the_coycaterpillar_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Cold From The North encapsulated my attention from the get-go until the very last page. Norse mythology is contained in a ball of frenetic energy waiting to be released at the perfect juncture. D.W. Ross knows how to pull in his reader with his dark narrative, shivers ran down my spine at the spiraling cascade of events. This is Ross’s debut novel and it shook me at how imaginatively beautiful the prose was, the world-building was expansive and straightforward and the characterisation is crafted with precision and care. This is a story that captures the need to be taken far away, it was fantastic and I can’t wait to read book 2.
The opening chapter of Cold From the North gives the reader insight into the world. You are under no illusion of just how cold the area of Keltbran is. It’s the kind of cold that settles into your bones, you can feel the ice travelling through your veins. I love Norse Mythology but I adore any story that is written in the far reaches of the world. Ogulf Harlsbane is the son of the Chief and he is your typical warrior from Norse Mythology. Ross truly displays what is good and right with human nature and can restore my faith in humanity time and time again (even though my heart ached throughout also.)
Ogulf, his father, and the other captains face invasion and they have to make it over the Widows Trail to make it to relative safety. The journey is not without its hardships and death. Imagine climbing Mount Everest and trying to make it over cavernous gorges with inexperienced people…there is going to be death and destruction. An incident happens and Ogulf is now in possession of a golden axe, an axe that he needs to take to a woman to put a stop to a prophecy becoming realised. Melcun, Ogalf’s friend ends up releasing magic that he has been able to keep hidden until now except to Ogalf, ends up having dire consequences.
The lore aspect of Cold From the North completes the magnificence of this story. An undercurrent of unease and worry and Ross was more than happy to keep you guessing. I didn’t want this story to end but at the same time, I couldn’t stop myself from reading more. This is a book that requires no energy at all to be carried away with the storyline. The characterisation is solid from the very start. You’ll keep reading because there is no way you can take your eyes off the vivid picture the author paints with his own life’s blood. A road travelled that left me on the edge but also pushed me to look over the edge.
Cold From the North will undoubtedly insert D.W. Ross into the fantasy landscape with ease. A fantasy book that has reminded me why I love the genre so much. Ross weaves an atmospheric tale of survival and intrigue.
The opening chapter of Cold From the North gives the reader insight into the world. You are under no illusion of just how cold the area of Keltbran is. It’s the kind of cold that settles into your bones, you can feel the ice travelling through your veins. I love Norse Mythology but I adore any story that is written in the far reaches of the world. Ogulf Harlsbane is the son of the Chief and he is your typical warrior from Norse Mythology. Ross truly displays what is good and right with human nature and can restore my faith in humanity time and time again (even though my heart ached throughout also.)
Ogulf, his father, and the other captains face invasion and they have to make it over the Widows Trail to make it to relative safety. The journey is not without its hardships and death. Imagine climbing Mount Everest and trying to make it over cavernous gorges with inexperienced people…there is going to be death and destruction. An incident happens and Ogulf is now in possession of a golden axe, an axe that he needs to take to a woman to put a stop to a prophecy becoming realised. Melcun, Ogalf’s friend ends up releasing magic that he has been able to keep hidden until now except to Ogalf, ends up having dire consequences.
The lore aspect of Cold From the North completes the magnificence of this story. An undercurrent of unease and worry and Ross was more than happy to keep you guessing. I didn’t want this story to end but at the same time, I couldn’t stop myself from reading more. This is a book that requires no energy at all to be carried away with the storyline. The characterisation is solid from the very start. You’ll keep reading because there is no way you can take your eyes off the vivid picture the author paints with his own life’s blood. A road travelled that left me on the edge but also pushed me to look over the edge.
Cold From the North will undoubtedly insert D.W. Ross into the fantasy landscape with ease. A fantasy book that has reminded me why I love the genre so much. Ross weaves an atmospheric tale of survival and intrigue.
tezzarudge's review against another edition
5.0
This is a phenomenal debut book. Writing reviews is not my craft, and I almost certainly can not do this book justice with my words. What I can say is I read A LOT. And this is in the top 3 debut books I have ever read. I challenge myself this year to read as many debut and self published books as I can. I will be surprised if I come across a better one than this. I dont even want to describe the book, because I feel people need to read and experience it first hand. What I can say, is the author writes in a style that feels like it has been developed and cultured over many years. The book feels like it has come from an author with 10s of well established novels. The story itself was so captivating, imaginative, and articulated brilliantly. I honestly can not wait for book two.
wokeupolder's review against another edition
5.0
We really are blessed with the amount of amazing indie fantasy books out there, and Cold From The North is one of the best.
