Minor spoilers within!

I read all the IPB books through Barbarian’s Tease and then took a huge pause to go back and read through all the Corsairs/Risdaverse stories, so it’s fun to be back on Not-Hoth and finally learning about the new colonists and the surprise islanders! I really enjoyed Lo & K’thar’s story, but the language barrier made it a little tough, and I realized at the end that he doesn’t even know how she got to Not-Hoth? (She sort of explains away that “human history doesn’t matter here”, but that seems like a cop-out and I don’t really agree.)

Also I get that Dixon is making Icehome its own series, assumably because IPB was just getting unwieldy, but the idea that the 30something colonists and islanders— who are both completely new to mainland Not-Hoth, the weather, wildlife, terrain, etc— would strike out on their own from the main IPB village is just wild. Especially since I’m fairly certain that it’s established that there’s enough room? Just why.

Also I’m just reminded how much Mardok’s presence following his book is wildly underexplored. If I was there, I’d be hitting him up for ALL the information about the universe, and I can’t believe none of the Not-Hoth ladies aren’t doing the same.