Often, the best fiction stories are those that transport us to distant lands and take us away from our mundane lives.  The Icebound Land accomplishes that goal nicely.  The narrative follows two stories.  In one, Will and Evanlyn deal with their new lives as captives of a Viking-type society.  In the other, Halt and Horace travel through a Malory-inspired land replete with knights issuing challenges at bridges.  The prose is straightforward enough to be read by young readers (my daughter devoured the series while in fourth grade) yet is by no means too juvenile for more mature readers.