I was provided an audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me an opportunity to review this book. As always, all opinions expressed in my review are my own.

After reading [book:The Starless Crown|57693169] last year, I couldn't wait for the next installment. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and it did not disappoint. While this doesn't end on a what I would consider a cliffhanger, it is very clear that the series is not complete. I'm not sure how many books will be in the series, but I want the next book ASAP. This is a great epic fantasy with some sci-fi elements as well. It is a mix of all of the things I really enjoy about the genre and while it is a bit on the long side, I'm here for ever minute of the journey.

I will say that this book and series has alot going on. If you have trouble keeping track of lots of plot lines and characters, you may not enjoy this book. When I read book 1 I had both the print book and the audiobook going and I found that much easier to keep track of everyone and everything that was going on. This book is long, the audio is just over 26 hours, so if you can't keep track of what is going on it makes things really difficult and hard to stay invested in the story and characters. This time I only had the audio and it was a little harder to keep track of everything. After a few chapters, I was able to settle in and remember who everyone was and stay invested in the story. Speaking of the audiobook the narrator, Nicola Barber was really enjoyable. She did a good job giving a voice to the many characters in the book so you knew who was present in each chapter and who was speaking during dialogue.

As I mentioned this is a tad on the long side, there are times when I felt like the pace and the plot dragged a bit. I find this often occurs in epic fantasy/sci-fi when there are so many plotlines and characters and the author often switches between them from chapter to chapter. You will just start to get invested in one plotline, then you will jump to what is going on somewhere else. The transitions can be a bit jarring and the reader has to remember what was going on a few chapters ago with that part of the story. This also contains many of the tropes that you tend to find in epic fantasy novels and is not devoid of action. This has all of the things I love about a long fantasy/sci-fi novel to keep me interested until the end, it has political intrigue, fight scenes, cool science elements, an interesting magic system, and interesting characters.

Overall, I'm loving this series and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC in exchanged for my honest review.
Pub Date: February 7, 2023

4.5 stars. I really struggled with the first half of the first book in this series (The Starless Crown 1/4/22) and the second half really picked up. The Cradle of Ice, the second book, was far better jumping right into the action and a known world that just kept blossoming and unfolding. There were many twists I didn't see coming and I love when that happens. I am so excited to keep reading this series as it continues!

The narrator was excellent as well. She brought so much depth and emotion to the telling. I loved the slight accents she gave some of the characters to give them more personality and help with being able to tell them apart. The accents weren't so thick it was hard to understand or detract from the rhythm of the narration though. If I have the choice I will continue listening to these books in audio format.

I am really enjoying this series. The world building is magnificent and the characters are rich. I definitely have my favorites and I push through the POVs that aren't my favorite, but that doesn't detract from the overall story. I won't say much about the plot so I don't spoil anything. This picks up about 6 months after the first book ends. There are some big twists and revelations in this book and I loved every second of it. Pick it up!

A bit late with my review. I read/listened to it timely but there was so much to think about, I’m just getting around to the review.

I loved The Starless Crown. This is the continuing story!

I listened to the story strait through. It was great! The parties separate. One to the frozen north & monsters, the other to the city filled with political intrigue, monsters of a different kind.

A lot of characters to track. A lot is going on. Action, a world struggling to survive on the precipice of moonfall! Adventure! Betrayal! I like my epic fantasy with a mountain of monsters, war & intrigue! Dark. Heart breaking!

Everything you loved about book one and more!!

Now I want to reread both books! Can’t wait for book 3!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for this opportunity to listen to this audiobook arc which has been available since Feb 7 2023

This was a satisfying conclusion to the series. The narrator was on point. The story flowed perfectly. I was thoroughly engrossed in the book that I forgot to cook dinner for my family. It is that good. I could not leave the world James Rollins has created. I need to know what happened next more than anything.

Highly recommend

First things first…don’t start reading/listening to this book unless you have first read/listened to The Starless Crown. (the first book in the Moonfall series) After all this is Epic Fantasy and you don’t jump into an epic fantasy adventure midway through. Sure you might still be able to follow it and enjoy the story, but you’d be missing out on so much, like the introduction to the great cast and especially the incredible world building in the first book. Seriously, I found the premise of the world and how it works so cool. I’m pleased to say it continues in book two, which picks up shortly after the events of The Starless Crown, with our group splitting up to continue their epic quest to stop the apocalypse. This book features a gripping, deeply complex storyline with all the action, adventure, and intrigue you could want...until it ends of course, at which time you (like me) will be left counting down the days until the next book. Nicola Barber returns as the narrator and once again does an excellent job. Just make sure you some have some free time before starting this one as it’s even longer than its predecessor…but that’s not a bad thing because it’s a heck of a ride! I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of The Cradle of Ice. And I’d also like to thank James Rollins for continuing to take me on so many incredible adventures over the years.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R306K7YSNMLE48/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

I was really looking forward to this book after reading the first book in this series. I am also a big fan of James Rollins, mostly through reading his SIGMA Force series of books. It was again interesting to see the same themes and writing techniques used by Rollins in his SIGMA Force books pop up in this book. Across different genres, Rollins always does a great job of working animals and science into his books. He again shows his interest in those areas in this book.

