The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland

A book review

The Falcons of Fire and Ice is not your usual Inquisition story. True, the Portuguese Inquisition was as vicious as the Spanish. But Maitland specializes in more supernatural horrors with chilling beauty woven through them - literally chilling in this case, as a Portuguese falconer's daughter, to save her father, quests to Iceland in search of the prized white gyrfalcon.

Although this is a plot-driven rather than a character-driven novel, the characters have snap and originality. Isabela, the falconer's daughter, a girl becoming a woman, is kind-hearted, plucky, intelligent, intuitive, and just a bit naive. Eydis is an oracle, chained to a wall in a cave warmed by a volcanic hot spring; the rural folk who come for her advice - sometimes life-saving, always wise - fear her power as desperately as they need it. Ricardo is a charming con-man with a heart of not-exactly-solid gold. Rounding out the cast are frightened Marranos, evil Jesuits and at least one evil Lutheran, an emotionally vulnerable boy-king, assorted adventurers, villagers, and a dead spirit who makes Isabela's Icelandic quest as frightening as anything back home.

Part of the fun in The Falcons of Fire and Ice are revelations that will change the way readers see some of the characters. In one instance, the withheld information seems more confusing than mysterious: readers may puzzle over the number of men who take passage on Isabela's ship all the way to Iceland - three? or four? It's three, and readers will have to guess which one has a dual identity. Also part of the fun are the falconry definitions at the chapter headings ("Ruff - when the falcon strikes its prey without seizing it."), and the short, delightful falcon stories sandwiched between chapters. (2012; 499 pages, including Historical Notes and a Glossary with additional historical background)