Elementals: Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman – a Review

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Description:
Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when twelve-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Still, whether or not they’re family, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

In order to rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shapeshifting force of all.

Review:

Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman is the 1^st book in her new YA/Middle Grade Fantasy Elementals series. I do enjoy Fantasy, and even though this is middle grade/ya, it is a story that anyone can read and enjoy. 

Anders and Rayna are brother & sister twins, who lost their family years before and at the age of 6 they left the orphanage they were living in for fear of being separate.  They both live in the streets of Vallen and work closely together  to survive using their skills to steal, which they do very well, and seem to have fun in doing so. 

The city they live in is protected by Ice Wolves, who guard the city against attacks by Scorch Dragons.  Every month the leaders have a trial for those coming of age (12) to be tested if they have wolf blood and thereby be sent to Ulfar Academy to train to be Ice Wolves and become in time Wolf Guards.  Anders and Rayna always attend the meetings in the village, since it is a good day to pickpocket.  However, as they try to escape being caught stealing, they end up on the line to be tested.   Rayna touches a magic staff, and shifts into a scorch dragon. Anders watches in horror as Rayna is attacked, but manages to escape and fly away. Anders, who no one knows is related to the scorch dragon is tested and shifts to a wolf.  Though he wants to go to the academy and learn how to fight dragons, Anders is determined to find his sister.  The next day he finds her at a secret hiding place, and they both do not understand how twins of the same blood can be different species.  Before they could talk more, Rayna is spotted and dragons come to her rescue and take her away.

The story now centers on Anders at the academy, where he meets other Ice Wolves, and makes friends with other students, especially one who he will learn to trust, Lizabeth.  Anders is determined to learn all he can to fight dragons, and find special artifacts that could help him find Rayna.  Though he has hated dragons all his life, it is Lizabeth, who feels that dragons may not be as bad as they all think; since they were at peace years before.

What follows is watching Anders learn to be more self sufficient, and being to realize that perhaps Lizabeth is on the right track, since she feels that it is in the best interest of everyone to get the wolves and dragons to talk.  While it was nice to watch Anders make new friends, and learn how to fight, the last 1/3 of the book is very exciting, as he and Lizabeth will leave to help rescue Rayna.  What they find will change the game, and open things up for future books.  Will Anders and Lizabeth survive in Dragon territory?  Will Anders find Rayna safe?

Ice Wolves was a good start to this series, and I really enjoyed the characters that Kaufman has created.  I loved the cute relationship early on with Anders and Rayna.   I really enjoyed the friendship between Anders and Lizabeth.  I will warn everyone, that Ice Wolves ends in a cliffhanger, which has us anxiously awaiting the next book.  Of course, I hate cliffhangers. Lol    If you like fantasy, teen heroes, then you should read this book.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher