The Girl and The Mountain by Mark Lawrence

 Mark Lawrence will always be among my top 3 favorite go-to-authors for his craft, his uncanny ability to spin a crackling narrative that is always a unique mix of myth, fantasy and science. Guess being a "rocket-scientist" he just cannot keep that element of his under wraps, his undying love for science which always wriggles into any of his stories. 

And so with The Girl and The Mountain as well. Perhaps the most overt allusion to Artificial Intelligence comes in this series. Continuing on with that harrowing story of survival beneath the freezing ice and the found-family that helped Yaz, our protagonist, survive the harsh realities of life in this ice-laden world. This is the second book in the series, Book of the Ice and is set in the same planet Abeth as his previous Book of the Ancestors. Be warned that the review below contains spoilers for book one, so if you haven't yet met Yaz and her bunch of rebels yet from The Girl and the Stars, please stop and pick up book-I in the series. 

The Mountain, or Black Rock as it's known, has always been the bastion of the priests who commanded the ice-tribes' way of life. And now Yaz and her rag-tag bunch of 'Broken' mutineers have found a way to stand up to this monopoly of the priests and their Hidden God to dictate their way of life on the ice. We pick up right from where Book-One ended ( like a literal cliff-hanger!!) where we left the friends of Yaz hanging in the cage, rising up to where Yaz has disappeared off. 

So this narrative is actually split into two parts, first set within the Black Rock and then the second follows the perilous journey that Yaz and her friends undertake to reveal the secrets of this planet. It feels like two books in its treatment and each have their moments. Thrills, fights and twisty shocks continue to pepper you as you turn the pages to figure out how Yaz's mission will turn out. There are several things I loved about the book, including the big reveal of the history of Abeth, mankind, the secrets of the Missing etc. what I  hated about the book was the pacing. 

Immediately after the events in the first narrative arc are resolved, once the 'journey' starts - the narrative's pacing falters. Don't get me wrong, the perils out on the exposed ice-laden stormy expanses are many. The journey is fraught with danger and it isn't just the wind that could kill you but the horrors that exist out there are truly terrifying. Mark keeps the horrors coming at you and there are a few forgotten 'devils' who re-surface. But stick with the company and the rewards are gratifying towards the end. There are losses on the way and newcomers find their way into that circle of friend/family for Yaz. There are several big surprises as the ways of this world are slowly getting revealed and that's enough pay-offs for the maddeningly slow trek over ice. 

With respect to the characters, Yaz's growth as a natural leader is another gratifying reading experience. Her thoughts, actions and deeds are indeed shaping up the future of this series and Mark is perhaps stitching up a lot of clues into this narrative. I am guessing, a second read would be essential to pick up on all his clues as he is trying to paint that interconnected worlds narrative. Yaz and Thurin's romance really doesn't progress much, Erris - one of my favorite characters from book-I, this time gets a new companion from the Lost cities and both of them turn out to be life-saviours for Yaz's team. Quell, another of the suitors, this time, has a much smaller role to play though. 

Overall, the mysteries of planet Abeth and the huddled mass of humanity fighting to survive against the ice is slowly getting revealed. The science and technology that powered the Missing and their vast cities are getting discovered. Yaz and her friends have a large role to play in this and I am certainly piqued by the latest turn of events ( Arrggghhh another cliff-hanger! He ought to call this series the Book of Icy Cliff-hangers, bah!)  All in all, a great addition to the series but somewhere I felt that this felt like a bridge. ( literally between the two books, even. connecting us to the XXX! - ha, redacted for fear of spoilers!) 

All signature Mark Lawrence, The Girl and the Mountain has tons of masterful worldbuilding, character progressions and a healthy fix of action events all leading up to some crackling mysteries about to be solved in this cruel bleak world of ice. Hang in there for the final chapter!