The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica: A Novel

This book combines Norse mythology, epic sea adventure, and future global politics into a strange but compelling read. The main part of it is set in a world where governments decide to only serve their elites' best interests and dispel those not native to their country, thereby creating a huge population of permanent refugees. Many take to the seas to find a new home, only to be turned away everywhere they go. Eventually many groups make their way to Antarctica, fighting each other along the way.

Full of wild characters and frenzied battles, the book is impressive in its image of a world returning to the Dark Ages over the course of one man's life. It's hampered by being dense and preachy too.

A dark and disturbing portrait of apocalypse in the very near future, this novel describes the efforts of a desperate group of outcasts who endeavor to escape the near-global destruction by sailing to the South Pole. The eccentric characters don't quite salvage this dense, unrelenting book, but eschatology fans might like it.

The two halves read as if written years apart (they were), but this is great book.

1/25/23