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portybelle's review against another edition
5.0
I have read quite a few of Sara Sheridan's books and what I love about them is that she is writing women back into history. All too often women's contributions to history are overlooked since many accounts were written by men and anything women did write was often not valued or retained. Sara Sheridan's books are full of strong, feisty women bringing a different perspective to history. In The Ice Maiden she mixes fact with fiction to great effect.
Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic following the death of her seafaring husband on a whaling expedition. She is desperate to return to her sister in Amsterdam and stows away on board a ship, dressed as a boy. However, she is horrified to discover that the ship is in fact heading for the Antarctic, one of the harshest environments in the known world.
Though I was reading this during the continuing heatwave, Sara Sheridan certainly brought the cold of the Antarctic vividly to life. All the little details of life on board ship built up a clear picture of a sailor's life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It must have been meticulously researched and yet the detail is never too much. Sara Sheridan's passion for illuminating history shines through, bringing to life a time and way of life I knew little about. It was fascinating to read about how people survived in such harsh conditions.
Karina was a terrific character to read about. She was a spirited, brave and passionate woman. She had been through so much that when love presented itself, she didn't want to wait, perhaps rather unconventional for a woman of her time but then Karina was a rather extraordinary character. And my goodness she was a brilliant woman scorned!
The story took an unexpected turn which certainly took me by surprise. Once I had got my head around what had happened, I settled back into the story with renewed interest. I did need to suspend disbelief a bit but the way the story unfolds makes this easy to do. It gave Karina - and the reader - a chance to find out and understand so much more about the significant people and places in her life. This different approach to telling the story also enabled Karina to have insight into one of the most famous Antarctic expeditions - the voyage of the Discovery with Scott and Shackleton on board. I'm particularly fascinated by Sir Ernest so loved this part of the story. I've visited the actual ship at Discovery Point in Dundee so could easily imagine life on board.
The Ice Maiden is a hugely enjoyable adventure story of love, betrayal, revenge and danger in the frozen south.
Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic following the death of her seafaring husband on a whaling expedition. She is desperate to return to her sister in Amsterdam and stows away on board a ship, dressed as a boy. However, she is horrified to discover that the ship is in fact heading for the Antarctic, one of the harshest environments in the known world.
Though I was reading this during the continuing heatwave, Sara Sheridan certainly brought the cold of the Antarctic vividly to life. All the little details of life on board ship built up a clear picture of a sailor's life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It must have been meticulously researched and yet the detail is never too much. Sara Sheridan's passion for illuminating history shines through, bringing to life a time and way of life I knew little about. It was fascinating to read about how people survived in such harsh conditions.
Karina was a terrific character to read about. She was a spirited, brave and passionate woman. She had been through so much that when love presented itself, she didn't want to wait, perhaps rather unconventional for a woman of her time but then Karina was a rather extraordinary character. And my goodness she was a brilliant woman scorned!
The story took an unexpected turn which certainly took me by surprise. Once I had got my head around what had happened, I settled back into the story with renewed interest. I did need to suspend disbelief a bit but the way the story unfolds makes this easy to do. It gave Karina - and the reader - a chance to find out and understand so much more about the significant people and places in her life. This different approach to telling the story also enabled Karina to have insight into one of the most famous Antarctic expeditions - the voyage of the Discovery with Scott and Shackleton on board. I'm particularly fascinated by Sir Ernest so loved this part of the story. I've visited the actual ship at Discovery Point in Dundee so could easily imagine life on board.
The Ice Maiden is a hugely enjoyable adventure story of love, betrayal, revenge and danger in the frozen south.
catsluvcoffee's review against another edition
2.0
I debated whether to read this one. I'm not much on drama type historical books and that's what it seemed like from the cover and the blurb. Then I read the "A historical adventure with a paranormal twist" label that it has. Okay, now we are talking!
The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.
I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.
The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.
The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.
I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.
The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.
katheastman's review against another edition
4.0
Sara Sheridan’s The Ice Maiden is a remarkable tale: we gain fresh perspective into what it was like to be a seafarer’s wife, a woman on board ship, and a part of pioneering Polar expeditions.
The Ice Maiden is told in three distinct parts: one land-based, the next at sea, and the last of which is ice bound.
We first meet Karina on Deception Island. And although the name refers to it looking deceptively like an island, when in fact it’s a ring around a flooded caldera, could there be a more sinister-sounding place than Deception Island? It doesn’t bode well.
This ominous start and her life on Deception Island help explain why she takes the drastic next step in finding a way off the island. Her route out of there particularly fraught at a time when sailors were superstitious about women being on board ship, believing they brought bad luck, but of course this wasn’t the only way in which a woman’s presence could unsettle the men.
Life at sea is exceptionally hard and Sara Sheridan does an excellent job of bringing this working ship to life, with all the knocks, noise, smells and challenges of living in cramped quarters while being at the mercy of the elements. I was relieved when Karina finds some small measure of happiness and protection here, even though I sensed it would not last the voyage.
For the third and final act, Sara Sheridan steers her story towards the Antarctic and I felt the full force of her descriptive powers in this section. I could picture the frozen landmass so clearly: brutal, unforgiving, shifting, peaceful, lonely, inhospitable, stark but striking in an otherworldly way.
Sara Sheridan effects a sudden switch in the story here, which initially left me reeling and struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. But I trusted her storytelling skills and went with the shift in mood and atmosphere. There’s an ethereal, wraithlike quality to this section of the book, and Karina, which feels bound up in the landscape; both as majestic and menacing as the ice itself.
The Ice Maiden is told in three distinct parts: one land-based, the next at sea, and the last of which is ice bound.
We first meet Karina on Deception Island. And although the name refers to it looking deceptively like an island, when in fact it’s a ring around a flooded caldera, could there be a more sinister-sounding place than Deception Island? It doesn’t bode well.
This ominous start and her life on Deception Island help explain why she takes the drastic next step in finding a way off the island. Her route out of there particularly fraught at a time when sailors were superstitious about women being on board ship, believing they brought bad luck, but of course this wasn’t the only way in which a woman’s presence could unsettle the men.
Life at sea is exceptionally hard and Sara Sheridan does an excellent job of bringing this working ship to life, with all the knocks, noise, smells and challenges of living in cramped quarters while being at the mercy of the elements. I was relieved when Karina finds some small measure of happiness and protection here, even though I sensed it would not last the voyage.
For the third and final act, Sara Sheridan steers her story towards the Antarctic and I felt the full force of her descriptive powers in this section. I could picture the frozen landmass so clearly: brutal, unforgiving, shifting, peaceful, lonely, inhospitable, stark but striking in an otherworldly way.
Sara Sheridan effects a sudden switch in the story here, which initially left me reeling and struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. But I trusted her storytelling skills and went with the shift in mood and atmosphere. There’s an ethereal, wraithlike quality to this section of the book, and Karina, which feels bound up in the landscape; both as majestic and menacing as the ice itself.
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