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Reviews

The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

rustman's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

hauntedjen's review against another edition

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3.0

"The Ice Limit" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is a stand-alone novel set in the world of their Agent Pendergast novels. Characters from other stand-alones, such as "Thunderhead" become huge players in their series and EES, the company owned by Ice Limit's major character Eli Glinn, can be seen again later in the series as well. Hopefully that's the only thing to reappear in later books, though, as this adventure fell quite short of their usual mark of excellence. Sure, the characters were real, developed and enjoyable. And the science of the book was interesting and understandable. The plot moved along like the ship Rolvaag through the titular Ice Limit itself. What was missing was real dread, a sense of danger, a desire to see the characters suceed. Other flaws included a perfectly set-up history and myth left unevolved, far too many technical terms relating to parts of ships, and the lack of at least one character that I either loved or hated. It was more of a melancholy trip through the doldrums than a true excursion in to the high seas.

lexessoribooks's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

bfed's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

amarnareads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kyle120888's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

hirvimaki's review against another edition

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4.0

A fun and sometimes silly action story with absurd - but believable - science and interesting characters who are enjoyable caricatures. This was done right; it does not take itself too seriously and keeps the action moving at just the right pace to keep things interesting but not hectic.

shieldbearer's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a very frustrating book, because I liked a lot of what it was trying to do but all the stuff I didn't like was stuff I really, REALLY didn't like. The romances all felt shoehorned in (though I will admit that the Captain and Eli actually had potential up until
that whole bit when he takes over the ship, which should have generated way more friction. "I could love youuu" queen you can Do Better!!!
) and in such an annoying way that it really did tank my enjoyment- and finally,
the realization that Eli was not, in fact, dead,
is really why I rated this so low. The plot twist RE:
the meteorite being a seed
actually didn't bother me because the groundwork was, in fact, laid to justify it, and laid quite carefully- I thought it was well done and intriguing. But alas, the forced romances and the Other Thing can't salvage what was otherwise an interesting and well done book. 

illusie's review against another edition

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2.0

I already read the second book, so knew some of what was going to happen. This took away from the enjoyment. Yet I still liked the characters and suspense of the plot.

posies23's review against another edition

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3.0

Sadly, Preston and Child take a mild mis-step with this book. For the first 9/10ths of the book there's lots of action and intrigue, and the usual mysterious-maybe-supernatural-maybe-science-gone-wrong-goings-on, but the ending comes out of nowhere and abruptly jolts the narrative to a quick conclusion.

If I had to guess, I'd say there was a sequel planned, but that it never panned out. The duo have written several more books, none of which seem to reference this one at all.

Too bad, too, because I liked the antarctic settings and the naval aspects of the book.

If you're a Preston and Child fan, this one is still worth reading, but it's not a good place for a non-fan to begin. I'd start with RELIC or THUNDERHEAD.