Arctic Rising [Hardcover]

I won't go into the story line. Enough has been written about that. Though I finished this book, it was a struggle and I will probably never again read a book edited by Paul Stevens. The mistakes were downright embarrassing! Since I was reading a library copy, I didn't underline all the typos, grammatical errors, or gibberish encountered, but I will give one example taken from page 297, sentence #6: 'Then he left them to hopped his down into the palatial main cabin, looking for tools...' Enough said.

Arctic Rising begins with somewhat of a bang when Anika Duncan is shot down in her airship after she and her partner attempt to investigate a ship that may be smuggling dangerous material. Anika survives the attack, but her partner, Tom, is injured, and after visiting him in the hospital, she returns home to recuperate. Relaxation is short-lived, however, when she receives a call bearing more bad news, plus she's asked to identify the men that supposedly attempted to shoot her down. Something else is in the works, though, something much worse than the dumping of hazardous materials. After taking a tour of the ship that attacked her, she finds a mysterious floating orb and smuggles it out, only to have to turn it over to higher officials. It turns out these orbs are part of a plan by the Gaia Corp. to stop warming and halt the melting of the Arctic ice. But, is this the best thing for the earth? Someone doesn't think so, and plans to use a nuclear weapon to stop Gaia. Anika Duncan, bent on revenge, will have to use every one of her resources to get justice, but will it cost her her life?

In a future world where global warming is no longer just a warning, and where the polar ice is melting at alarming rates, things have certainly changed, and the author wastes no time mining this scenario to create a fascinating setting for Arctic Rising. Anika, still young and a bit idealistic, wastes no time making the decision to go after the bad guys, especially after attempts on her life. She's no innocent though, and her background gave her plenty of backbone and bravery. After teaming up with a former mercenary,and a beautiful drug dealer, Anika pretty much stops at nothing to do the right thing, and this is what I really liked about her. The author has plenty of fascinating ideas on the environment, eco-terrorism, consumerism, and the possible future of our world, which are on prominent display here, but he also focuses on the humanity of his characters, even the "bad guys". You might want to cuddle up with a warm blanket while reading this one though, because even though the Arctic is warming, it'll still make you shiver, for more reasons than one. Fast-paced, exciting, and sometimes brutal, fans of sci-fi and ecologically focused thrillers will love this one. Definitely not to be missed!

A leading magazine recommended this book, but alas, I cannot in good conscience do the same. A mere forty pages in, it became painfully obvious that the author has watched perhaps one too many James Bond movies. And this is well before the blatant Bond reference that appears later in the storyline. The characters are all 2D cardboard cutouts with no dimension to their personalities, nor is there any meaning as to why they behave as they do. The story careens from one incident to the next with improbable reality and predictable swashbuckling, with everyone from spies to "ladies of fantasy" wielding all manner of automatic weapons. The premise of the story is intriguing enough, but the development of the plot is as thin and unsatisfying as a Roger Moore era Bond film. Others have commented on the atrocious editing, so I won't belabor this point, but merely concur.

Yes, I finished the book, but with no interest in the characters, good or evil, but merely to see how the author resolved the tiresome plot. Reading this book is like eating a chocolate bar to stave off extreme hunger. It satisfies for a fleeting moment, but ultimately leaves you all the more hungry for something of substance. If a page turner with an endless succession of one sentence paragraphs is what you crave, this book should fit the bill nicely. If you want more substance with a plausible scenario, you may want to skip this and read Matthew Glass' "Ultimatum."