---
product_id: 36190158
title: "The Face in the Frost"
price: "HK$232"
currency: HKD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/36190158-the-face-in-the-frost
store_origin: HK
region: Hong Kong
---

# The Face in the Frost

**Price:** HK$232
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** The Face in the Frost
- **How much does it cost?** HK$232 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/36190158-the-face-in-the-frost)

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## Description

desertcart.com: The Face in the Frost: 9781497642416: Bellairs, John: Books

Review: Prospero, but not the one you are thinking of - "The Face In The Frost" is a richly imaginative tale of two wizards, Prospero (not the one you're thinking of) and Roger Bacon, who must overcome a third wizard, the evil Melichus before he destroys them, and a lot of other folks as well. Even if you think you've heard this story before, you've never come across a variation like this one. The closest analogue that I can come up with is "Howl's Moving Castle" for its eccentricity, but 'Face' outdoes 'Howl' in this respect as well as in its fear quotient. The scary scenes approach M.R. James in intensity, and they are always preceded by migraine-like aura. Prospero senses that something is slightly off about the inn where he is staying. He is still trying to figure out what is bothering him at four in the morning: "Strange thoughts began to come to him now: locked boxes and empty rooms. Four dials and a black hole. Four cards and a blank. And a dead sound on the stroke of four. Why did that mirror bother him? "Quietly, Prospero got dressed, took his staff from the corner, and opened the door of his room. The hall was dark and silent...He lit [a candle] and tiptoed down the stairs to the place where the mirror hung. Prospero stared and felt a chill pass through his body. The mirror showed nothing-not his face, not his candle, not the wall behind him. All he saw was a black glassy surface." Prospero explores further and finds his landlady standing fully-clothed in her room, with a butcher knife in her hand. "In her slowly rising head were two black holes. Prospero saw in his mind a doll that had terrified him when he was a child. The eyes had rattled in the china skull. Now the woman's voice, mechanical and heavy: "Why don't you sleep? Go to sleep." Her mouth opened wide, impossibly wide, and then the whole face stretched and writhed and yawned in the faint light." Prospero manages to escape the inn and town that were nothing more than an elaborate trap set up by Melichus to destroy him. He is reunited with his friend, Roger Bacon and they continue on their quest to find and destroy Melichus's evil magic. There are delightfully eccentric set-pieces in 'Face:' a king who builds elaborate clock-works of the universe; a monk who collects strange plants; a talking mirror that divulges scores from a 1943 Cubs-Giants baseball game. I suspect the author wove his fantasy out of migraines, nightmares, and a love of mechanical oddities and spells that turn tomatoes into squishy red carriages. Prospero himself has a "cherrywood bedstead with a bassoon carved into one of the fat headposts, so that it could be played as you lay in bed and meditated...On a shelf over the experiment table was the inevitable skull, which the wizard put there to remind him of death, though it usually reminded him that he needed to go to the dentist." I'd better put an end to this review before I quote the whole book. It's so good, it pulls me in every time I open it---Enchanting, in the original sense of the word, and frightening, too.
Review: A fantasy classic and a quick read - Gary Gygax included *The Face in the Frost* on his now-famous list of books that influenced the first iteration of Dungeons & Dragons. I'd known about it myself for 30-plus years, but I'd never gotten around to reading it. On the upside, it's short compared to most novels these days. It's also lighthearted for a fantasy work: Bellairs doesn't take himself too seriously, and he's happy to throw in laughs now and again. On the downside, *The Face in the Frost* doesn't leave much of an impression. It's a fun read, and the two central characters are interesting, but it's not what I'd call a page-turner. If Bellairs weren't such a talented wordsmith, I'd have left it three stars, since the plot itself is fairly "meh".

