5I think this was a great follow up and the author has vastly improved at world building, but, and it's definitely a me thing, I found the plot kind of dull? It does feel like it exists for a reason though, and I liked Denna's growth. I'm just not the biggest fan of books where a large chunk is training. But I did love the overall growth and I still love the relationship between Denna and Mare.

Cj

February 13, 2018

*comes out of the closet* OF ICE AND SHADOWS!! 2019 you sneaky bastard better be quick! *slowly comes back to the closet and wait*

Danika at The Lesbrary

December 29, 2019

After falling in love with Of Fire and Stars, I was eager to pick up the sequel. Luckily, I thought it was even stronger than the first one, developing the characters, fleshing out the world, introducing two equally interesting plots, and keeping the core of Denna and Mare's relationship.My full review is up at the Lesbrary.

Colleen

February 27, 2020

This is a very sweet continuation of the first book, Of Fire and Stars, but with a little more intrigue and action. In the first book, it was mostly revolving around Mare and Denna as they figured out their feelings for each other, and navigated the issues in Mare's court. This time around, the girls get more time apart, and that's a good thing. It still is a bit of a coming of age story, so they needed to have time to find themselves as individuals before their relationship could get any stronger. I enjoyed that the fantasy elements are there, and are strong, but not overwhelming. People who don't like fantasy often dislike the seemingly steep learning curve to even understand the fantastical elements of the story, but here, it feels just natural. It could be that Mare and Denna are both learning more about their world's magic, so we can understand it along with them. It could be that it's mentioned a lot, but it is straight forward, and has clear rules. Either way, it just adds to the story rather than subtracting from it. This is on the younger side of young adult reading, which is fine, especially with a lot of the young adult fantasy reads being more mature. I love that it is fluffy but with some tough stuff. All in all, it is about two girls learning to become stronger and having a solid, beautiful relationship. Recommended for those looking for a cozy read.

belle ☆ミ (thisbellereadstoo)

January 13, 2022

check out the full review on thisbellereadstooreviewNot knowing the language fluently, the culture and customs of the other kingdoms, Mare is inadequate at being an ambassador. Even though she’s a princess and the representative of her kingdom, her incompetency and lack of knowledge sucked when she needed those to qualm the uprising conflict. On the other hand, Denna has the information, knowledge, and critical thinking skills. It’s obvious, even to strangers, that she’s not who she seemed to be.Each of them has different ideas of how their future would look like and the steps they need to go through to reach there. Denna’s powers are still unstable and too powerful for her to handle without any proper training, and the only way she could do that is by putting a kingdom between herself and Mare. Simultaneously, Mare needs to fulfill her diplomatic responsibilities as an ambassador from her own kingdom. She needs to find peace for her people but it isn’t easy when she’s seen as weak without any sword-fighting skills.Watching them grow as individuals were incredibly satisfying. They have to do what they need to do and they did it with so much courage, bravery, and determination. There were countless mistakes and painful moments along the way but they became impressive people. It’s true that, in Of Ice and Shadows, absence makes the heart grow fonder.As Denna slowly learns about her affinity and how to control it, readers start to know more about world-building. The plot thickens and becomes more complex as the characters explore Zumorda through the magic and the mysterious coup going on in the kingdom.Overall, I enjoyed Of Ice and Shadows. Both Denna and Mare’s personal growth journeys were admirable. There were new interesting characters introduced and they all had unique voices and abilities.books in the series:1. of fire and stars: ✰✰✰✰½ 2. of ice and shadows: ✰✰✰✰

Tim

May 10, 2021

But some things require a person to be more than a name.A kingdom in need of a fighter.The threat of a war that could destroy everything.Or a girl holding fire in her hands. Oh, Coulthurst, you did it again.Just like before, it's a terrific cover, fantastic plot, and good worldbuilding. Zumorda and the magic are a lot to take in, it may take some time to grasp everything, but once you've done that, it's amazing work!There are a few times where you really want to bang Mare's and Denna's heads together - hard - but most of the time they're just as awesome as they were in Book 1. Especially in the last one hundred pages you can see all too well how they've grown and really come into being. Gosh, I wouldn't mind reading more about them - let's say a book or five extra. All the new characters were very interesting as well, and Coulthurst does not fall into the trap of making the queen the ultimate bad guy.Very often, sequels that weren't the author's plan turn out to be… well, below-average, but that's clearly not the case here. It doesn't reach quite the heights of Of Fire and Stars, because there were a few minor things that I didn't like that much or sounded unlogical to me, but 'minor' in this case means that it's still a fucking good novel. The only thing that did bug me was that Denna's 'disguise' as a maid works almost all the time. Fine, so she says that she's Mare's handmaiden, and while that might give her some leeway in things she knows or can, it certainly doesn't give her enough leeway to do... everything she does in this book without anyone growing suspicious of her. I didn't really buy that.For the rest, though, I'm so glad this book exists. Also, it has one of the weirdest random comments I've ever come across. Extra points for this one. Are you ready...? This is Mare: At least I'm not the one eating bread full of sad, shriveled grape corpses.And, just in case you're wondering: Yes, she is talking about raisins.9/10Average rating for the series: 10/10

Jamie

November 09, 2019

This was really great. A bit of a slow start. I was surprised to like Denna's chapters more than Mare's. Not that I remember much from the first book. But the magic stuff was more interesting than the politics. I wonder if there will be a sequel, there were a few loose ends.

