On This Page
Description
National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters delivers a moving, classic love story with a coming out theme and a modern twist.The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and show more engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I just plain flat out enjoy the writing of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, whether it be a Pendergast novel or a standalone thriller. When I'm in need of high-quality distraction, I know where to go. Well, I was in need, and The Ice Limit filled the bill.
The authors really gave me a feel for the weather and seas around Cape Horn-- and made me wonder how on earth those earliest of explorers ever made it through sailing their tiny wooden ships. I also found the logistics of transporting the huge meteorite fascinating, from digging it out of the ground to getting it aboard the oil tanker to beginning the journey home. Of course, there's a nasty villain threatening their very existence during the last half of the book, but his behavior show more is almost secondary to the weird goings-on surrounding the meteorite.
Thrillers aren't usually known for their characterization, but there were two characters in this book to whom I reacted. The most interesting was McFarlane, the meteorite hunter because his character did grow and change. I had a less favorable reaction to Glinn, the man in charge of the operation. I became very tired of him never explaining what he was doing. Yes, he was brilliant at his job, but when a magician pulls an endless number of rabbits out of his hat, he becomes boring.
On the whole, this book moves swiftly, and the story is engrossing. It also ends on a doozy of a cliffhanger. For those who can't stand unresolved issues, Beyond the Ice Limit became available this year. I think I'm going to have to find out what's going on with that meteorite! show less
The authors really gave me a feel for the weather and seas around Cape Horn-- and made me wonder how on earth those earliest of explorers ever made it through sailing their tiny wooden ships. I also found the logistics of transporting the huge meteorite fascinating, from digging it out of the ground to getting it aboard the oil tanker to beginning the journey home. Of course, there's a nasty villain threatening their very existence during the last half of the book, but his behavior show more is almost secondary to the weird goings-on surrounding the meteorite.
Thrillers aren't usually known for their characterization, but there were two characters in this book to whom I reacted. The most interesting was McFarlane, the meteorite hunter because his character did grow and change. I had a less favorable reaction to Glinn, the man in charge of the operation. I became very tired of him never explaining what he was doing. Yes, he was brilliant at his job, but when a magician pulls an endless number of rabbits out of his hat, he becomes boring.
On the whole, this book moves swiftly, and the story is engrossing. It also ends on a doozy of a cliffhanger. For those who can't stand unresolved issues, Beyond the Ice Limit became available this year. I think I'm going to have to find out what's going on with that meteorite! show less
Palmer Lloyd, eccentric billionaire and 7th richest man in the world is an obsessed collector of all sorts of museum quality specimens. He is presently building his own museum to overshadow all of the most famous museum collections. He learns of the discovery of what could be the largest meteorite ever found. He naturally will go to any expense to obtain this spectacular prize.
He assembles a team of experts to not only excavate but retrieve and transport what will be the heaviest load ever moved (5 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower). Unfortunately the location of the meteorite is the frigid, icy, inhospitable Isla Desolacion in the Cape Horn islands south of Tierra del Fuego. The price tag is 300 million dollars. Eli Glinn, head of show more Effective Engineering Solutions, a Mission Impossible like team of engineers, scientists and mercenaries heads the project. He is ably assisted by oil tanker captain Sally Britton and meteorite hunter and planetary geologist Sam MacFarlane. Together they endeavor to overcome incredulous physical obstacles along with a relentless commendante of a Chilean naval destroyer who is determined to thwart their efforts.
In reading the book, it was amazing. I wanted the team to succeed; sure we have our typical crazy wealthy man sacrificing human life for his own needs, but the characters are so committed to making it work, that I felt like I was right there with them.
It's amazing: Preston/Child give away the novel's "secret ending" early on in the book, but you don't know it until you reach the end. And, oh what an ending. I should have known----it needs a sequel! They can't just leave us hanging, can they? Let's hope not. show less
He assembles a team of experts to not only excavate but retrieve and transport what will be the heaviest load ever moved (5 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower). Unfortunately the location of the meteorite is the frigid, icy, inhospitable Isla Desolacion in the Cape Horn islands south of Tierra del Fuego. The price tag is 300 million dollars. Eli Glinn, head of show more Effective Engineering Solutions, a Mission Impossible like team of engineers, scientists and mercenaries heads the project. He is ably assisted by oil tanker captain Sally Britton and meteorite hunter and planetary geologist Sam MacFarlane. Together they endeavor to overcome incredulous physical obstacles along with a relentless commendante of a Chilean naval destroyer who is determined to thwart their efforts.
