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Everland
1913: Dinners, Millet-Bass, and Napps - three men bound not by friendship, but by an intense dependence founded on survival - will be immortalised by their decision to volunteer to scout out a series of uncharted and unknown islands in the Antarctic, a big, indifferent kingdom.
2013: Brix, Jess, and Decker - three researchers with their own reasons for being far from home - set out on a field trip to the same ancient lumps of rock and snow, home to nothing but colonies of penguins and seals. Under the harsh ultraviolet light, as all colours bleach out, and the world of simple everyday pleasures recedes, they unknowingly begin to mirror the expedition of 100 years ago.
2013: Brix, Jess, and Decker - three researchers with their own reasons for being far from home - set out on a field trip to the same ancient lumps of rock and snow, home to nothing but colonies of penguins and seals. Under the harsh ultraviolet light, as all colours bleach out, and the world of simple everyday pleasures recedes, they unknowingly begin to mirror the expedition of 100 years ago.
304 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2013
18 people are currently reading
1240 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Hunt
22 books34 followersRebecca Hunt graduated from Central Saint Martins College with a first class honours degree in fine art. She lives and works in London. Mr Chartwell is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
February 8, 2018
File this under, "Why had I not heard of this book before now?" It was only by chance I found it; a far-away friend saw it in a display at her local library, took a chance, and loved it. Then came a 'What are you reading now?' discussion in a Facebook group. She raved about it, I found it at my local library and, you guys, SO GOOD. This is the frustration of modern publishing: so many books. So very many books in the world, most of them not so very good. And the gems get lost in the shuffle.
Two Antarctic expeditions, set a century apart. The first, which ended in disaster, is the stuff of legends and side-taking amongst a group of modern researchers stationed at Aegeus, a fictitious Antarctic base. In 1913, three men set out in a dinghy from the main ship to explore the island of Everland: hard-bitten, calculating First Mate Napps, straight-talking, fearless Millet-Bass, and tenderfoot Dinners, who is as out of his element as a fish on a bicycle. A storm strands them on the island and only Dinners is found alive, barely, weeks later when the rescue crew is finally able to reach them. Napps' diaries survive, but the truth they reveal is circumspect. What really happened on the Everland expedition remains frozen in time and lost memory.
One hundred years later, three more adventurers set out for Everland on an anniversary expedition: Decker, on his last Antarctic gig; he's weary but an undeniable leader, Jess, a tough, but scarily competent field assistant, and Brix, a research scientist prone to tears over her ineptitude.
The novel moves back and forth between these two expeditions, sending out frissons of tension that become a cold and desperate thriller. The physical strain of survival is vividly portrayed, and the mental agony of isolation at the frozen end of the earth when you don't trust the very people who hold your survival in their hands is unnerving and heart-poundingly wrought.
Even more compelling are the echoes of similarity between the two expeditions and how little has changed on Everland in the intervening years: a patch lichen encountered by both teams is a thousand years old and grows a millimeter in a century, a pat of butter retains its knifemarks through the decades, a body frozen in time is eerily unchanged. And human nature remains the most immune to the passage of time.
Rebecca Hunt's writing is spare and unflinching. Her wry humor and taut dialogue are best suited to the modern day chapters, but each story is evocative of this place of desperate beauty. This is an outstanding and powerful read.
Two Antarctic expeditions, set a century apart. The first, which ended in disaster, is the stuff of legends and side-taking amongst a group of modern researchers stationed at Aegeus, a fictitious Antarctic base. In 1913, three men set out in a dinghy from the main ship to explore the island of Everland: hard-bitten, calculating First Mate Napps, straight-talking, fearless Millet-Bass, and tenderfoot Dinners, who is as out of his element as a fish on a bicycle. A storm strands them on the island and only Dinners is found alive, barely, weeks later when the rescue crew is finally able to reach them. Napps' diaries survive, but the truth they reveal is circumspect. What really happened on the Everland expedition remains frozen in time and lost memory.