Ali

August 15, 2019

This book is such a great follow up to Of Fire and Stars. While the plot could have been expanded, the depth added to the magic system and the additional world-building from spending time in Zumorda really propelled the series in a great direction! I highly recommend continuing on with the series, and I hope for additional books in the future!PlotThe plot is one of the things that I wish the book would have done better. Honestly, I think the issue is that the book simply wasn’t long enough. There was never a dull moment in the book; both Denna’s journey of learning her magic and Mare’s mystery-solving were entertaining and well planned. However, it felt very rushed and underdeveloped simply because an epic fantasy requires a lot of page/text to fully flesh out the adventure. We really glossed over Denna’s training at the queen’s magic school. The small bits that we get were well executed, but I wish we had been in the training room witnessing battles & had the opportunity to actually see her grow. There were too many instances where Denna has trouble learning a skill, gets tutoring on how to practice, and then we time-jump a few days into the future to where she’s now mastered that skill. I really wanted to see her struggle, learn, fail, improve, and finally master her powers; that’s where some of the best character development comes from! But purely because of the small size of the book and the over-arching political intrigue plot of the book means some things have to be sacrificed.In general, the book juggled too many plot threads: (view spoiler)[Denna’s magical training, Denna finding out Zurmorda’s queen is her grandmother, Denna being controlled by her grandmother, Denna’s sneaking out of the magic school to help solve the mystery of her multi-affinity, Mare spying on Alek, Mare trying to solve the mystery of who has been abducting magic-using children and, of course, the entire overarching plot of the impending war between Zumorda, Mynaria, and Sonnenborne. (hide spoiler)] That is all a LOT of plot threads try to build up, flesh out, and draw to a close while also introducing the political system of Zumorda, explaining the magic system, and giving arcs to an entire new country of characters. I don’t wish that any of the plot points were left out. Given the minimal pages the author had, they were written as best as I think she could have. I just wish there had been more page space to fit it all in without feeling rushed and underdeveloped.CharactersOne of the things I absolutely love about these books are the characters. The author finds a way to make these characters wholly and uniquely their own while also bypassing a lot of tropes. It’s actually very refreshing to read about a princess who genuinely wants to fulfill her duty and do as well of a job as she can instead of being feisty and running away from an arranged marriage. It’s nice to see characters who talk things out!Denna: I really love how Denna doesn’t fall into the stereotype of a rebellious princess. It was actually really nice to read about a princess who truly wants to do right by her job and her country. It’s also really refreshing to read about a character who doesn’t have very much physical strength and shows that she’s useful due to her brains, the things she’s read, and her logic/reason; Denna isn’t portrayed as some nerd who is socially inept. In fact, she’s probably the most socially skilled character in the entire series specifically because she’s well-read. She has a lot of physical strength due to her uncontrollable magic, and I loved that she stood by her morals throughout the book; she started out as wanting to control her magic so she wouldn’t hurt people and stuck with those morals by the end when given the opportunity to hurt others. However, she did experience character growth from the experience; once again, it was refreshing to see Denna go from being a dutiful princess and actually develop into the rebellious princess stereotype who doesn’t do what she’s told. The way this character growth is done is also very unique: (view spoiler)[She gets so tired of everyone else trying to use her as a pawn without asking her what she wants. By the time her grandmother tries to control her, she finally says no, (hide spoiler)] and that was a great, unique opportunity for character growth that I didn’t see coming. Again, Denna’s story was very rushed compared to Mare’s. I wish there had been more room to actually flesh out the character growth.Mare: Mare’s character growth was everything. The way she started out as being so socially awkward, not understanding social cues, and relying on Denna’s advice for cultural sensitivity was a great start and source of conflict, especially as she’s a magic-less character now seeking respect in a country where power is determined by magical ability. (view spoiler)[After Denna leaves her (hide spoiler)], I love how slow and gradual her development is: her finding her own strengths as a political leader, gaining the respect of her fellow royals, and finding pride in the responsibility she once scorned. By the end of the book, Mare is leading literal armies into battle and making real sacrifices for the good of, not just her country and people, but other countries and peoples as well. You know how when you read a really long series then go back and read the first book again, you’re amazed by how much the character has changed? You almost don’t even recognize them because the MC has grown so much? The author managed to have Mare grow that much in just one book, and still felt gradual and natural. Very well done!Their Relationship: I also really quickly wanted to add that I love how realistic their relationship is. I like that we address their differences. After all, they did get together very quickly on a whim at the end of the last book. When they had fights in this book, I genuinely appreciated how no one stormed off in anger and they actually talked about their emotions. Even when Mare says some pretty harsh things, it was so nice to see Denna stay in-character and respond calmly. Communication works!WritingThere isn’t much to say here. The writing is very beautiful and immersive. The separation between Denna’s chapters vs. Mare’s chapters is very clear; they use different language and syntax given their differences in life experiences and education. There isn’t an over usage of figures of speech that makes it difficult to understand or info-dumps. Well done!World-BuildingThe world-building in the book was a little bit more shaky, again due to the fact that the book was so short. In the first book, we didn’t have any explanation of the magic system at all; we were simply told the six gods (of the six elements) sometimes blessed certain people with elemental magic, and the people of Mynaria viewed these powers as heresy. Now in the second book, our story takes place entirely in a country that’s ruled by magic. From the politics, to the social norms, to the way the simplest tasks in life are operated, magic is what makes this country function. So, a significant amount of time needed to go into explaining this magic system and this new country, especially since Zumordans don’t worship the gods (the only explanation for magic we were given in the first book). Given the page count, I think the author did as well of a job as she could have, but it didn’t prevent the world-building from becoming flat in places. It hurts so much to say this because I can tell the author has plans for origins and limits of how her magic system works; she even wrote an entire prequel novel Inkmistress to explain the political and magical history of Zumorda. But in this book, it really felt like a soft magic system. The sources of magic, the limits of the powers, etc. are minimally or never explained. We're simply told Denna masters these skills without ever showing how or why she’s able to. The closest we get to an explanation is genetics: Denna has these amazingly strong powers because it’s in her family’s history. Case closed. There’s a little bit of a hint that power is connected with the gods, demigods, connectedness to nature, but it isn’t explored. It seemed like it was set up for a third book, but a third book isn’t confirmed as of this point.The author also relies far too much on Deus ex machina when it comes to Denna’s magical growth. Any time Denna is falling behind but her magical skill needs to catch up with the plot, insert her all-powerful grandmother to just control her and force her to improve. That isn’t good writing and got pretty dull after the third time. How many gifts can the queen of Zumorda give her? More page time and more detail on Denna’s training would have helped.I truly hope this book series continues. Almost all of my complaints on world-building would be null and void with the promise of a third book. But as it stands, we aren’t confirmed to have a third book at the time I’m writing this, so I have to treat this as a singular book as opposed to the middle part of a longer series.Personal EnjoymentOverall, I really, really loved Of Ice and Shadows. I love this world so much, and getting to explore more of it with characters I already love was a fun time. I hope for more books in this series; I think the series is still pretty low fantasy due to the soft magic system, but I still think the series as a whole has the potential to branch off into epic high fantasy. I hope it gets that chance!