This book had everything I love about fantasy.
Awesome world-building: check
Cool magic system: check
Political manoeuvring: check
Prophecy/chosen one: check
Emotional character development: check
Badass fight scenes: check
D W Ross does a fantastic job of describing the land and climate to the extent that you almost start to shiver as you read. This Norse inspired story is full of rebellious, axe-weilding vikings who are fleeing their home after the invasion of an evil force who look to fulfill an ancient prophecy. If you are a fan of The Wheel of Time, or The Last Kingdom, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy this story. Imagine if Rand and Mat were Vikings.
One aspect that I really liked is how the magic system is portrayed. Melcun's struggle with controlling and accepting his powers is one you seldom see in fantasy. We are used to the "Mary Sue" magic users who develop powers and instantly become the best. But Keltbran is not a place that takes kindly to magic users so he must suppress his abilities and so, struggle to control them.
I'm a sucker for prophecies in fantasy. When they're done well, I think they are the best tropes out there. And the Onyxborn seems to be one of the better ones. I'm so eager to find out more about the prophecy soon.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I'd highly recommend it to all fantasy readers, especially if you enjoy a classic fantasy story, with a modern narrative.
This book had everything I love about fantasy.
Awesome world-building: check
Cool magic system: check
Political manoeuvring: check
Prophecy/chosen one: check
Emotional character development: check
Badass fight scenes: check
D W Ross does a fantastic job of describing the land and climate to the extent that you almost start to shiver as you read. This Norse inspired story is full of rebellious, axe-weilding vikings who are fleeing their home after the invasion of an evil force who look to fulfill an ancient prophecy. If you are a fan of The Wheel of Time, or The Last Kingdom, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy this story. Imagine if Rand and Mat were Vikings.
One aspect that I really liked is how the magic system is portrayed. Melcun's struggle with controlling and accepting his powers is one you seldom see in fantasy. We are used to the "Mary Sue" magic users who develop powers and instantly become the best. But Keltbran is not a place that takes kindly to magic users so he must suppress his abilities and so, struggle to control them.
I'm a sucker for prophecies in fantasy. When they're done well, I think they are the best tropes out there. And the Onyxborn seems to be one of the better ones. I'm so eager to find out more about the prophecy soon.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I'd highly recommend it to all fantasy readers, especially if you enjoy a classic fantasy story, with a modern narrative.
plot_head's review against another edition
4.0
Cold From the North is D.W. Ross’ debut novel, though it doesn’t read like one. In fact, I am very surprised to learn that he never even considered becoming an author until last year! Though there are a few rough edges here and there, this book does not read like an author’s first outing, much less their first attempt at writing a book.
“Death comes for you with the might of fifty thousand swords and more. The power will leave no one but the wicked alive. The world will fall to eternal darkness if it is not stopped.”
Cold From the North begins in the Norse-inspired country of Broadheim, where a deadly cold has been settled over the land for several years. Crops are failing and people are either starving or freezing and usually both. Although the events of the story take the characters away from their frozen homeland very shortly into the book, there are far reaching ripples caused by the events just prior to the start of the story. Broadheim hasn’t been sending or receiving messages from the other countries of Gelenea, the world our story takes place in. The cold is almost personified into an enemy itself, with the relief that warmth brings the characters almost palpable. Ross does a great job setting up a believable and varied setting for the story to take place in, from Broadheim to Shingally and beyond. While it isn’t fully fleshed out, the magic system is pretty interesting as well. Basically, mages can draw power from Peaks of Influence, mountains that contain stores of magic and that are scattered around the world, and use it for good or ill. It’s an interesting handicap to place on mages and one which directly affects the plot itself.
The real enemy is The Order of Maledict, an ancient order charged with fulfilling the prophecy that will bring about the second coming of their master. To achieve their goal they must locate the eponymous Onyxborn, a powerful mage that can harness vast amounts of power. The beginning of the plot shows our main character’s fleeing from the Order as they wash over Broadheim, slaughtering all in their path. As the Keltbran race for succor in Shingally, the wheels start to turn and soon the ancient prophecies are revealed. With his main inspirations being Sullivan and Islington, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of classic fantasy tropes at play here and Ross uses them well.
“Even when a day is promised, it does not fully prepare a man for the true feelings that destiny being fulfilled can bring.”