In reading the book, it was amazing. I wanted the team to succeed; sure we have our typical crazy wealthy man sacrificing human life for his own needs, but the characters are so committed to making it work, that I felt like I was right there with them.
It's amazing: Preston/Child give away the novel's "secret ending" early on in the book, but you don't know it until you reach the end. And, oh what an ending. I should have known----it needs a sequel! They can't just leave us hanging, can they? Let's hope not. show less
In reading some of the other reviews of this book, it seems that there's little "gray" in the feelings people have about it.
They either find it great fun and adventure or useless tripe. I choose to align with the first group!
"The Ice Limit" is a novel set along the lines of what fans of Preston and Child have come to expect...good characterization, great gadgets, and "off-the-wall" plots. They certainly cover all three bases in this book! The 400 pages in this novel seem to fly by due to solid writing and some rather short chapters.
When the world's 7th richest man decides that he wants to add to his eclectic collection of world's "greatest and biggest", the reader is set forth on an adventure of grand proportions. What he seeks is a red show more meteorite weighing in at 250,000 tons. Money becomes no object in this billionaire's quest, so he hires the best experts and scientists and biggest ship that money can buy. Greed is the motivating factor for most of these people, except for archi-geologist Sam McFarlane who wants to study the meteorite for science's sake and Ship Captain Sally Britton, both of whom are seeking to put troubled pasts behind them.
Weather and the Chilean Navy play big roles in the success and/or failure of this venture. Without giving away too much of the plot, let me suffice to say that there are twists and turns every few pages with an ending that certainly leaves the door open for the sequel published some 15 years later.
For those of you who like the novels of Cussler, Crichton, James Rollins, Robert Darnton, or a good "Indiana Jones-type yarn", you won't go wrong with "The Ice Limit". While perhaps not as good as the authors' eariler hits, "Relic" and "Reliquary", this book stands on it's own merits and would make a great motion picture. show less
They either find it great fun and adventure or useless tripe. I choose to align with the first group!
"The Ice Limit" is a novel set along the lines of what fans of Preston and Child have come to expect...good characterization, great gadgets, and "off-the-wall" plots. They certainly cover all three bases in this book! The 400 pages in this novel seem to fly by due to solid writing and some rather short chapters.
When the world's 7th richest man decides that he wants to add to his eclectic collection of world's "greatest and biggest", the reader is set forth on an adventure of grand proportions. What he seeks is a red show more meteorite weighing in at 250,000 tons. Money becomes no object in this billionaire's quest, so he hires the best experts and scientists and biggest ship that money can buy. Greed is the motivating factor for most of these people, except for archi-geologist Sam McFarlane who wants to study the meteorite for science's sake and Ship Captain Sally Britton, both of whom are seeking to put troubled pasts behind them.
Weather and the Chilean Navy play big roles in the success and/or failure of this venture. Without giving away too much of the plot, let me suffice to say that there are twists and turns every few pages with an ending that certainly leaves the door open for the sequel published some 15 years later.
For those of you who like the novels of Cussler, Crichton, James Rollins, Robert Darnton, or a good "Indiana Jones-type yarn", you won't go wrong with "The Ice Limit". While perhaps not as good as the authors' eariler hits, "Relic" and "Reliquary", this book stands on it's own merits and would make a great motion picture. show less
I have to admit that Preston & Child books are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Sometimes they're over the top, but they're almost always a darn good yarn, and Ice Limit is no exception. With a wide cast of interesting characters and a wild plotline, it kept me listening and interested until the very end. I'm also a fan of Scott Brick's narration, so this was a great package for me. Recommended if you like adventure, thrills, and science fiction that could be taking place right now.
I started reading the Gideon Crew series and needed to read this one before I could continue. A billionaire hires a group to bring him back the largest meteorite ever found. It's a dangerous undertaking which pits man against man and nature. It does end on a cliffhanger. I knocked off a half point for the unnecessary hints at romance and Eli Glinn's belief that you can completely predict what a single person will do at any given moment. I didn't like it in the last Gideon Crew book, and I didn't like it here.