Will

September 03, 2019

I could just sit and read everything about this world forever probably. I love all of it.

Kanwarpal

February 13, 2022

Mare and Denna travel to a new and dangerous kingdom where Denna will be trained to tame her magic by a mysterious queen who is not all she seems.Mare just wants to settle down with the girl she loves, which would be easier if Denna weren't gifted with forbidden and volatile fire magic. Denna must learn to control her powers, which means traveling in secret to the kingdom of Zumorda, where she can seek training without fear of persecution. Determined to help, Mare has agreed to serve as an ambassador as a cover for their journey.But just as Mare and Denna arrive in Zumorda, an attack on a border town in Mynaria changes everything. Mare's diplomatic mission is now urgent: she must quickly broker an alliance with the queen of Zumorda to protect her homeland. However, the queen has no interest in allying with other kingdoms; it's Denna's untamed but powerful magic that catches her eye. The queen offers Denna a place among her elite trainees--an opportunity that would force her to choose between her magic and Mare.As Denna's powers grow stronger, Mare struggles to be the ambassador her kingdom needs. By making unconventional friends, her knowledge of Zumorda and its people grow, and so too do her suspicions about who is truly behind the attacks on Zumorda and her homeland.As rising tensions and unexpected betrayals put Mare and Denna in jeopardy and dangerous enemies emerge on all sides. The story end on cliffhanger as they both get together but journey to save kingdom is still remains lurking on them.

Kayla

August 15, 2020

3.5/5It had been a while since I read the first book, so I was confused starting this because I couldn’t remember a lot of the side characters from the first book who were mentioned here. But once the plot started and i got a sense of direction this was really good! I did get a bit confused with the first person POV for both characters but it definitely helped that they both had different storylines. I really loved all the characters relationships and friendships and the character development with Mare and Denna! The politics was more slow moving than the training. I really liked Denna’s chapters and her friends and I did enjoy Mare and Fadeyka’s friendship but her chapters weren’t as fast paced as Denna’s.

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