Product Description

From the award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy comes a thrilling new novel....

Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning Mars trilogy, is one of the most original and visionary writers of fiction today. Now, in his latest novel, he takes us to a harsh, alien landscape covered by a sheet of ice two miles deep. This is no distant planet--it is the last pure wilderness on earth.

A stark and inhospitable place, its landscape poses a challenge to survival; yet its strange, silent beauty has long fascinated scientists and adventurers. Now Antarctica faces an uncertain future. The international treaty that protects the continent is about to dissolve, clearing the way for Antarctica's resources and eerie beauty to be plundered. As politicians and corporations move to determine its fate from half a world away, radical environmentalists carry out a covert campaign of sabotage to reclaim the land. The winner of this critical battle will determine the future for this last great wilderness....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #287387 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-06
• Released on: 1999-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 672 pages

From Amazon.com
In the near future, Wade Norton has been sent to Antarctica by Senator Phil Chase to investigate rumors of environmental sabotage. He arrives on the frozen continent and immediately begins making contact with the various scientific and political factions that comprise Antarctic society. What he finds is an interesting blend of inhabitants who don't always mesh well but who all share a common love of Antarctica and a fierce devotion to their life there. He also begins to uncover layers of Antarctic culture that have been kept hidden from the rest of the world, and some of them are dangerous indeed. Things are brought to a head when the saboteurs--or "ecoteurs" as they call themselves--launch an attack designed to drive humans off the face of Antarctica. This is Kim Stanley Robinson's first book since his award-winning Mars trilogy, and while some of the themes may be familiar to seasoned Robinson readers, the book is never less than engrossing. As usual Robinson does a masterful job with the setting of his story, and anyone interested in Antarctica won't want to miss this one. --Craig Engler

From Publishers Weekly
In the early 21st century, things are beginning to change in Antarctica. Scientists still come down to the American base at McMurdo to do research, but they now bump shoulders with tourists hoping to retrace the treks of early explorers. More seriously, with the world's oil fields almost depleted, multinational corporations are jockeying for position, conducting secret explorations for oil and spending millions to defeat the renewal of the Antarctic Treaty, which has reserved the continent for purely scientific research for half a century. And other, even more secretive groups apparently haunt the Antarctic outback as well: feral human societies and radical environmentalists whose motives are only partly understood. Antarctica is undergoing major climactic change, too, perhaps the most dramatic example of the global warming that has turned much of the world's former temperate zone into a steam bath. The Ross Ice Shelf has largely broken up and the enormously greater Antarctic icesheet may be about to follow suit. Robinson (Blue Mars) brings to this novel a passionate concern for landscape, ecology and the effects of the "Gotterdammerung capitalism" that he sees as the most serious threat to the survival of our species. His major charactersAa U.S. senator's aide, a professional Antarctic mountaineer and a misfit doing grunt labor at McMurdoAare well drawn, but ultimately the novel is about the land itself. Moving back and forth between breathtaking descriptions of the alien, out-of-scale beauty of Antarctica, gripping tales of adventure on the ice and astute analyses of the ecopolitics of the southernmost continent, Robinson has created another superb addition to what is rapidly becoming one of the most impressive bodies of work in SF. (July) FYI: Each of Robinson's last three novels, Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, won either a Hugo or a Nebula.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Antarctica in the 21st century serves as a site for scientific research, tourism, and industrial exploitation?until a terrorist attack by environmental extremists calls into question humanity's right to invade the earth's last unexplored continent. The latest ecothriller by the talented author of the Mars trilogy (Blue Mars, LJ 7/96) builds suspense slowly, capturing the beauty of the icebound polar region and examining the motives of those who brave its inhospitable climate. This near-future sf adventure may solidify the author's appeal to a general audience. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great Robinson Tale
Antarctica is probably my favorite KSR book, of the 10 or so I've read. I love his vision of the continent and the stories of the people who live there. Fun adventures, likeable characters, and amazing descriptions of settings. Plus, although the Mars trilogy is great, Antarctica is a little less intimidating to get into- you don't end up becoming devoted to thousands of pages of reading to enjoy it.

A bit tedious, but better than the Mars books
I find Kim Stanley Robinson a bit of a hard slog to read. It is like he is showing off about all the clever bits of information he knows about Antarctica or Mars. I am a Geologist, and I have been to Antarctica, so I know can understand all the technical jargon, but I think many would get snowed under in all the fine detail which isn't necessary for the plot and I just feel like he is going 'see how smart I am'.

I also found the characters to be pretty much the same as in the Mars trilogy. The asian/eskimo alternative lifestyle guru, the crazy russian guy, the hurt, driven woman, etc.

I liked the gist of the story, but a bit too tedious.

Enjoyable but Uneven Book
I almost began this review by saying that I am not a fan of Robinson. However, that would be incomplete; I have only read one other of Robinson's books--The Years of Rice and Salt--and based on that book, I have not tried any of his others, even his highly-regarded Mars trilogy. If you loved "The Years of Rice and Salt," you should probably read a different review, because we don't share similar sensibilities; I didn't like that book at all.

That being said, this is an enjoyable but very uneven book. The view of Antartic life is wonderful, both the Polar culture and that of McMurdo. The scene of those two places is well drawn, interesting, and involving. I really came to enjoy several of the characters, even though most of them are--let's be honest--pretty sparsely drawn or even two-dimensional. But still, Wade, X, and especially Spiff and Viktor were enjoyable folks to read about. Their adventures, little and big, made fun reading, and of course the setting is simply awesome. I think Robinson does an especially good job bringing home to you the vastness, cold, and emptiness of Antarctica (I had a friend who went there for several seasons doing graduate research).

Unfortunately, I have two big problems with this book: the action is very uneven, and one of main characters--Val--I found stupendously annoying. One at a time.

First, the action. I honestly believe that *everyone* will find this book uneven, and will love some of it, and hate other parts. The dicey bit is, we're all going to love and hate different things. For example, a large portion of the book is taken up with an adventure trek (much like today's adventure climbs up Everest) along the same path that Amundsen, the first man to make it to the South Pole, took. I found almost all of this stupendously dull. Frankly, I couldn't care less. There is an especially long section where Val, the guide for the trekkers, is leading them on a long march across the Antarctic plateau, and it goes on for nearly 25 pages. Walking. A little dialogue, a lot of internal monologue (the guide's) and a whole lot of walking. 25 pages. Forgive me, but for me, that's stupifying. Indeed, on re-reading, I skip the whole thing.

But perhaps for you, it would be the best part of the novel, and the things that I love--such as the sub-culture of the folks who are at the Pole--would bore you to tears. It's hard to say. But I'm fairly confident that *some* of it will be interesting, and some of it dull. You've been duly warned.

With regard to Val, I will say little. She is a main character, and it's always a tough ride when you dislike a main character. Let me just say this: she keeps saying (and thinking and showing by her behavior) that she is "toast," i.e. done being a guide in Antarctica. Well, I got it the first time; I really didn't need to be told another half dozen or more times. I also found her approach to relationships pretty irritating, her view of men simplistic and absurd, and her physical attributes (how many women does one meet who are 6'4"? I've met exactly, um, none) to be almost unbelievable. But who knows; you might like her. In fact, there are probably plenty of folks who do.

So there you have it. I like this book enough to re-read it, but it's uneveness really gets to me. It's like going to a 2.5 star movie; you just *know* that it *could* have been so much better that you can't decide if you're more frustrated, or entertained.