Ice Master: Amazon.co.uk: Jennifer Niven: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Eighty-five years after a famous, but ill-equipped, Canadian Arctic expedition of 1913 had sacrificed 16 lives, some artefacts appeared on an Internet auction site. They had originated at a "ghost camp" discovered i n 1924 where four of the expedition's 28 men, one woman and two children had perished. Jennifer Niven has completed the unfulfilled mission of survivor William McKinlay to produce a "more honest and revealing account" of the wreck of the Karluk and its aftermath.

The explorers became split into several dispersed groups living "in the shadow of death". Their simultaneous grim and gruesome experiences are interwoven in this minutely detailed and atmospheric retelling, created by combining and comparing separate first-hand accounts and other sources. The characters are vividly recreated, from the expedition's self-interested leader, whom McKinlay named "a consummate liar and cheat", to the heroic ship's master who struggled over 700 miles to organise a rescue. Supplemented by haunting and fascinating photographs, The Ice Master can be harrowing and touching. It makes exciting and compulsive reading. This is a momentous story of the Arctic; of adventure, misadventure and the heights of human endurance. But it is also a story of human failings and the waste of young lives, as poignant now as it was when it was big news in 1914. --Karen Tiley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

More and more books these days are dealing with danger-fraught, true-life expeditions, but Nevin's remarkable epic is something special. As well as the customary descriptions of extraordinary bravery and a vividly realised Arctic backdrop, Nevin is able to stir treacherous crew members and the astonishing behaviour of the expedition's leader into her narrative. Sailing from British Columbia in 1913 in search of the undiscovered Arctic continent, the Karluk and its crew were soon imprisoned in ice, abandoned by the expedition's leader. The tale of their survival on the ship for five appalling months (until it was crushed by powerful ice floes) and their subsequent time on the Polar ice pack is a tale of bravery and horror such as fiction can rarely deliver. Despite the cool, dispassionate prose, the reader becomes closely caught up in the fate of the handful of survivors and Nevin uses the material available to her to characterise strongly the various protagonists. An astonishing read.

Niven's brilliantly researched reconstruction of a little known Arctic expedition in 1913 has a high chill factor. The story with a cast of characters drawn from many countries charts the ill-fated voyage of the Karluk, a wooden freighter, which should never have put to sea let alone set course for the ice floes of the Arctic. Utilizing the diaries of those who miraculously survived the initial voyage, the ship being wedged in ice, drifting and subsequently sinking and an escape across the ice, the author conjures up that period of exploration before radio, rescue aircraft and modern survival techniques. She also tells a story of misplaced pride, of the race to be first at all costs, when governments in this case the Canadian government were trying to claim part of the Arctic as their territory. Above all by drawing on the life-long quest for justice from one of the survivors, the book points the finger of blame at the credentials and character of the explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who was prepared to sacrifice his men for his own unrelenting ambition to be first and to be famous. A story of high adventure with a cast of misfits thrown together in extreme circumstances, this reads like a novel and yet is as true as the cold and unrelenting winds of the Arctic which seem to blow through every page. Best read with the central heating turned up a notch or two. (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

A story to rival Shackleton's "Endurance" expedition 3 Feb 2003

By Otto99 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The story of the "Karluk" expedition of 1913-14 is an undeservedly obscure one, and this book should more than amply serve to make amends.

Becoming marooned in a ship, frozen into the treachorous Arctic icepack, and then winding up on a desolate, wind-beaten island, was at that time the equivalent of being stranded on the Moon. Jennifer Niven has written a wonderfully detailed but emminently readable account, based on the diaries and papers of the expedition members, and following each of them in their quest to return safely to civilisation. Deadly ice conditions, awful weather, grim starvation and devisive in-fighting all do their best to finish them off, making this a remarkable tale of survival against extremes.

I've read a good many accounts of various expeditions, and this has shot to the top of the list with the best of them. I can't wait to read it again.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

The true story of a doomed ship's battle with the Arctic 7 May 2002

By R. P. Davies

Format:Hardcover

In 1913 the noted explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson led the Canadian Arctic Expedition north in search of a new land. Apart from the ship's master, Robert Bartlett, the crew were complete Arctic novices, and the cheaply bought Karluk herself was old, creaking, beset by problems from the outset and was hardly seaworthy.
Jennifer Niven's chronological narrative(save for the first chapter)is drawn heavily from the extensive remaining notes, diaries and letters of the crew, and from interviews with survivors and relatives. This allows characters to present themselves as individuals, coping as best they can with the events of this remarkable story. Heroes and cowards, the stoic and the complaining, the fortunate and the unfortunate are here for us to join in a marvellously researched and written book.

A harrowing yet uplifting tale of human suffering and braver 21 Dec 2000

By jmckenna@thb.scot.nhs.uk

The Ice Master is a harrowing tale of a dooomed expedition to the icy wastes of the Arctic Circle. It speaks of a bygone age, but still manages to convey a sense of time and place today, and you feel that you know each character by the end of the book, so beautifully drawn are they by the author. The research has been impeccably undertaken by someone with a love of her subject,and the attention to detail is highly impressive. You cannot help but feel for the men, women and children who were left to their fate in freezing temperatures by selfish and egocentric men, who were help bent on personal glory. It is essentially a diary of survival and of personal bravery and cowardice juxtaposed. It is hard to imagine the horrors these people went through in the frozen and desolate landscape in which they were abandoned. A fantastic read from the warmth of your sitting room on cold Winter's nights, that leaves you with feelings of sadness and uplifts you in equal measure.