This book took me a while to get though because I got sick of it from time to time... how many stories about ice can one person take in a row! But it was charming and interesting although I wondered about the way she portrayed the people in different historical time periods and wonder if she didn't make them a little too much "like us" without taking into consideration their unique world views and historical placements. I was surprised by the environmentalist slant of the author's note at the end but I appreciated her thoughts and it made me think about the stories in yet another way.