Ice & Blood

A LitRPG/GameLit Viking Adventure

De: Blake Arthur Peel

Narrado por: Neil Hellegers

On Frostworld, only the strong survive....

Jarl Beckström dreams of one day becoming a great warrior. Sadly, he had the misfortune of being lowborn-classless, unable to level up. He lives the mundane life of a poor mud-farmer, subjected to the whims of the infamous battleborn and the magical fireborn. But legend says that deeds of great courage can change a person's class....

When the Clan Lord's son unexpectedly disappears, Jarl sees an opportunity to prove himself a hero and rise above the lowly station of his birth. He goes against the traditions of his people to seek his destiny...and possibly even his death.

However, dark things stir in the frozen wilderness.

A star has fallen from the heavens, and the dead have begun to rise. While clanholds struggle in eternal conflict and powerful men vie for control, only an ambitious mud-farmer and his domineering sister can shed light on the true enemy: the monstrous, undead draugr....

Don't miss the start of an epic GameLit/LitRPG adventure with a Viking and Norse Mythology twist. It's perfect for fans of Unsouled, Iron Prince, and Sufficiently Advanced Magic.

©2021 Blake Arthur Peel (P)2021 Tantor

Fantastic viking ride.

overall I am satisfied, my only critique is the performer needed to slow down and let the narration breath instead of rushing like a run on sentence

Good book…. Not litrpg

This is an adventure novel. The litrpg elements are so pointless that they actually detract from the story. That being said, it’s still a great book. When the MC levels up, nothing happens. There is a vague notion of improvement, but there is never any clear idea of the difference between a level one and a level twenty. There are some skills, but they just seem like normal combat reactions. The stats take the form of dice rolls, which is annoying.

Quality Fantasy with LitRPG Elements

Not quite the full bore commitment to LitRPG that other popular reads have, but certainly well within the expanding genre. Not my favorite, but kudos for a bit of originality. A credit's not wasted on this.

Better than I expected

So I have a weird fascination with ice worlds or frozen ruins. When I first saw this, I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know if they would do my fascination justice. This definitely went beyond my expectations and I loved it. It has everything a Skyrim fanatic like me would ever want in a Viking style book.

solid story

the world is a little basic and the characters somewhat predictable... but the story is solid and entertaining...

Niel does a great job and the lacking star is due to personal preferences on my part...
his main voice is unfortunately distinct enough that I am constantly reminded of other books he's narrated instead of focusing on this one

Lite rpg

This is a lite and fun rpg book. Neil Hellegers is awesome as always and really brings this one along for me

like it

It took a little longer than the first 3 chapters to get into it but I stuck with it and amazingly or not amazingly it was a good story I'm going to the second book

Very good!

I thought this was a very good book. I love LitRPG and combine that with Norse mythology and you got me hooked 😁. It was a great story and the characters are very interesting. I want to listen to the next one.

Low born and ... winter is coming

As others have commented about this book, Blake Arthur Peel only lightly crosses onto an litRPG genre novel. There is leveling up and acquired skills but the book was mostly a fantasy adventure novel. Even with the absence of the typical litRPG genre mechanics, the story and the well-defined character development made for a good listening experience. While most of the characters appear to be either dislikable warrior brutes or arrogant, self-absorbed upper class fire mages, the primary characters have enough well-define character development to make them interesting.to follow. The antagonists are an other worldly horror led by an evil born of the netherworld.

Am looking forward to the next book in the series and Neil Hellegers' compelling narrating performance.

