Book Recommendation: ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby

Before I take my blogging break, I wanted to share one last book recommendation with you. I first heard about ICEFALL after reading Jenilyn’s review, and even though I hadn’t been too crazy about Mr. Kirby’s debut, she spoke so highly of ICEFALL that I decided to give it a try. That turned out to be a good decision on my part.

ICEFALL features young Solveig, a Viking princess with a penchant for storytelling. When a neighboring tribe attacks her father’s kingdom, Solveig and her two siblings--her younger brother, the kingdom’s heir, and their older sister--wind up at their father’s stronghold with a handful of servants and soldiers, all of them handpicked from among the court’s most trusted inner circle. With the fjord frozen over until the spring, the winter appears to be a long and boring one--until they discover they have a traitor in their midst.

That was my favorite element of ICEFALL--how the story morphed into an Agatha-Christie-style mystery. The cast of characters was fairly limited, and none of them seemed to have a motive for betraying the royal family, so the questions flew on ravens’ wings. I also loved the novel’s world building. Solveig’s world and time were lush with all kinds of little details that made me believe Mr. Kirby knew what he was talking about. In fact, reading ICEFALL made me want to write a Viking story of my own:)

If you love MG mysteries set against richly layered backdrops, definitely give ICEFALL a read. And if you have any other MG titles to recommend, feel free to leave them in the comments!