Customer Reviews

Maximum Ice

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kay Kenyon's dazzling, glittery tale features an out-of-control planet-wide optical computer (the Ice of the title), space-faring gypsies, nuns who shun things religious, predator rats, and cannibalistic insane "snow witches."

The gypsies have returned to earth after 10,000 Earth years (they have become infertile) only to find the that a crystalline structure has covered the planet's green hills and blue oceans. Ship Mother Zoya (she spends most of her time in stasis) is awakened as the ship goes into Earth orbit, and is soon dispatched down to the planet to find out what's going on.

After much travail she manages to find out.

The story glides along (often at strange angles) with intelligence and flair. Well plotted, well crafted. Smile and wave from the "Kiss and Cry" area, please, Ms. Kenyon. Oh, and here's a bouquet just for you!

Some Authors I read for their ideas, some for their characterization, and some for their storytelling abilities.
Kay Kenyon combines all three. Maximum Ice is no exception - a unique concept, wonderful characters, and a story not to be put aside.

For star road ship mother Zoya Kundara the circuitous journey from and back to earth last 250 years. She is the only original crew member still alive. However, the years of radiation while seeking a planetary haven has led to a barren population unable to reproduce itself. Since no planet was found, the shrinking desperate crew return to Earth praying that the plague that sent them solar finally ended. Though there has been no communication with earth in most of the time since they left, the star road crew have good reason to believe the plague is gone since ten thousand years have passed in earth time.

The Earth has dramatically changed as a quasi crystal defying the laws of physics dominates much of the surface. After a deadly first encounter with a cannibal witch queen, Zoya goes forward as an envoy to the apparent power, the ice nuns. Though Zoya seeks peace, the ice nuns and an enigmatic ally attuned to the ice like substance plan to destroy the space travelers and use their technology for personal gain.

Maximum Ice will provide maximum fun to fans of science fiction. The story line is loaded with action and several exciting subplots that cleverly tie back to the main trunk of the tale. The characters, including the enigmatic ice, seem genuine and earth a realistic cold, foreboding planet. Kay Kenyon allows her vivid imagination to go wild, but places her concepts into a cohesive, powerful novel that will send sub-genre fans leaping for other creations by this talented author.

Harriet Klausner

Broad in scope without losing sight of the humanity of its characters, Kay Kenyon's "Maximum Ice" manages to steer a path between the rigors of hard sci-fi and the drama of character-centric literature without veering too sharply to either extreme. Her science is imaginative, thought-provoking and detailed, but doesn't require an advanced degree to understand. Her characters take center stage, but never at the cost of slowing down the plot.

Although Kay Kenyon's books are not so original and do not have the grand epic scale of David Brin, Greg Bear or other classics, they never dissapoint. They all have interesting ideas, her writing is pleasant, her characters are for the most part veridic. I especially love the fact that none of them have the classic hollywoodian happy end; at the end, there is always the promise that on a general scale everything will turn out fine, but nevertheless the characters never achieve complete personal happiness or fulfillment. In my opinion, this is closer to what happens in real life.

This book is about the homecoming of a wandering group of people who have left Earth a long time ago in a colony ship, in an attempt to find other habitable worlds. However, they did not, so they return to Earth, only to find that it has been taken over by a mysterious ever-growing structure referred to as 'Ice', whose origin or purpose are for the moment unknown. The people have decayed, do not remember much of technology, and live in underground 'preserves'. The only group who has access to technology are the so-called Ice Nuns, whose apparent purpose is to communicate with Ice, gain access to the knowledge it stores and elevate the living standard of the people.

The book's main character, Zoya, travels this world accompanied by a taciturn man called Wolf in an attemp to crack Ice's secrets and find a way for her people to settle down on a greener Earth.

The good part about this book is mainly the idea of Ice, which turns out to be a giant computer, originally built as a defense mechanism and storage place, but which now has hidden goals. The idea may not be very original, but it is well delivered. Ice evolves from a mysterious nonliving enemy who must be removed from the Earth at all costs into something completely different, becoming a central character.

What I didn't like was the violence in this book, which to me seemed exaggerated: lots of torture, cannibalism and murders. If these weren't insisted upon so much, this book would have been a 4-star.

Nevertheless, I continue to consider Kay Kenyon a good author. I have read all of her books except Leap Point and they were all worth the time.

It's always a great pleasure to pick up a book by an author you've never heard of and become and instant fan! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is very well written, hard to put down, and the plot and characters held my interest all the way through. I like the cyberfable genre, speculative sf, alternative realities, explorations of the AI theme...Maximum Ice is all of these. I will definitely check out Kenyon's earlier books.

The premise is interesting, and some of the exploration of the premise is too. But there are too many places where a character does something uncharacteristic. Also too many things that stretch my suspention of disbelief. If the main source of food for "the horde" was buried reserves, then there would be no such thing as the horde after 10,000 years. After 10,000 years, any remaining hidden reserves would be extremely rare things, not something that could be mined steadily. That is just too big a fail to forgive.

For me, this is one of Kenyon's best. I enjoy all her books. Her skill in world building, creating interesting and unique yet plausible ecological settings is wonderful. The protagonist of Maximum Ice is a warm, strong-willed yet selfless and memorable woman on a quest to save a world and a people and whose personal story will tug the heart, particularly at the end. A rich story of intrigue on an Earth unrecognizable due to an ecological disaster. Minor characters are also very well portrayed with stories nicely intertwined with the main character's. Heartwarming. Perhaps, because this main character most resembles Kenyon herself.

Just finished reading Max Ice. I'm a long time sci-fi reader and while I thought the book had a very interesting concept it suffered a few major flaws.

1. Slow pacing the first half of the book.
2. Needless confusion between "Ice Nun" and "Ice Witch".
3. The usual contradiction of hi-tech surviving a post-apoc event. How can such a primative base of people maintain tech when they can barely read?
4. A weak ending. The last two pages almost dribble into a sequel.
5. Hanging plot threads left right and center. (what happened to other explorers, why would a planet sell a ship like this to persecuted people?, Dark Matter origin, etc. etc.)

Having said all of that, the book does pose some interesting questions and it's not a bad read for a beach trip. Just don't expect more than that.

After centuries of searching the galaxy for a habitable world (and failing), the people of the road return to Earth. They find that the Earth is nearly covered with an impossible crystal substance referred to as "Ice." Ice, it turns out, is a massive information storage system, and the inhabitants have only one religion - what secrets does Ice hold?

All in all, this is a worthwhile read. While many of Ice's secrets are revealed early in the book, the actual purpose (and problem) with Ice is withheld until the end. Parts of the book do meander a bit, but everything drives forward toward the ultimate goal of both the people of the road and the inhabitants of this far-future Earth. While some of the characters are a tad shallow, you can feel the trouble and worries of the main characters.

While Kenyon has crafted a good story, it didn't grab hold of me as well it could have. There is somewhat of a dystopian feel to the novel, something that is common in SF these days, and while that maybe considered intellectual in some circles it's always left a bad taste in my mouth. There were certain sub plots that I felt were resolved too easily. Without going into too much detail, there was a conspiracy that seemed to go away with a few quick words.

While Maximum Ice (I still think that's a cool title) is not award material, it proves that Kay Kenyon is a good storyteller. I plan on reading more of her work in the future.