Customer Reviews

Beyond the Sea of Ice: The First Americans, Book 1

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was a great book. Interesting characters, good plot, nice storyline. I really enjoyed Torka and Lonit's struggles to survive in this harsh land. Well I didn't really ENJOY it, but you get the picture. The first series by the author is decent, I had no problem reading all four books. The FIRST book in the next series is good. After that don't even buy them used, you'll still hate yourself. Just bask in the glow from the first series and pick a new author.

I had anticipated from the other customer reviews that this book would be similar to the Auel "Earth's Children" series. While both take place in humankind's prehistory, I'm afraid I found little else in common. Particularly disturbing was the widespread misogyny and violence against women portrayed as part of the culture of the humans at the time. I also found the author's often excessive descriptive sytle distracting at times - a little more simplicity would have been appreciated. The main character, Torka, was difficult for me to connect with and I felt his character development to be abrupt and without explanation. I'm afraid I'll stick to Auel's perhaps more utopian, but certainly better written, view of this time period.

I hate gory or disturbing tales, and this book was packed with them, but I found it to be amazing anyway. It was very believable (mostly). I can't say why I liked it so much; I just couldn't put it down. It's a fast read. I intend to order the next book. I've read all four Earth's Children books and was looking for something to read while waiting for the next book. This book was better than EC in some ways, but overall it lacked some of the warmth of Jean Auel's books. Don't let that stop you though. This is an excellent, freaky, chilling, suspenseful adventure.

I'm a little suprised at the one very negative review posted, as I prefer Sarabande's sagas to Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series (I bought Auel's first book and never wanted to read another), but that just goes to show how opinions differ. Like another reviewer, I have eclectic taste and enjoy thriller, mystery, sci-fi and fantasy genres, but after giving this book a read, I liked it enough to run out and purchase several more. I think some are better than others and haven't tried to read them all. They do go on forever! But if you peruse the back cover copy you can select the storylines and timeframes that most appeal to you.

Since Beyond the Sea of Ice begins the saga of Man leaving Siberia and entering the Americas via a land bridge, it's a good place to begin. I found the main characters simple, but compelling. It seems to me that each represents a role within prehistoric society: the hunter, the wife/mother, the elder, etc. They are developed as individuals, but they also serve to highlight the author's painstaking and detailed research. The author (actually a woman writing under a pseudonym) has a dramatic, very visual style. I think she does an excellent job of bringing the prehistoric world--in this case the windswept Siberian and Alaskan tundra--to life All the details of daily life are here--how camps were set up, clothes and weapons made, game stalked, wounds dressed; how men, women, children, and the elderly may have interacted in prehistoric hunting/gathering society. These theories are NOT presented in a boring way, but they are a big part of the story. So if you're looking for pure action, this is not the book for you.

The story begins when an insane mammoth attacks some hunters, then follows their trail back to the main group's encampment where it wreaks havoc on the inhabitants. The sole survivors, the young hunter Torka, the strange "round-eyed" girl Lonit, and Torka's grandfather and spirit master Umak begin an epic trek across the Bering Strait. Along the way they encounter caribou, dire wolves, a great cave bear, and Galeena, the wily leader of another small band decimated by the same malevolent mammoth. Galeena competes fiercely with Torka for leadership once the two bands unite. The outcome of their struggle will determine the band's future and survival.

And always far behind them follows the mammoth. Thunder Speaker. World Shaker. The Destroyer: "Torka paused, his eyes inextricably drawn back across the way they had come. The plain lay far below. The miles seemed to tremble in a glaring haze born of distance. And in that haze, upon the far horizon, he could just make out a dark form following . . . its back as high as the distant hills, its tusks glinting in the sun, its color as red as dried blood."

I ordered this book off one of the recommended lists and have been pleasantly surprised. I loved this book- it has everything people love about the Auel series- but without all that "caveman sex." I guess some like it- but I think Auel overdoes it a bit (I just finished Mammoth Hunters). It has great action and characters that you take a stake in their survival. I also have to say that the last 20 pages have to be some of the most exciting reading I've ever experienced at the end of a book- I can't wait to get a hold of the rest of the series- you can get them dirt cheap from some of the used sellers.

I typically don't read these types of books -- I'm more into thrillers, suspense, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical romances. But I stumbled across this one while book browsing simply because the cover caught my eye. After checking here first for reviews -- and seeing them all positive, I decided to give the book a try. I'm very happy I did. I bought the audiobook version -- since I have little time to sit down and read for pleasure -- and I was captured by the book just minutes after it started. The storyline is excellent, the descriptions vivid, and the characters likeable. In addition, you get a sense for what it might have been like to live during those times. The narrator (Paul Ukena) is pretty good too. You can't ask for much more.