One hundred years later, three more adventurers set out for Everland on an anniversary expedition: Decker, on his last Antarctic gig; he's weary but an undeniable leader, Jess, a tough, but scarily competent field assistant, and Brix, a research scientist prone to tears over her ineptitude.
The novel moves back and forth between these two expeditions, sending out frissons of tension that become a cold and desperate thriller. The physical strain of survival is vividly portrayed, and the mental agony of isolation at the frozen end of the earth when you don't trust the very people who hold your survival in their hands is unnerving and heart-poundingly wrought.
Even more compelling are the echoes of similarity between the two expeditions and how little has changed on Everland in the intervening years: a patch lichen encountered by both teams is a thousand years old and grows a millimeter in a century, a pat of butter retains its knifemarks through the decades, a body frozen in time is eerily unchanged. And human nature remains the most immune to the passage of time.
Rebecca Hunt's writing is spare and unflinching. Her wry humor and taut dialogue are best suited to the modern day chapters, but each story is evocative of this place of desperate beauty. This is an outstanding and powerful read.
August 12, 2017
Three is a crowd. Never did a book a prove this point more clearly than ‘Everland’ did. It’s a story of two (fictitious) Antarctic expeditions – one in 1913 and one in 2013. Both expeditions comprised of three people on an unwelcoming (fictitious) island named Everland. And three is just a very stupid number of people to force to stay together in a cramped tent in a very hostile environment. Take a relentless will to survive, add some pettiness and you get the idea. Humanity in time of crises is humanity at its most elemental. Sometimes it’s also humanity at its finest, but more often that distilled, basic version is nothing pretty.
The two threesomes in the novel will write their entire legacies on their trip to Everland, because a few actions taken in critical moments will always overshadow everything that had happened before or what might still happen in the future. Everland won’t leave them even after death.
I think the book is supposed to make the reader question the ‘established historical narrative’ by showing how easy things can be, even unwittingly, distorted. Nothing is what it seems to be, especially on the island, when boulders take ominous shapes and peculiar noises appear out of nothing. It’s a great portrait of descent into madness and delirium. The climate on the island stops both healing and decay; it freezes everything in one point in time. But anyone who has ever seen a misleading photo knows how deceiving a still frame can be.
It’s a fine, atmospheric book, written in sparse but evocative prose. Occasionally though, it does feel like an exercise in finding parallels between the two stories and their characters. Or at least it did to my brain which always tirelessly looks for patterns in everything.
The two threesomes in the novel will write their entire legacies on their trip to Everland, because a few actions taken in critical moments will always overshadow everything that had happened before or what might still happen in the future. Everland won’t leave them even after death.
I think the book is supposed to make the reader question the ‘established historical narrative’ by showing how easy things can be, even unwittingly, distorted. Nothing is what it seems to be, especially on the island, when boulders take ominous shapes and peculiar noises appear out of nothing. It’s a great portrait of descent into madness and delirium. The climate on the island stops both healing and decay; it freezes everything in one point in time. But anyone who has ever seen a misleading photo knows how deceiving a still frame can be.
It’s a fine, atmospheric book, written in sparse but evocative prose. Occasionally though, it does feel like an exercise in finding parallels between the two stories and their characters. Or at least it did to my brain which always tirelessly looks for patterns in everything.
January 20, 2014
In 2011, author Rebecca Hunt was chosen as one of eighteen artists and writers to join the Artic Circle residency aboard a traditional ice-class sailing vessel which voyages to the High Artic. Following on from her hugely successful debut novel, Mr Chartwell, the author has used those experiences to create her second book and it is sure to be as successful as the first.
In 2013, three researchers (Brix, Jess and Decker) are selected for a field trip to the island of Everland – first named by those picked for a similar expedition in 1913 (Dinners, Millet-Bass and Napps). That first trip has since been immortalised by a film, which those on the Antartic base Aegeus know word by word – along with booing the ‘baddie’ (Napps). However, as we know, things are never as clear cut as Hollywood makes them and the 1960’s film is based upon a book, written by Captain Lawrence, who picked the group volunteering to scout out the uncharted and unknown island.
