Maximum Ice (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Zoya lay on her bunk in the shuttle cabin, listening for sounds of earth..." (more)
Key Phrases: snow witch, ear lex, food benders, Sister Patricia Margaret, Ship Mother, Snow Angel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The generation ship Star Road returns to Earth after 250 years to revitalize its failing population and discovers that the planet is enveloped in a crystalline substance referred to as Ice. Zoya Kundara, the Ship Mother, acts as emissary to the planet's underground inhabitants, hoping against hope to find a way to rescue Earth and her own people from extinction. The author of The Seeds of Time and Leap Point delivers an ecological adventure set against an Earth peopled by Ice Nuns, snow witches, and renegade cannibals. For most sf collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It has been 250 years since Zoya's starship left Earth, and upon finally returning, the crew discovers a planet nearly swallowed by a peculiar crystalline, icelike substance. As Ship Mother, Zoya has spent most of the long years in suspended animation, wakening occasionally to reconnect with the crew, an extended Romany family that fled after being scapegoated for a virulent plague. They are desperate to rebuild their lives on Earth, but communications with its few surviving inhabitants, who live in stinking warrens under the ice's surface, don't bode well. Then a transmission from a mysterious community called the Ice Nuns, which claims to be studying the ice as an information storage medium, entices Zoya down to the surface to investigate. Unbeknownst to her, Swan, an old enemy of the Rom, still wanders the surface, and when he hears of their return, he vows a singular, bloody vengeance for the deaths of his family. A vivid cast of characters, some interesting asides on religious authority, and the bleakly beautiful landscape make this a uniquely powerful tale reminiscent of Greg Bear. Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; 1st THUS edition (January 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055358376X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553583762
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #931,649 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, intricate, and wild, November 26, 2002

By	John Barrow - See all my reviews

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another great one, February 27, 2002

By	M. Merritt "Megh the Book Devourer" (San Marcos, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having followed Kenyon since the release of The Seeds of Time in 1997, i was thrilled to pick up her newest work. Maximum Ice is an enthralling, intelligent and fast paced. While some sci-fi novels seem to struggle to get the pace and information mixed in readable way, Kenyon does this beautifully.

Her characters are relatable, the story believable, and the technology fathomable. Definitely one to pick up if you enjoy the adventure/sci-fi mix.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ice 9, Kenyon style, September 11, 2004

By	CT (Aurora, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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.