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s The Ice Limit introduces their recurring characters of Effective Engineering Solutions (EES) and its president, Eli Glinn, and engineer Manuel Garza. Billionaire Palmer Lloyd hires them along with Dr. Sam McFarlane to recover what they suspect is the largest intact meteorite ever discovered, bigger even than the Ahnighito meteorite in the American Museum of Natural History. McFarlane, a disgraced meteorite hunter, sees this as his opportunity to restore his reputation and pay off some debts. Lloyd, for his part, simply wants to create the most impressive museum in the world and views the meteorite as his latest prize. Joining them are other members of EES and Captain Sally Britton, a supertanker show more captain looking to restore her own reputation.
The story is a great example of Preston & Child’s technological thrillers with fictionalized references to actual history and science sprinkled throughout adding a sense of plausibility. Together, Preston & Child balance several moving parts in a story that tightly moves along and keeps the reader invested in the outcome. Scott Brick performed this unabridged audiobook adaptation and instills each line with the appropriate amount of drama. He differentiates his voice just enough for the main characters and the narrative voice to ensure that the listener can distinguish the action. I had never listened to an MP3 audiobook prior to this and found the way the publisher encoded the CD particularly useful while driving as it featured all 16.5 hours of Brick’s performance on a single disc, thus removing the necessity of awkwardly changing discs while driving. show less
The story is a great example of Preston & Child’s technological thrillers with fictionalized references to actual history and science sprinkled throughout adding a sense of plausibility. Together, Preston & Child balance several moving parts in a story that tightly moves along and keeps the reader invested in the outcome. Scott Brick performed this unabridged audiobook adaptation and instills each line with the appropriate amount of drama. He differentiates his voice just enough for the main characters and the narrative voice to ensure that the listener can distinguish the action. I had never listened to an MP3 audiobook prior to this and found the way the publisher encoded the CD particularly useful while driving as it featured all 16.5 hours of Brick’s performance on a single disc, thus removing the necessity of awkwardly changing discs while driving. show less
In the 19th century, many wealthy individuals collected and displayed natural oddities in cabinets of curiosities. Billionaire Palmer Lloyd wants to accomplish a similar activity except he wants to display these oddities in a museum that he is building. Lloyd is combing the world for the unique and largest specimens. A potential rumored find may be largest meteorite ever discovered buried on the tip of Chile. Since this may be heaviest object to be moved by man, the relocation of this object to New York will require a skilled and professional team. Sam McFarlane, geologist and noted meteorite scientist, has been hired to locate the meteorite. Eli Glinn, president of an engineering company and reputed to accomplish engineering feats, has show more been employed to excavate and load the heavy object onto a redesigned modern supertanker, which will be piloted by the recovering alcoholic Captain Sally Britton. Optimistic, Glinn has planned for all contingencies for disguising the true purpose for their business in Chile and for moving an object which is heavier than a Saturn V rocket. Or has he?
Unfortunately, I read a blurb regarding the second book in the series which referenced the ending of this book so I spent much of this book waiting for the setup of the climax. I would recommend not making the same mistake I did. I did enjoy the story which was well crafted by Preston and Child; however, I did get a bit tired of life on the raging sea at the Strait of Magellan. I felt windswepted and salt-sprayed by the time I finished the book. show less
Unfortunately, I read a blurb regarding the second book in the series which referenced the ending of this book so I spent much of this book waiting for the setup of the climax. I would recommend not making the same mistake I did. I did enjoy the story which was well crafted by Preston and Child; however, I did get a bit tired of life on the raging sea at the Strait of Magellan. I felt windswepted and salt-sprayed by the time I finished the book. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
ThingScore 100
From this popular team comes another solid thriller.
Billionaire Palmer Lloyd's hobby is buying up rare artifacts; the current object of his desire is the world's largest meteorite, buried on an island off the coast of Chile. Eli Glinn is the head of the high-tech engineering firm Palmer hires to figure out a way to bring the meteorite home to the U.S. Sam McFarlane is the down-and-out show more meteorite hunter, the expert whose own theory about the origins of the meteorite, if proven to be true, could spell disaster for everyone involved.
It is no accident that this fits the description of a big-budget feature film. After all, Preston and Child have a history of writing novels that read like movies in prose form, with exciting stories, plenty of interesting characters (here we also have a boat captain who's a recovering alcoholic), and visually arresting set pieces.
Most of the novel's action takes place either on Rolvaag, a huge tanker rebuilt to carry the enormous meteorite, or on Isla Desolacion, where Palmer's group tries to uncover, and move, the meteorite without losing too many lives in the process; both locations are perfect for the big screen. The characterizations here are rather deeper than those found in most of the team's previous thrillers--the players are more like people and less like stick figures--but, as always, the action is what keeps readers turning the pages.