This excellent novel switches effortlessly between telling the story of that heroic and, ultimately, tragic 1913 expedition and also shows how the behaviour and events of the 2013 expedition begin to mirror them. Decker has twenty years in the field and is seen as something of a hero by those on the base. Jess, an exceptional field assistant, relies on her job for self esteem. Brix, like Dinners so long ago, is a competent scientist but lacks experience in the field. In the harsh environment of the Artic, mistakes can be costly and every team member has to pull their weight. Of course, the major difference from the 1913 expedition is that two members of the modern trip are female (Brix and Jess) and I am delighted that the author does not make the gender of her characters an issue. We have strong, competent characters and weaker ones, in both eras, but that is not relevant to their gender.
As Decker, Jess and Brix begin the first comprehensive study of the island on the centenary of that first Everland voyage, there is much competition to be selected. Jess had hoped that her friend, Andre, a Dutch biologist would be selected instead of Brix and is resentful in much the same way that Napps thought that including Dinners in the team was a stupid decision. Brix finds Jess intimidating and, when three people are living in isolation in a difficult environment, personal relationships can be difficult at the best of times. This interesting novel looks at how those living in such close proximity look for approval, can become ruthless, have survival instincts that override their better feelings or become humiliated by their lack of contribution to the team. As both teams attempt to carry out the work of three with one member seen as weak, with illness or injury likely to incapacitate members of the team in the harsh environment, there are shifting allegiances and mounting tension. It also shows how history is, essentially, told by the survivors and explains how the Hollywood film made about the first expedition was not totally truthful in the retelling...
Both the different time lines are realistically portrayed. The 1913 expedition took place in the Heroic Age of Antartic exploration – when goals were more abstract ones of exploration and the explorers themselves seen as manly and romantic. Now, in 2012, the Antartic base of Aegeus is home to an international community of 150 and the goals are more scientific. However, once off the base, the environment is just as difficult – even if there are gadgets to help the modern group survive, the tensions are the same. Ambition, outside influences and members of the groups being chosen for reasons other than being the best create unbearable tensions, with only three members there to do the work in the harsh climate, where mistakes can be fatal. This is a fantastic read – enjoyable, well written, with fascinating characters and a really atmospheric setting.
I received a copy of this book, from the publishers, for review.
In 2013, three researchers (Brix, Jess and Decker) are selected for a field trip to the island of Everland – first named by those picked for a similar expedition in 1913 (Dinners, Millet-Bass and Napps). That first trip has since been immortalised by a film, which those on the Antartic base Aegeus know word by word – along with booing the ‘baddie’ (Napps). However, as we know, things are never as clear cut as Hollywood makes them and the 1960’s film is based upon a book, written by Captain Lawrence, who picked the group volunteering to scout out the uncharted and unknown island.
This excellent novel switches effortlessly between telling the story of that heroic and, ultimately, tragic 1913 expedition and also shows how the behaviour and events of the 2013 expedition begin to mirror them. Decker has twenty years in the field and is seen as something of a hero by those on the base. Jess, an exceptional field assistant, relies on her job for self esteem. Brix, like Dinners so long ago, is a competent scientist but lacks experience in the field. In the harsh environment of the Artic, mistakes can be costly and every team member has to pull their weight. Of course, the major difference from the 1913 expedition is that two members of the modern trip are female (Brix and Jess) and I am delighted that the author does not make the gender of her characters an issue. We have strong, competent characters and weaker ones, in both eras, but that is not relevant to their gender.