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #384,677 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2,164 in Folklore (Books) #4,600 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books) #6,936 in Epic Fantasy (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (594) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches |
| ISBN-10  | 1497642418 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1497642416 |
| Item Weight  | 6.4 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 162 pages |
| Publication date  | September 30, 2014 |
| Publisher  | Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
| Reading age  | 8 - 12 years |

## Images

![The Face in the Frost - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61EtOKSQUyL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Prospero, but not the one you are thinking of
*by E***T on February 21, 2002*

"The Face In The Frost" is a richly imaginative tale of two wizards, Prospero (not the one you're thinking of) and Roger Bacon, who must overcome a third wizard, the evil Melichus before he destroys them, and a lot of other folks as well. Even if you think you've heard this story before, you've never come across a variation like this one. The closest analogue that I can come up with is "Howl's Moving Castle" for its eccentricity, but 'Face' outdoes 'Howl' in this respect as well as in its fear quotient. The scary scenes approach M.R. James in intensity, and they are always preceded by migraine-like aura. Prospero senses that something is slightly off about the inn where he is staying. He is still trying to figure out what is bothering him at four in the morning: "Strange thoughts began to come to him now: locked boxes and empty rooms. Four dials and a black hole. Four cards and a blank. And a dead sound on the stroke of four. Why did that mirror bother him? "Quietly, Prospero got dressed, took his staff from the corner, and opened the door of his room. The hall was dark and silent...He lit [a candle] and tiptoed down the stairs to the place where the mirror hung. Prospero stared and felt a chill pass through his body. The mirror showed nothing-not his face, not his candle, not the wall behind him. All he saw was a black glassy surface." Prospero explores further and finds his landlady standing fully-clothed in her room, with a butcher knife in her hand. "In her slowly rising head were two black holes. Prospero saw in his mind a doll that had terrified him when he was a child. The eyes had rattled in the china skull. Now the woman's voice, mechanical and heavy: "Why don't you sleep? Go to sleep." Her mouth opened wide, impossibly wide, and then the whole face stretched and writhed and yawned in the faint light." Prospero manages to escape the inn and town that were nothing more than an elaborate trap set up by Melichus to destroy him. He is reunited with his friend, Roger Bacon and they continue on their quest to find and destroy Melichus's evil magic. There are delightfully eccentric set-pieces in 'Face:' a king who builds elaborate clock-works of the universe; a monk who collects strange plants; a talking mirror that divulges scores from a 1943 Cubs-Giants baseball game. I suspect the author wove his fantasy out of migraines, nightmares, and a love of mechanical oddities and spells that turn tomatoes into squishy red carriages. Prospero himself has a "cherrywood bedstead with a bassoon carved into one of the fat headposts, so that it could be played as you lay in bed and meditated...On a shelf over the experiment table was the inevitable skull, which the wizard put there to remind him of death, though it usually reminded him that he needed to go to the dentist." I'd better put an end to this review before I quote the whole book. It's so good, it pulls me in every time I open it---Enchanting, in the original sense of the word, and frightening, too.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fantasy classic and a quick read
*by T***Y on May 15, 2018*

Gary Gygax included *The Face in the Frost* on his now-famous list of books that influenced the first iteration of Dungeons & Dragons. I'd known about it myself for 30-plus years, but I'd never gotten around to reading it. On the upside, it's short compared to most novels these days. It's also lighthearted for a fantasy work: Bellairs doesn't take himself too seriously, and he's happy to throw in laughs now and again. On the downside, *The Face in the Frost* doesn't leave much of an impression. It's a fun read, and the two central characters are interesting, but it's not what I'd call a page-turner. If Bellairs weren't such a talented wordsmith, I'd have left it three stars, since the plot itself is fairly "meh".

### ⭐⭐⭐ Prototype That Doesn't Hold Up Against Those Inspired By It
*by D***X on January 13, 2015*

This novel is considered a classic because it helped define a new genre: high fantasy for young adult readers. For that reason alone, it should be accorded five stars. However, I am reviewing the novel as it compares the the crowded field of great fantasy stories that have emerged since. The characters are interesting. The story is interesting. But on a scale of utter sludge to Harry Potter, I can only place it squarely in the middle. I never came to love the characters, nor care that much about what they were doing. Perhaps that has more to do with the fact that the novel was written for tweens and teens, not for jaded adults. So ... tweens will probably like this, and many teens. Everyone else will struggle to not compare it to the fantastic fantasy novels written since, most of which owe a debt to The Face in the Frost for blazing a trail.

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*Product available on Desertcart Hong Kong*
*Store origin: HK*
*Last updated: 2026-03-04*