The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

The Cry of the Icemark has some excellent imaginative material to work with, but it's almost as if once the author struck gold with the idea, he decided to leave it lying in the ground. The Cry of the Icemark therefore ends up disappointing more than rewarding.

It follows 14-yr-old Thirrin, princess and heir to the throne of Icemark, a small northern kingdom threatened by an aggressive massive southern empire and its never-lost-a-battle general. To survive, Thirrin and her father decide to look to their ancient enemies of the north against whom they've fought many battles: the werewolves and the vampire King and Queen.

Luckily, and I do mean luckily, as in barely explained at all, with the werewolves years of being enemies, of being hunted by humans, of being treated like animals is wiped away by a single two-minute encounter b... Read More