As Decker, Jess and Brix begin the first comprehensive study of the island on the centenary of that first Everland voyage, there is much competition to be selected. Jess had hoped that her friend, Andre, a Dutch biologist would be selected instead of Brix and is resentful in much the same way that Napps thought that including Dinners in the team was a stupid decision. Brix finds Jess intimidating and, when three people are living in isolation in a difficult environment, personal relationships can be difficult at the best of times. This interesting novel looks at how those living in such close proximity look for approval, can become ruthless, have survival instincts that override their better feelings or become humiliated by their lack of contribution to the team. As both teams attempt to carry out the work of three with one member seen as weak, with illness or injury likely to incapacitate members of the team in the harsh environment, there are shifting allegiances and mounting tension. It also shows how history is, essentially, told by the survivors and explains how the Hollywood film made about the first expedition was not totally truthful in the retelling...
Both the different time lines are realistically portrayed. The 1913 expedition took place in the Heroic Age of Antartic exploration – when goals were more abstract ones of exploration and the explorers themselves seen as manly and romantic. Now, in 2012, the Antartic base of Aegeus is home to an international community of 150 and the goals are more scientific. However, once off the base, the environment is just as difficult – even if there are gadgets to help the modern group survive, the tensions are the same. Ambition, outside influences and members of the groups being chosen for reasons other than being the best create unbearable tensions, with only three members there to do the work in the harsh climate, where mistakes can be fatal. This is a fantastic read – enjoyable, well written, with fascinating characters and a really atmospheric setting.
I received a copy of this book, from the publishers, for review.
February 22, 2022
(Review originally published on my blog, February 2014)
It's an Antarctic island that gives Everland its near-fantastical title, a frozen wasteland at the heart of two adventures taking place a hundred years apart. In 1913, three Navy men volunteer to explore the island and survey its unique wildlife. They are devious First Mate Napps, robust Millet-Bass and the meek (and evocatively named) Dinners. Reluctant to trust each other before the mission even begins, they are thrown into peril almost immediately. In 2013, their story has become the stuff of legend, immortalised in biographies and film. It's as a symbolic marking of the event's centenary that three new explorers are sent to study Everland: hardened researcher Decker, nervous scientist Brix, and their bitchy field assistant, Jess. Expecting their tasks to be manageable, they are shocked when Everland proves to be just as inhospitable as it was for their 1913 counterparts. As tempers fray and tensions rise, their situation starts to mirror that of their predecessors - sometimes in obvious ways, while other parallels are more surprising.
I got off to a bit of a slow start with Everland, which is hampered early on by its commitment to effectively portraying the unwelcoming nature of the Antarctic settings. The reality of these places, romantic-looking as they may be in photographs, is unbelievably bleak, harsh and lonely, and Hunt does a great job of conveying this to the reader - so great that it can be a bit dull to read about the repetitive nature of the teams' daily schedules. However, once I had warmed to the characters (which didn't happen immediately; rather, it developed slowly as they were given more to do) the pace of my reading quickened. By the time I was about two-thirds of the way through, I was so desperate to know the ending that I ended up staying awake until the early hours of the morning in order to finish reading the book.
Aside from the use of a dual-focused narrative, this book is very different from Hunt's first novel, Mr. Chartwell. Where many of the characters in Chartwell felt flimsy, here they are expertly fleshed out as the story unfolds, defying what you think you know about them - Jess in particular makes a perfect transition from what could be a one-dimensional antagonist to a much more rounded, human character. There is a supernatural undertone to Everland - the island has an eerie quality which seems to be more than just a figment of its residents' imaginations; events such as are never given a rational explanation. Don't expect this book to turn into a ghost story or a fantasy, though. I hoped for a while that it would exploit the naturally eerie location in the same way as Michelle Paver's excellent Dark Matter, but this is not the direction the narrative goes in.
In what is a much more accomplished piece of work than her debut, Hunt succeeds in making you care about these people and feel invested in their fate, as well as in crafting a wonderfully menacing setting. It's not perfect - it took a while for me to feel that the plot was compelling (although the final third is enormously so), I would have preferred more to have been made of the 'unexplained' aspects of both ventures (but that's a personal preference), and I also have a feeling the story may not end up being particularly memorable. However, it slowly coaxed me into fascination and ultimately kept me up all night, and that's got to deserve some kind of recognition.
