This novel is filled with plenty of interesting information about Antarctica, the history of exploration there and the geology and geography of the continent, the author is clearly well read on this subject. A lot of detail is provided and I found this distracting at times and some times patronising, but this style may suit others. There is also a concentration on the technicalities of life in Antarctica and how people move around and survive in this environment. I found the lack of back-up for a tour group unlikely in that difficult environment, which made the tale seem implausible. An easy and distracting read and good to gen up on some history. ( )

Kim Stanley Robinson is an excellent sci-fi author, and if you like sci-fi, you should definitely read his Mars trilogy. This book is different, it's set in the present (late 90s when the book was published) in Antarctica. It still retains much of his writing style from the Mars trilogy and is an entertaining read. Highly recommended if Antarctica is a place that fascinates you. If not, you're probably not missing much by not reading it. ( )

This is one of my favorite books ever. ( )

Superb. A real tour-de-force in near future SF combined with a very vividly described love of the outdoors.

Set in 2013 (never explicitly stated, but "two years after the end of the Antarctic treaty" defines it precisely), it was written in '97 shortly after KSRs own trip to the Antarctic. One of the main problems with near future SF is in predicting the level of technology available. KSR has doen well here with minimal advances, the always connected society of true view glasses, and GPS seems very likely, smart fabric with solar powered features, again is only just around the corner. Even the laser ice borers could be within out grasp. the political situation is also very probable. With the expiration of the current treaty, renewing it will be held up for years as various factions attempt to gain permissions for oil and gas extraction. Tourist trips also impinge on the formerly pristine environment.

We follow a few dedicated antarcticans over the space of a week or so, with a few paragraphs of flashback as they mull over why they are in this most inhospitable region. Val is a tour guide leading packs of "we're so hard" tourists coddled in the latest technology as they try and recreate the truly epic efforts of the original explorers. Wade - and aide to senator Phil Chase - as he explores what is happening in antarctica and whether he can use it to make political points and maybe even influence events. And X nicknamed so for being extralarge, a general service assistant strangely naive and also full of social science background. Insightful inserts come in the form of commentary from Xu who is a geomancy studying the antarctic for the billions of chinese who will never visit it.

It is the characters who are perhaps the least convincing of all the writing. Val the very compitent guide suddenly suffers a major personallity reversal, X becomes infused with social science etc however overal it works well. The landscape descriptions and technical details are very real, anybody who's spent any time outdoors will appreciate the vivid imagery and the hardships. The other disappointment perhaps is the very utopian and naive ending, after all the superb and realistic events and interactions it seems somewhat unlikely that sucj a disparete group will manage to formulate a new Antarctic treaty acceptible to all of them let alone the megacorporations baying for the chance to make money.

Overall it is fascinating, the landscape carrys the plot and you can feel KSRs real love for bing outdoors. Superb SF. ( )

I tremendously enjoyed the Mars Trilogy by KSR, so I was looking forward to this book. And I was not disappointed. The novel is set in the near future in Antarctica (duh!). The stage is set by some mysterious events on the icy continent that could be linked to ecological terrorism or sabotage (aka ecotage). A US senator's aide is sent to investigate. Along the way we meet various, not quite indigenous, characters and observe their lives and reasons for being there. At the same, many pages are devoted to the description of the landscape and its barren beauty. This trait is in common KSR's Mars books and would remind me of the long-winded descriptions of Tolkien had the difference in the objects of description not been so great. The resolution is similar in tone to the constitutional congress in the middle of the Mars Trilogy.

The biggest detraction from this book, I find, is the annoying, self assured Feng Shui expert. Robinson takes this character way too seriously. ( )