The second book in his MoonFall series does a great job of continuing to build the world of Urth and the magic system that goes along with the science aspect of this book. The team from the first book split up and go their separate ways, allowing more characters to be introduced and for Rollins to work on adding to the characters we already know. Rollins has always been great at writing action scenes and that trend also continues in this book. This was a solid second offering in what is a solid series, and any reader of epic fantasy should definitely check this series out.

The main negative for me, and this won't affect most readers, was the narrator of the audiobook. I had to listen to this one and in my experience with audiobooks, the narrator plays a big part in how much I enjoy them. Although I think the story is great, I didn't enjoy the narrator. She seemed flat to me and I had trouble getting into some of the more emotional scenes because that emotion wasn't showing up in the narrator's voice. This is purely personal and won't matter if people are reading the print edition.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for an early copy of this audiobook. Below is my honest review.

To begin, I highly recommend reading the first book of the series. If it’s been a while, remind yourself what happened with a synopsis. I suspect anyone reading book two without doing so will find it a little confusing.

Cradle of Ice starts a short time after Starless Crown. Our intrepid heroes are trying to save Urth and split into two groups — one led by Nyx and one by Kanthe.

Nyx and her crew travel over the ice-filled tundra side of the planet, only to find new friends and enemies.

Kanthe finds himself embroiled in the world of politics and scholarly intrigue, again. Kanthe is engaged to princess Aalia of Klashe in hopes of accessing a library with more information on the ancient prophesies.

Will anyone find another bronze statue to help? Will they find each other again? Will they learn how to save Urth?

The world building here capitalized on that from the last book and the story is still character driven. It is, overall, a successful epic fantasy sequel. It had enough captivating scenes that I didn’t mind when the pacing was slow. I will be reading the next in the series.

If you liked the first book, then you should enjoy this one. Likewise, if the first wasn’t your cup of tea, then I’d suggest passing. The narrator for the audiobook was phenomenal.

My 3.5 run continues for this series.

Look, it's a really well executed premise. Perhaps a little on-point for tropes (thinking about making a Trope Bingo Card for this series, with 'Chosen One', 'Found Family', 'Self-Sacrifice' and 'Unfathomed Power' heading the charts), but in Rollin's defense, it works.

I did thoughroloughy enjoy the penultimate conflict in this one, with augmented powers and unexpected abilities (more tropes) really shining. I just think we took a bit too long to get to it.

I think one of the things taking me out was the narrator, actually, as I listed to this as an Audiobook. With the breathy reading and no real pace variety, I felt like I was always struggling to hear emotion and nuance. Which is too bad. For the finale, I thi k I need to switch to printed form to really enjoy it!

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was another wonderful installment in Rollins fantastic world. The way the author blends science and fantasy and is able to piece together such a wonderful narrative using multiple POVs is captivating and kept me engaged throughout.

Brilliant.

An original story that picks up where the previous book left off. Well-developed characters embroiled in a complex, fantastical Urth and other regions with constant conflict. This is a story that you can tell by reading it that a lot of care went into writing it.

I can’t thank James Rollins, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley enough for this great work.

This is a multi-layered story with multiple point-of-view characters. The author weaved them all together in a riveting fantasy using a unique voice.

Another brilliant story from the Moonfall series! The world building is utterly fantastic. I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as book one, but it was still a great read! Bring on part three!

If you loved the first book, you will probably enjoy this one too. I had mixed feelings about book 1 but was intrigued enough by some of the plot and world elements to continue. I was hoping to see a marked improvement in book 2 and unfortunately that wasn't my experience. I had similarly mixed feelings about this one. In both cases I think the books are too long, not paced like what you expect from modern fantasy, and don't often do a great job with female characters or disabled characters.

The Cradle of Ice picks up where we left off and has some genuinely interesting reveals, and some very cool scenes, but for me it's just not enough to keep me invested. Characterization is sometimes good, but very much a mixed bag and women are too often sexually objectified (and by several different characters, so it's more than just character work for a shitty person). I like this sci-fantasy concept that blends AI with magic-feeling things and prophecy. But while I was engaged for portions of the book, it's excessively long and sometimes uninteresting while at other times being very uncomfy. (For instance, there's a scene where a character is looking at the scarring on a eunuchs genital area and pondering whether they feel resentment. It's a scene that adds nothing to the book and feels needlessly gratuitous and descriptive.) Unfortunately I think this just isn't the series for me. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.

This is the second book in Rollins’s epic dystopian trilogy, and you MUST read the first to be able to comprehend his climate ravaged planet and characters. Nyx returns as the central character from The Starless Crown, along with Prince Kanthe. They live in a world that will be familiar to fantasy fans, where unusual plants and beasts roam the countryside and epic battles over good and are fought. In this book, they set out to find out if there is any truth to the old legends, legends, if they turn out to be true, will prove their best chance of staying alive. This is a rather large deviation from Rollins’s usual treasure hunting/mercenary series, but he does it surprisingly well. If you like vast, sprawling stories full of fantastical creatures and characters with derring do, this is the series for you