Book Review: Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman (Elementals #1)

 

Welcome to another book review! Today we’re having a look at the shape-shifter fantasy book Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman. This is the first installment in the Elementals series. I really don’t have much of an introduction for this one. I just saw it at the bookstore and knew I had it on my TBR for a while now, so I got it and was really excited to read it. Now, let’s have a look at this one. Spoilers ahead.

In this fantasy world, certain humans are gifted with the power of shapeshifting into either the legendary Ice Wolves or the much-feared Scorch Dragons. Anders and his sister Rayna are two orphans left to fend for themselves at the streets of Holbard. But when his sister turns into a Scorch Dragon, whilst Anders turns out to be an Ice Wolf, the two get separated. Determined to face his fears and get his sister, who has now seemingly been kidnapped by the Scorch Dragons, back, Anders joins an academy for Ice Wolves where he learns how to be stronger, makes friends and unravels mysteries.

This was a book I thoroughly enjoyed. It didn’t stand out in too many ways from other fantasies I’ve read, but that doesn’t mean it was bad in any way.

First of all, I thought the characters were really good. Anders was a POV I enjoyed reading, and I really liked the two other major characters, Rayna and Lisabet, a lot, too. The side characters had less development, but were usually likable nonetheless.

The world was well-explained and I liked the idea of having only certain species these people could shapeshift into, as well as the idea of a Wolf Guard and an academy for young Ice Wolves. The Scorch Dragon society was interesting, too!

The pacing was good and never went too fast or too slow.

One minor issue I noticed was that sometimes words would be repeated too often in too little a time, when synonyms could’ve easily been used instead. Doesn’t break the book for me, but it was somewhat distracting while reading.

While overall not perfect, I thought that this was an enjoyable read that I’d recommend to fantasy fans, most notably those in their teens. I had fun reading this and am looking forward to checking out the sequel, Scorch Dragons. 

Rating: 4/5