The authors' fans will appreciate their new novel, as will fans of such writers as Michael Crichton and Clive Cussler. show less
Billionaire Palmer Lloyd's hobby is buying up rare artifacts; the current object of his desire is the world's largest meteorite, buried on an island off the coast of Chile. Eli Glinn is the head of the high-tech engineering firm Palmer hires to figure out a way to bring the meteorite home to the U.S. Sam McFarlane is the down-and-out show more meteorite hunter, the expert whose own theory about the origins of the meteorite, if proven to be true, could spell disaster for everyone involved.
It is no accident that this fits the description of a big-budget feature film. After all, Preston and Child have a history of writing novels that read like movies in prose form, with exciting stories, plenty of interesting characters (here we also have a boat captain who's a recovering alcoholic), and visually arresting set pieces.
Most of the novel's action takes place either on Rolvaag, a huge tanker rebuilt to carry the enormous meteorite, or on Isla Desolacion, where Palmer's group tries to uncover, and move, the meteorite without losing too many lives in the process; both locations are perfect for the big screen. The characterizations here are rather deeper than those found in most of the team's previous thrillers--the players are more like people and less like stick figures--but, as always, the action is what keeps readers turning the pages.
The authors' fans will appreciate their new novel, as will fans of such writers as Michael Crichton and Clive Cussler. show less
added by PLReader
Lists
Books Read in 2016
4,666 works; 197 members
Books With Water Words in the Title
186 works; 12 members
Author Information
116+ Works 85,415 Members
Douglas Jerome Preston was born on May 20, 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. in English literature from Pomona College in 1978. His career began at the American Museum of Natural History, where he worked as an editor and writer from 1978 to 1985. He also was a lecturer in English at Princeton University. He became a full-time show more writer of both fiction and nonfiction books in 1986. Many of his fiction works are co-written with Lincoln Child including Relic, Riptide, Thunderhead, The Wheel of Darkness, Cemetery Dance, and Gideon's Corpse. His nonfiction works include Dinosaurs in the Attic; Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado; Talking to the Ground; and The Royal Road. He has written for numerous magazines including The New Yorker; Natural History; Harper's; Smithsonian; National Geographic; and Travel and Leisure. He became a New York Times Best Selling author with his titles Two Graves and Crimson Shores which he co-wrote with Lincoln Child, and his titles White Fire, The Lost Island Blue Labyrinth and The Lost City of the Monkey God. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
91+ Works 77,969 Members
Lincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut in 1957. He received a degree in English from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. After graduation, he obtained a position as an editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press and eventually became a full editor in 1984. He left St. Martin's Press in 1987 for a job at MetLife and began writing. show more Child has co-written numerous books with Douglas Preston including Relic, White Fire, Cold Vengeance, Riptide, Thunderhead, The Wheel of Darkness, Cemetery Dance, Gideon's Corpse, Blue Labyrinth, and Two Graves. In 2003, he published his first solo novel entitled Utopia. His other solo works include Death Match, Deep Storm, Terminal Freeze, The Third Gate, and The Forgotten Room. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Ice limit. Barriera di ghiaccio
- Original title
- The Ice Limit
- Alternate titles
- Ice Ship
- Original publication date
- 2000-07-18
- People/Characters
- Palmer Lloyd; Eli Glinn; Rachel Amira; Sam McFarlane; Sally Britton
- Important places
- Antarctica; Chile
- Dedication
- Lincoln Child dedicates this book to his daughter, Veronica
Douglas Preston dedicates this book to Walter Winings Nelson, artist, photographer, and partner in adventure. - First words
- The valley that had no name ran between barren hills, a long mottled floor of gray and green covered with soldier moss, lichens, and carpha grasses.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"It's sprouting."
- Blurbers
- Fiedelman, Meryl; Halstead, James; Zurawski, Jeanne; Hill, Kimberly; Pritchard, Mimi; Clay, Chris (show all 9); Pound, Win; Chisholm, Pete; Kessler, Raymond
- Disambiguation notice
- Published in German as Ice Ship
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Suspense & Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3566 .R3982 .I27 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 2,156
- Popularity
- 9,365
- Reviews
- 41
- Rating
- (3.65)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 50
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 18