While the book is primarily plot-driven, the character’s also receive just treatment. Our two main characters are Ogulf and Melcun, two lifelong friends from Broadheim trying to find their own path through the situation they have found themselves in. Their friendship was one of my favorite things in the book and the dual-sided nature of the characters, with one being the son of a chieftain as well as a master tactician and warrior, and the other being an orphan who can wield magic, shows a lot of promise. I also really liked a few of the secondary and even tertiary characters, such as Cohl the butcher and Trayvan, and I hope to see more of them in the sequels. Unfortunately, Ross struggles to stick the landing when it comes to the character development, as Ogulf and Melcun, the two characters you follow throughout the whole story, except for a few secondary POVs here and there, end up being kind of static. There just isn’t much in the way of character arcs for either of them.
I think that my biggest complaint about Cold From the North is that the pacing slows to a crawl in some areas. The periods between the action and plot development often felt like bridges between events, rather than feeling like meaningful additions to the story and it only served to slow things down. Some scenes felt disjointed and I questioned the necessity of them. The book felt like a series of peaks and valleys and left me wishing it could have been somewhat evened out. Toward the end of the book though, this problem was less noticeable, with everything leading up to a climax for the ages that tied up several of the book’s plot lines, while opening up a few more for exploration in the sequels.
Death was chasing them now; the cold had been mobilised into an army of blades and malevolence that had stolen his lands and slaughtered his people.
Overall, I really liked Cold From the North and I am fiercely excited for it’s sequel, The Darkest Dusk. The worldbuilding was great, with the lands of Gelenea varied and vast in their creation and histories. Even though it employs some classic fantasy tropes, like prophecies, the chosen one, and a magic weapon, Ross uses them to great effect. If there were only a smidge more character development and the pacing was a little steadier, this would be nearly perfect in its execution. In the end, I only have a few complaints in a sea of praise for this book and, considering that it is Ross’ debut, I think he’s definitely an author to keep an eye on.
“Death comes for you with the might of fifty thousand swords and more. The power will leave no one but the wicked alive. The world will fall to eternal darkness if it is not stopped.”
Cold From the North begins in the Norse-inspired country of Broadheim, where a deadly cold has been settled over the land for several years. Crops are failing and people are either starving or freezing and usually both. Although the events of the story take the characters away from their frozen homeland very shortly into the book, there are far reaching ripples caused by the events just prior to the start of the story. Broadheim hasn’t been sending or receiving messages from the other countries of Gelenea, the world our story takes place in. The cold is almost personified into an enemy itself, with the relief that warmth brings the characters almost palpable. Ross does a great job setting up a believable and varied setting for the story to take place in, from Broadheim to Shingally and beyond. While it isn’t fully fleshed out, the magic system is pretty interesting as well. Basically, mages can draw power from Peaks of Influence, mountains that contain stores of magic and that are scattered around the world, and use it for good or ill. It’s an interesting handicap to place on mages and one which directly affects the plot itself.
The real enemy is The Order of Maledict, an ancient order charged with fulfilling the prophecy that will bring about the second coming of their master. To achieve their goal they must locate the eponymous Onyxborn, a powerful mage that can harness vast amounts of power. The beginning of the plot shows our main character’s fleeing from the Order as they wash over Broadheim, slaughtering all in their path. As the Keltbran race for succor in Shingally, the wheels start to turn and soon the ancient prophecies are revealed. With his main inspirations being Sullivan and Islington, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of classic fantasy tropes at play here and Ross uses them well.
“Even when a day is promised, it does not fully prepare a man for the true feelings that destiny being fulfilled can bring.”
While the book is primarily plot-driven, the character’s also receive just treatment. Our two main characters are Ogulf and Melcun, two lifelong friends from Broadheim trying to find their own path through the situation they have found themselves in. Their friendship was one of my favorite things in the book and the dual-sided nature of the characters, with one being the son of a chieftain as well as a master tactician and warrior, and the other being an orphan who can wield magic, shows a lot of promise. I also really liked a few of the secondary and even tertiary characters, such as Cohl the butcher and Trayvan, and I hope to see more of them in the sequels. Unfortunately, Ross struggles to stick the landing when it comes to the character development, as Ogulf and Melcun, the two characters you follow throughout the whole story, except for a few secondary POVs here and there, end up being kind of static. There just isn’t much in the way of character arcs for either of them.
