Customer Reviews

The Ice Schooner

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't fret that this book is out of print. Actually, it is included in the omnibus entitled Sailing to Utopia, currently available from White Wolf. This is a very dark and forbidding novel set in a post-apocalyptic future, dealing with man's tendancy toward fatalism. I personally prefer more lighthearted fare, which is why I rated this book so low. If you enjoy dark fantasy, this is a good bet.

When Captain Konrad Arflame rescues an old man on the ice, he little realizes that it will begin him on a journey to where he never thought he would go. The Earth is wrapped in a shell ice, and life is only given to those hard enough and tough enough to hold it. So, when the old man provides Arflame with an ice-schooner to captain, and a mission to find the fabled lost city of New York, he embraces it as a chance to redeem himself and strengthen his slowly eroding faith. But, along the way, Captain Arflame finds out more than he likes about himself and his world...much more.

I must say that I really enjoyed this book. The author, a giant in the sci-fi genre, did a great job of creating a very interesting setting, and then peopling it with very interesting characters. I liked the ice-ships with their ski-like runners, the fierce land whales, and the underground/under-ice cities. And, I thought found the characters to all be quite interesting.

So, if you are interested in a great story set in a unique setting, then I highly recommend Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock. It's well worth your reading time.

So far the only things I've read from Moorcock are this and a short story from him which I don't remember the title of that was collected in The Space Opera Renaissance anthology. So I don't know if this is typical of Moorcock, but both characters were such big savage macho men that it was almost funny. Even though this novel was written in the 1960s it has a really archaic sound to it.

Nevertheless, Moorcock's world-building and plot are very imaginative and enjoyable. I Read this while helping a professor do field research in the jungle; being under conditions of privation enhanced my imagination of Konrad Arflane and co. sailing across the icy wasteland of post-apocalyptic Earth.

Also, a geeky reference: in this universe, like in Frank Herbert's Dune universe, whales that have fur exist.