It's an Antarctic island that gives Everland its near-fantastical title, a frozen wasteland at the heart of two adventures taking place a hundred years apart. In 1913, three Navy men volunteer to explore the island and survey its unique wildlife. They are devious First Mate Napps, robust Millet-Bass and the meek (and evocatively named) Dinners. Reluctant to trust each other before the mission even begins, they are thrown into peril almost immediately. In 2013, their story has become the stuff of legend, immortalised in biographies and film. It's as a symbolic marking of the event's centenary that three new explorers are sent to study Everland: hardened researcher Decker, nervous scientist Brix, and their bitchy field assistant, Jess. Expecting their tasks to be manageable, they are shocked when Everland proves to be just as inhospitable as it was for their 1913 counterparts. As tempers fray and tensions rise, their situation starts to mirror that of their predecessors - sometimes in obvious ways, while other parallels are more surprising.
I got off to a bit of a slow start with Everland, which is hampered early on by its commitment to effectively portraying the unwelcoming nature of the Antarctic settings. The reality of these places, romantic-looking as they may be in photographs, is unbelievably bleak, harsh and lonely, and Hunt does a great job of conveying this to the reader - so great that it can be a bit dull to read about the repetitive nature of the teams' daily schedules. However, once I had warmed to the characters (which didn't happen immediately; rather, it developed slowly as they were given more to do) the pace of my reading quickened. By the time I was about two-thirds of the way through, I was so desperate to know the ending that I ended up staying awake until the early hours of the morning in order to finish reading the book.
Aside from the use of a dual-focused narrative, this book is very different from Hunt's first novel, Mr. Chartwell. Where many of the characters in Chartwell felt flimsy, here they are expertly fleshed out as the story unfolds, defying what you think you know about them - Jess in particular makes a perfect transition from what could be a one-dimensional antagonist to a much more rounded, human character. There is a supernatural undertone to Everland - the island has an eerie quality which seems to be more than just a figment of its residents' imaginations; events such as are never given a rational explanation. Don't expect this book to turn into a ghost story or a fantasy, though. I hoped for a while that it would exploit the naturally eerie location in the same way as Michelle Paver's excellent Dark Matter, but this is not the direction the narrative goes in.
In what is a much more accomplished piece of work than her debut, Hunt succeeds in making you care about these people and feel invested in their fate, as well as in crafting a wonderfully menacing setting. It's not perfect - it took a while for me to feel that the plot was compelling (although the final third is enormously so), I would have preferred more to have been made of the 'unexplained' aspects of both ventures (but that's a personal preference), and I also have a feeling the story may not end up being particularly memorable. However, it slowly coaxed me into fascination and ultimately kept me up all night, and that's got to deserve some kind of recognition.
February 25, 2016
4.5 rounded way up
Moving back and forth in time across an entire century, Everland is the story of two very different groups of explorers in Antarctica. The first, in 1913, is set in the heyday of British polar exploration; the second, marking the centenary of the first, takes place in 2012. Despite the passage of a full century, unmistakeable and eerie parallels exist between both expeditions.
In March, 1913, the captain of the British ship Kismet dropped the mate and two others off in a dinghy to begin their journey for a short stay at an unmapped island the mate christened Everland. The idea was that while the men, Napps, Millet-Bass, and Dinners, were exploring the island, the rest of the Kismet's crew would be sailing around Cape Athena "for a last geologizing excursion," and would meet back up with the team in just two weeks. The Kismet sails off, but immediately problems set in, beginning with a storm that made the four-hour dinghy journey last about six days; unbeknownst to the three explorers, the Kismet had also suffered in the same storm and had to stop to make repairs. It wasn't until April that the Kismet returned to take the three-man team home, but only one badly-frostbitten, nearly-dead man was found on the island. What happened on that island became the stuff of legend. In fact, one hundred years later, in celebration of another three-person expedition that is about to be launched to Everland from the Antarctic base Aegeus, the film night pick is a 60s "classic" called Everland, a movie the group knows by heart about the 1913 ill-fated venture based on the "famous book" written by the captain of the Kismet. The novel goes back and forth between the two expeditions, chronicling the events during both. The similarities are notable -- the flaring resentments, the tensions, the dangers and ultimately the choices that are made among each team for survival echo across the century.