I agree with the other reviewers...this is a darned good book that you won't regret reading. I liked the book so much that I just ordered the next three in the series -- since they're available on tape too, and I can't wait for them to get here!

This woman who writes under a man's name writes novels in this genre that just blows the others away. This is stuff that I usually don't read but this book was soooo good from start to finish, I have read all of them back to back. The first 4 in the series are the very best. You will not believe how good she is guys, wow!

William Sarabande proves in this first installment of the "First American's" series that he is a truly great writer. His ability to quickly introduce the reader to characters that you can care about is really quite fantastic. Sarabande paints a picture of his Pre-Historic times crisply, providing the reader with a vivid image on the landscape, elements, and people. I could hardly wait to read the next book in the series!

William Sarabande's first novel is an ambitious work, but his relative newness to writing was evident in "Beyond the Sea of Ice." I appreciated the research into the artifacts and possible ways of life of prehistoric humans, on which Sarabande had obviously spent many hours. The action in this book is compelling and interesting. Yet the work falls short of a five- or even four-star review for a number of reasons.

First, the narrative voice clashes heavily with the dialog of the characters. The characters are, appropriately enough, depicted as speaking and thinking in a short, abrupt, nearly pronoun-less style, which fits the image of the simple nomadic hunter lifestyle. Yet Sarabande's narration is flowery, at times too heavy on the adjectives and adverbs. And he seems to have consulted his thesaurus perhaps a bit too often. The word "pelage" is often used where the more conventional and familiar - and more setting-appropriate - "pelt" or "fur" or "skin" would do. This is just one example of many. The specific words chosen are often too refined, too Dickensesque, for a prehistoric story. I found myself wondering whether this was also a first project for the editor of Beyond the Sea of Ice. I felt the novel could have benefited from more judicious word selection, and a more harmonious marriage of narrative voice and character dialog.

The characters are also difficult to accept. While I can appreciate the need to create an atmosphere that shows the deep divide between women and men in Sarabande's ice-age milieu, two of the main characters, Torka and Lonit, are near-unlikeable, they are so one-dimensional. I found myself wishing Torka would fall off a cliff or get stomped by a mammoth, and spare me the necessity of reading a book in which the main character was patently a jerk. He started out brave, caring, intelligent, and crafty, but quickly turned into a surly whiner whom I wanted to kick in the shins every time he appeared on the page. Sure, his whole family was killed, but the rapid change from sensitive and intelligent hunter to short-sighted jerk was a bit too much for me. Egatsop is portrayed as a bitter, cruel shrew who has little redeeming qualities. She doesn't even enjoy sex. What's to like about her?

Lonit's nonstop self-deprecation had me wishing for the more tasteful portrayal of Ayla in Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series. Ayla was submissive to the men of her various bands when the need arose, but she didn't spend literally all her time thinking about how unworthy and terrible she was. I quickly grew tired with Lonit's total lack of self-esteem. Speaking of Lonit, it's difficult to imagine how she came to look like a Caucasian once it's clearly established that The People have never previously had contact with another band. I suppose the first Caucasoid human had to have come from somewhere, but I had a hard time swallowing that the first Caucasoid person was born with all recognizable Caucasian traits intact, and that she then proceeded to leave Asia and venture into North America. It would make more sense for people who look like Lonit to settle in the Caucasus region. Maybe it's explained how Lonit happened to look like a Caucasiod in this book, although I missed it if it is. Maybe it's explained later. In either case, much explanation is needed, and however it's handled, it was not a well thought out aspect of this novel.

Fortunately, there is a lot to enjoy in Beyond the Sea of Ice. Umak and Aar are delightful characters, and their relationship is fun to watch develop. Karana is well depicted and is believable. When Torka and Lonit's annoyingly codependent relationship became too much to bear (which was at least once per chapter) the more endearing and deep characters of Umak, Aar, and Karana kept me reading. A mammoth with a grudge against humanity is a convenient foil, but is at least a unique idea.

All in all, it's an interesting book, but likely not one I will read again. I'll give the next book in the series a try with the hope that it was better edited and that the characters are better developed.

I don't get the impression that there is a great deal of anthropological/archeological accuracy to these books. Also, much of the brutality is gratuitous, IMHO. Lastly, the author's style is rather weak. People of the Wolf and its successors are infinitely superior--better style, better stories/character development, and much better grounding in anthropology/archeology.