With The Ice, Ryan Cahill gives another solid addition to the legend of The Bound and the Broken. While I am a year late to this story, getting to read it just as the temperature drops was an absolute treat. Coming out of spooky season, this book was just the uplifting (well sort of) tale that I needed.

The Bound and the Broken, like all great fantasy stories, begins with a series of nested mysteries. One of those that sits near the center is how a certain egg came into the possession of one Aseon Virandr. The Ice gives us the answer to that question, but more importantly, as is the case with all of Cahill's novellas, builds out the story of its central character.

Like his perspective throughout this epic, Aseon Virandr is fundamentally broken at the start of this novella. Although that part of his character does not change over the story, spending time inside of his head does make you understand his perspective better. Aseon is an apparent good guy, but I think Cahill has done an excellent job making him feel like a complicated ally over the series. In The Ice, Cahill gives us a deeper understanding of Aseon's perspective through the use of effective emotional beats. Much like his short story The Blood that Burns the Winter Snow, Cahill puts fatherhood front and center in The Ice through his characterizations of Aseon, Erik, and Dhalen Virandr. 

Alongside the character and plot, we have an excellent world in this story. Taking place on a new continent, this novella truly expands the world of The Bound and the Broken. I was left wondering about the arcs of some of our central characters, particularly Ella Bryer, after learning about the state of this adjacent continent to Epheria.

No matter how excited I am to read Wind and Truth and happy I am that Cahill is taking time to raise a child, The Ice just made me more eager for the release of Of Empires of Dust.