Review: Ice Country by David Estes

Ice Country by David Estes
Series: The Country Saga #2
Published by Self Publish on 2013-03-25
Length: 348 pages
Reviewing Kindle from Amazon
Rating:
Reading Challenges: COYER Winter 2014-2015

Dazz, a hard-edged, fun-loving Icer, likes fighting, particularly while at his favorite watering hole. However, while recovering from a particularly bad break up, his decision to engage in a brutal pubroom brawl leads to a series of events that thrust him into a dark and mysterious scandal involving King Goff, the ice country ruler.

When his sister is abducted in the dark of night, Dazz pledges to do whatever it takes to get her back, embarking on a quest that threatens to rip apart the very fabric that's barely holding his shattered family together.

Along the way he meets a group of unlikely allies in the form of a travelling group of fire country natives. Can Dazz, when joined with his best friend, Buff, and new tan-skinned friends, defeat the King and his guards before it's too late for his sister?

Ice Country by David Estes is book two of the Country Saga, the sister series of the Dwellers Saga, and takes place during and after the events of Fire Country. Dazz is a young, bull-headed Icer who at the beginning of the story is nursing a broken-heart. After a bar fight leaves him and his best friend Buff with a large debt to pay, they head to the Red District to gamble a little money at cards in the hopes of winning big. Unfortunately for them they lose it all and wind up with an even bigger debt and a new jobs for the King. If that isn’t bad enough, Dazz’s little sister Jolie is kidnapped in the middle of the night. Determined, Dazz begins searching for her and in the process uncovers a large plot and meets some new friends in the form of Fire Country natives.

It’s so easy to get stuck in the snowdrift of our problems sometimes, so deep and cold that you can’t see anything else at all, even the important stuff.

I really enjoyed this book! I’ll admit though that it was hard getting inside of Dazz’s head and shifting views from Siena in Fire Country. The lingo and cultural differences that Estes incorporates into the overall arc of the series is amazing! I mean he has created his own version of the future with unique cultures, dialects, and problems to overcome. It’s just….I have no words….awesome just doesn’t cover it 😀

Dazz is a really hard character to not love. He’s a screw-up, or at least he is in his own mind, hard-headed, loves to fight, and when we first meet him is heart-broken. What makes Dazz’s character so lovable is his growth. When we first meet him, he is immature, hot-headed, and has no direction in his life. His father’s dead, his mother is hooked on drugs, his older brother works to provide for the family, and his baby sister has to live with another family because his can’t provide for her. As the book progresses, Dazz grows up, largely due to losing his sister when she is kidnapped. It puts his priorities into perspective. But what makes it great is that Estes slowly shows Dazz’s progress and it is a natural occurrence for the character. I just loved it!

She punches me in the ribs again and I’m beginning to think that means she likes me…

And our Fire Country friends make an appearance (Skye, Sienna, Circ, Wilde, and Feve) as they are heading to Ice Country to speak with the King about peace and trading between their lands. Skye catches Dazz’s attention from the first moment he meets her when she happens to surprise him by knocking him unconscious. Their relationship is sweet and they fit together perfectly in my own opinion.

Buff, Dazz’s best friend, is truly the best friend any one could ask for! Not only does he get himself into trouble by fighting with Dazz, he also gets himself thrown in jail to help save Jolie. Basically he would follow Dazz anywhere. They are closer than brothers and it shows throughout the whole book. It’s a great friendship!

As I mentioned earlier this story overlaps with book one of the series. The first 40-50% of the book takes place during the same time frame as Fire Country and we see a little of Skye and Siena’s father as he works his trade for the Cure with the King. The plot of the story centers around finding Jolie, but it ties nicely into book one and the scandal surrounding the Cure. Believe me when I say that I couldn’t predict where it was going at all! And sorry, no spoilers 😉

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this book. If you enjoy young adult, dystopian, science-fiction than I highly recommend you check out the series. It’s a clean read with mild violence (it is dystopian!) and sweet first romances.

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