Review: Just a Great Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2013
Honestly, this was a surprise to me. I had purchased the Kindle edition of the book a last month not really knowing what I was going to get. What I did get was a well paced and well researched story of adventure and intrigue on and next to the glaciers of Antarctica. The book consistently struck a good note between keeping an exciting story going and developing some depth to the characters so that we not only want Luke and Maddie to live but maybe to end up being a couple. None of the protagonists is a perfect person and the author is skillful in her exploitation of her characters' imperfections to create a cast of players that feel real and human.One appreciated piece of the book was the 2 or 3 page summary where the author tells how she came to research and write the story. I'll say right here that I was slightly surprised the author was a woman: L A Larkin mainly concentrates on semi-tough and rough-around-the-edges Luke Searling; his character felt as though it were written from a male's point of view, I think it's always a tough trick for writers to properly portray characters of the opposite sex.At 340 printed pages, the book felt like it was the right length and even the ending felt like it was just the right length.Quibbles that affect the Kindle version only: The chapter breaks seemed illogical...going back and forth a chapter just didn't bring you to the expected place.There is a map at the beginning of the book that I would like to have been able to refer back to a few times. Had I more faith in being able to navigate the layout effectively, I would have probably got just a little bit more enjoyment by using the map.On the plus side, the Kindle edition allowed me to look up the meaning of a couple of words. Australian Larkin uses the word "judder" near the end of the book (a chiefly British word meaning to vibrate) and used "abseil" throughout the book (another mainly British word more or less synonymous with rappel).One final note: early in the book, Luke -- from Melbourne -- hears a voice on the radio and wonders if the accent is American.  I have a number of Australian friends and I am pretty sure they are always the ones with an accent. Us Americans never have accents. Sheesh.