While both accounts are tension filled and downright distressing in parts, and while there is plenty going on here, the theme running through the book is that that reality is often distorted, replaced to suit various motivations, leaving an altered version of events to following generations as fact and history. In both cases, the stories that emerge are products of collaboration and self-serving motivations, while the real truth of both will remain behind forever on Everland. In the meantime, reputations are made, both positive and negative.
This book is in a word, stellar. I've offered only a bare-bones outline, but it's going on my shelf of favorite books of the year. It is a very engrossing read that left me frustrated whenever I had to put it down. Highly recommended.
Moving back and forth in time across an entire century, Everland is the story of two very different groups of explorers in Antarctica. The first, in 1913, is set in the heyday of British polar exploration; the second, marking the centenary of the first, takes place in 2012. Despite the passage of a full century, unmistakeable and eerie parallels exist between both expeditions.
In March, 1913, the captain of the British ship Kismet dropped the mate and two others off in a dinghy to begin their journey for a short stay at an unmapped island the mate christened Everland. The idea was that while the men, Napps, Millet-Bass, and Dinners, were exploring the island, the rest of the Kismet's crew would be sailing around Cape Athena "for a last geologizing excursion," and would meet back up with the team in just two weeks. The Kismet sails off, but immediately problems set in, beginning with a storm that made the four-hour dinghy journey last about six days; unbeknownst to the three explorers, the Kismet had also suffered in the same storm and had to stop to make repairs. It wasn't until April that the Kismet returned to take the three-man team home, but only one badly-frostbitten, nearly-dead man was found on the island. What happened on that island became the stuff of legend. In fact, one hundred years later, in celebration of another three-person expedition that is about to be launched to Everland from the Antarctic base Aegeus, the film night pick is a 60s "classic" called Everland, a movie the group knows by heart about the 1913 ill-fated venture based on the "famous book" written by the captain of the Kismet. The novel goes back and forth between the two expeditions, chronicling the events during both. The similarities are notable -- the flaring resentments, the tensions, the dangers and ultimately the choices that are made among each team for survival echo across the century.
While both accounts are tension filled and downright distressing in parts, and while there is plenty going on here, the theme running through the book is that that reality is often distorted, replaced to suit various motivations, leaving an altered version of events to following generations as fact and history. In both cases, the stories that emerge are products of collaboration and self-serving motivations, while the real truth of both will remain behind forever on Everland. In the meantime, reputations are made, both positive and negative.
This book is in a word, stellar. I've offered only a bare-bones outline, but it's going on my shelf of favorite books of the year. It is a very engrossing read that left me frustrated whenever I had to put it down. Highly recommended.
September 9, 2016
“Everland was so remote it made the rest of the world seem imagined.” A terrifically suspenseful novel about two British expeditions to the Antarctic: one in 1913, and another in 2012. Alternating historical and contemporary chapters is a great way of both setting the pace and pointing up the similarities in these fictional explorers’ experiences despite the passage of a hundred years.
Indeed, the parallels are overt: both central trios struggle against frostbite, encounter fur seals and Adélie penguins, survive a blizzard and an earthquake, and will eventually have to balance self-preservation and altruism when rationalizing some truly wrenching decisions. “There is nothing I can’t live with if it gets me home,” more than one character thinks. It is even possible to make one-to-one comparisons between the two sets of characters: .
But if this makes the novel sound formulaic, I’ve undersold it. It’s a clever yet subtle dual story about how legends are made out of the mess of inconvenient truths, betrayals and lies: “If what actually happened and the perceived truth were contradictory, it hardly mattered. No one would ever know the difference.” Everland is also a kind of Neverland, where fantasy and brutal reality meet. Yet just as telling as any mythologized legacy is the material evidence of time’s passage: my favorite moment involves a vintage tin of pineapple.
