THE CRY OF THE ICEMARK

It's challenging enough to narrate a story rife with battle scenes and multifarious characters, but when the characters range from Romanesque legionnaires to wizards, werewolves, vampires, snow leopards, and trees, the challenge intensifies. Heather O'Neill is especially terrific voicing the alternating self-doubt and confidence of young Thirrin, who is thrust, at age 14, into the role of warrior queen after her father's death in battle. Her small Norse nation is threatened by the Polipontus Empire, which denies all things mythological and underestimates the queen and her allies. Romance, clashing swords, and roaring warriors are conveyed with tension and such grandeur that listeners will be hoping for a sequel, which Hill has promised. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 06]