One of the Best Fantasy LitRPG books of 2021

This is the story of a young Viking by the name of Jarl Beckstrom. In this story, the Vikings are born into a caste system, there are highborn, and lowborn, as well as thralls (Those captured from other tribes, and turned into slaves, you can tell them, as they have their ears clipped, forever marking them as slaves). Lowborn are those that do the ‘menial’ work, in the case of Clan Norvaask, this mainly means being a mud farmer, which Jarl’s family has been for 3 generations now.
The highborn are made up of the Battleborn, the warriors of the clan, and the fireborn, those born with the ability to case fire magic.
For young Jarl, the main character of the story, although he is a lowborn mud farmer, and as such, it is not possible for him to become a battleborn, to rise above his station, he still has his heart set on becoming a battleborn.
There have been folktales of lowborn, performing amazing feats, and levelling up, becoming battleborn and thus changing their stations.
I should mention that this book has a mild element of LitRPG running through it, mud farmer, battleborn, fireborn etc, are all different classes of characters, and to become a battleborn, Jarl has to perform a significant feat of heroism for his Gods, showing that he is suitable to be a battleborn, and thus ‘level up’, moving from a Level 1 Mud Farmer, and changing his class in the process, to a Level 1 Battleborn.
Without giving too much away (no spoilers as such), the first part of the story revolves around Jarl trying desperately to become a Battleborn, and due to the traditions of the Norvaask, it nearly killing him on several occasions.
We also get to meet his sister Freya, a fireborn, and an ambitious, and somewhat self-centered person (to put it lightly), who cares little for others, especially her brother, who she sees as a dimwitted moron, who is an embarrassment to her.
Freya is a very powerful and talented fireborn though, and if it wasn’t for her attitude, she would go a lot further. Unfortunately, there is another who is stronger, Runa, who is kinder and gains favour with the leaders of the fireborn, the High Aesir.
Several things happen at the start of the book, there is a raid by a rival Clan, something we learn that happens often, but this raid has a profound impact on Jarl’s life, changing him forever.
We also learn that the Clan Lords son, Raynor Haig, has gone missing whilst out exploring and the Clan Lord is desperate to find his son and Heir to the Norvaask Clan, and sends out a huge hunting party to go and find him. Jarl of course, sees this as an opportunity to prove himself, and sneaks out to go along with the hunting party.
I am not going to go into too much more, because I don’t want to give away too much more.
Needless to say, Jarl’s adventure does not go quite as planned.
Part of this is because he comes across the Draugr, these are the undead zombies of slain clan members, infected with a strange worm like creature that tries to infect anything organic, living or dead. If it is dead, it reanimates it so that it can use the undead body as a host to try and infect others.
From the moment you pick this book up, you are hooked, the writing is captivating and totally engaging, as you read about this young Viking so desperate to be something more than he is. Jarl is immediately likeable, even though he seems to go from one bad situation to the next, and can’t seem to catch a break, you can’t help but like him, his noble and honourable character, and his utter determination to be a battleborn, but to do what is right, to help people and defend his home and people. He has such a huge heart. It is a testament to Peel’s character writing that you can be so easily captivated by the character. Just as easily, you find yourself both repelled, but equally fascinated by the character of Freya, who although comes across as a self-centered stuck-up cow, deep down, there is actually a person with a soul, one that cares, but has just found herself trapped by peer pressure.
The character writing is just exceptional in this story, from the main characters to the individual Vikings, the Hero’s of the clan, Asger Ironfists, Halvard Bloodhammer, Sten Haig, and more, each of them with this detailed, rich history that you would expect of a powerful Viking warrior. Peel has put a lot of effort into creating this wonderful Viking clan with its own mythology and brilliant history for each and everyone of its Clan members, it makes for an exceptional character driven story.
I mentioned this was a LitRPG story, but it is subtle, there are elements, mentions of Jarl’s character and Freya’s character, but it is not overbearing like some LitRPG’s can be, Peel has found a good balance of giving us the characters stats so it is interesting, but not overwhelming us with numbers and figures, so you just start flipping pages (or if listening, fast forwarding).
The other outstanding part of the story is the world building. It is not just the characters that have impressive backgrounds, Peel has put a lot of thought into this world, the descriptive work of the ice world, the Tundra they live on and the creatures that live there is stunning. There is so much depth, with a complex and complete background for every aspect of the story, making it not only an enthralling read, but it is stunning, at times beautiful due to the detail, and at other times, utterly terrifying due to the complexity and quality of information provided.
I am normally someone who only reads Sci-Fi, it is not often I delve into fantasy, but having previously read Peel’s Fall of Radiance series and seen how extraordinary that was, I had to give Frostworld a go, and I could not be happier I did, as it is just outstanding, easily one of the best Fantasy LitRPG books I have read this year. If you love Fantasy, or LitRPG, this is a must read, and if you like the Viking genre, then this is also a must read, as Peel has really done it justice.
Amazing read!!
Neil Hellegers is not a Narrator that I have actually heard before, so I was not sure what to expect, but I had nothing to worry about, he was brilliant. Hellegers Narration was clear and concise, easy to understand, and he does a wonderful job of creating male and female voices. He not only provides easily distinguishable voices (so that you can tell males and females apart), but he does an exceptional job with creating the emotional state of the characters, letting you really know how they are feeling as he tells this story. You can feel Jarl’s angst at his situation, or Freya’s contempt towards her brother, he just does such a brilliant job.
Hellegers Narration is sensational, and utterly captivating, I could not put this down, and listened to it until way too late in the night (or early the next morning, depending on your point of view), as I just couldn’t stop listening it was so good.
A must listen, Hellegers Narration really brings the story to life in a way you are not going to get from reading the book!!