Ashley Shelby

Three stars. Decent book, I finished, but not something I particularly enjoyed. Good premise, good them, interesting setting, but very little forward motion.

The story dragged. The characters were interesting but way too much backstory at random times throughout. And the author settled down after awhile, but the overuse of complicated words that added nothing to the story was disruptive to the plot development.

I appreciated the theme and the overall goal of the story, that science should be inclusive as long as it's good science, and not all good science produces definitive proof, but even the theme was treated with too much high-brow arrogance.… (mais)

I agree with another reviewer---there was so much detail to give you a mental picture of the South Pole that it IS hard to believe the author wasn't actually THERE for some period of time. I was listening to the CD---while I was raking---and the CD was over before my raking is finished---good story for a project---but it almost made me colder than the weather I was raking in!! I liked the whole climate discussion --- we need so much more emphasis on the whole problem so it was great that the author handled it so well, even in a novel.… (mais)

Cooper is unmoored--her family faced the tragic suicide of her twin and she is in a field that is difficult to be successful at overnight. Cooper's father, Bill Gosling, practically raised them on bedtime stories involving the various expeditions to the Antarctic region. So much so, those were some of the games the siblings played as children. When an opportunity arrives in the form of an artist in residence post from the National Science Federation, Cooper jumps at the chance to endure the rigorous training and eventually wind up in Antarctica. It's not too surprising that there is a diverse group populating the South Pole Station. Some of the narrative moves between them and the overall scientific community. The addition of a climate change denier drives a good portion of the book, as the scientitists and other members of the community go head to head. There was a lot of information about the base and life on that base. It was very vivid, I had trouble believing the author hadn't spent time there as well.… (mais)