I think that my biggest complaint about Cold From the North is that the pacing slows to a crawl in some areas. The periods between the action and plot development often felt like bridges between events, rather than feeling like meaningful additions to the story and it only served to slow things down. Some scenes felt disjointed and I questioned the necessity of them. The book felt like a series of peaks and valleys and left me wishing it could have been somewhat evened out. Toward the end of the book though, this problem was less noticeable, with everything leading up to a climax for the ages that tied up several of the book’s plot lines, while opening up a few more for exploration in the sequels.
Death was chasing them now; the cold had been mobilised into an army of blades and malevolence that had stolen his lands and slaughtered his people.
Overall, I really liked Cold From the North and I am fiercely excited for it’s sequel, The Darkest Dusk. The worldbuilding was great, with the lands of Gelenea varied and vast in their creation and histories. Even though it employs some classic fantasy tropes, like prophecies, the chosen one, and a magic weapon, Ross uses them to great effect. If there were only a smidge more character development and the pacing was a little steadier, this would be nearly perfect in its execution. In the end, I only have a few complaints in a sea of praise for this book and, considering that it is Ross’ debut, I think he’s definitely an author to keep an eye on.
goonerette's review against another edition
Writing is very basic and 3 hours in just felt dull & uninteresting. I had no investment in the characters to care what happened to them. It was tough slog for the amount I read.
szeththeassassin's review against another edition
4.0
Please read my review at the link below:
https://escapistbookcompany.com/2022/08/04/cold-from-the-north-the-onyxborn-chronicles-1-by-d-w-ross/
Thank you for taking the time to read my review! As always happy reading and Stay Great!!
https://escapistbookcompany.com/2022/08/04/cold-from-the-north-the-onyxborn-chronicles-1-by-d-w-ross/
Thank you for taking the time to read my review! As always happy reading and Stay Great!!
dominish_books's review against another edition
4.0
* You can find my full video review here: https://youtu.be/N5CdrQ-RYvk *
Cold From the North is the debut fantasy novel by DW Ross, it’s the beginning of the self-published Onyxborn Chronicles that continues with the Darkest Dusk and then book three, The Fury of Fate, which is planned for release in June 2022.
In this opening book, we focus on two friends, Ogulf and Melcun, who live in the cold north of Broadheim in a village called Keltbran. Keltbran wasn’t always so cold, it seems that there’s an endless winter at the point that the story takes place.
Their plans to escape to warmer climes are interrupted by the quite sudden invasion of their lands by a great force intent on finding a chosen one to fulfill a prophecy.
Ogulf and Melcun take on a dangerous quest through another country, this one being torn apart by a civil war, in an attempt to seek help and stop the prophecy from being completed.
I liked both the setting and the magic as far as the worldbuilding goes. The writing did a very good job at making me feel the cold North in particular. For the magic, we saw actual consequences rather than just the usual drain on the magic user, so that was a nice touch.
In terms of the characters, I liked both Ogulf and Melcun, as the main heroes of the story. There were also some interesting new additions to the cast as the book went on, and I can’t wait to see what path they take in book two and perhaps beyond.
Overall, I really enjoyed Cold from the North. I would say that some of the writing itself was perhaps a little rough around the edges in parts, and to a degree you might expect that from a debut novel. I definitely found that the combination of setting, story and characters more than made up for this though.
Cold From the North is the debut fantasy novel by DW Ross, it’s the beginning of the self-published Onyxborn Chronicles that continues with the Darkest Dusk and then book three, The Fury of Fate, which is planned for release in June 2022.
In this opening book, we focus on two friends, Ogulf and Melcun, who live in the cold north of Broadheim in a village called Keltbran. Keltbran wasn’t always so cold, it seems that there’s an endless winter at the point that the story takes place.
Their plans to escape to warmer climes are interrupted by the quite sudden invasion of their lands by a great force intent on finding a chosen one to fulfill a prophecy.
Ogulf and Melcun take on a dangerous quest through another country, this one being torn apart by a civil war, in an attempt to seek help and stop the prophecy from being completed.
I liked both the setting and the magic as far as the worldbuilding goes. The writing did a very good job at making me feel the cold North in particular. For the magic, we saw actual consequences rather than just the usual drain on the magic user, so that was a nice touch.
In terms of the characters, I liked both Ogulf and Melcun, as the main heroes of the story. There were also some interesting new additions to the cast as the book went on, and I can’t wait to see what path they take in book two and perhaps beyond.
Overall, I really enjoyed Cold from the North. I would say that some of the writing itself was perhaps a little rough around the edges in parts, and to a degree you might expect that from a debut novel. I definitely found that the combination of setting, story and characters more than made up for this though.