Others have already noted that the book is slow to take off; you’ll want to give yourself at least 30 pages to let it grab you. Plus I did find the 1913 storyline rather difficult to follow – you have to very carefully note which month is listed at the head of each chapter. The 1910s characters can also be a challenge to keep straight, partially because of their silly names: Dinners, Napps, Coppers, McValley – who actually has such names? And why that preponderance of plurals?! I suppose Hunt was trying to allude to historical figures like Oates (from Captain Scott’s similarly ill-fated expedition) without actually naming any names.
Hunt has grown by leaps and bounds since her debut, Mr. Chartwell. The writing, characterization and plotting are so much stronger here, and the balance between the two time periods much more successful. In Everland you also get gorgeous lines like this one: “Gulls were squabbling over grizzled red banners of afterbirth, their white heads stained with blood.” If Hunt continues this upward trajectory, her next novel will be Booker prize fodder for sure.
It’s interesting (though not essential) to know that Hunt participated in an Arctic Circle residency in October 2011, sailing to the Norwegian Arctic territory of Svalbard with 18 other artists and writers. I especially enjoyed this interview with Hunt; it’s more like a tour through her life, via her possessions and loved ones (including her gorgeous pug, Nancy).
(Also highly recommended is When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones, another work of historical fiction with an Arctic exploration theme. Ian McEwan’s Solar is a more comic take on the genre.)
Indeed, the parallels are overt: both central trios struggle against frostbite, encounter fur seals and Adélie penguins, survive a blizzard and an earthquake, and will eventually have to balance self-preservation and altruism when rationalizing some truly wrenching decisions. “There is nothing I can’t live with if it gets me home,” more than one character thinks. It is even possible to make one-to-one comparisons between the two sets of characters: .
But if this makes the novel sound formulaic, I’ve undersold it. It’s a clever yet subtle dual story about how legends are made out of the mess of inconvenient truths, betrayals and lies: “If what actually happened and the perceived truth were contradictory, it hardly mattered. No one would ever know the difference.” Everland is also a kind of Neverland, where fantasy and brutal reality meet. Yet just as telling as any mythologized legacy is the material evidence of time’s passage: my favorite moment involves a vintage tin of pineapple.
Others have already noted that the book is slow to take off; you’ll want to give yourself at least 30 pages to let it grab you. Plus I did find the 1913 storyline rather difficult to follow – you have to very carefully note which month is listed at the head of each chapter. The 1910s characters can also be a challenge to keep straight, partially because of their silly names: Dinners, Napps, Coppers, McValley – who actually has such names? And why that preponderance of plurals?! I suppose Hunt was trying to allude to historical figures like Oates (from Captain Scott’s similarly ill-fated expedition) without actually naming any names.
Hunt has grown by leaps and bounds since her debut, Mr. Chartwell. The writing, characterization and plotting are so much stronger here, and the balance between the two time periods much more successful. In Everland you also get gorgeous lines like this one: “Gulls were squabbling over grizzled red banners of afterbirth, their white heads stained with blood.” If Hunt continues this upward trajectory, her next novel will be Booker prize fodder for sure.
It’s interesting (though not essential) to know that Hunt participated in an Arctic Circle residency in October 2011, sailing to the Norwegian Arctic territory of Svalbard with 18 other artists and writers. I especially enjoyed this interview with Hunt; it’s more like a tour through her life, via her possessions and loved ones (including her gorgeous pug, Nancy).
(Also highly recommended is When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones, another work of historical fiction with an Arctic exploration theme. Ian McEwan’s Solar is a more comic take on the genre.)
July 21, 2017
The perfect read.
July 11, 2021
Two Antarctic expeditions 100 years apart. The first in 1912 went horribly wrong. But are the accounts of that failed attempt accurate? Will the second attempt make the same mistakes as the first team a century before? Who determines the legacy of one’s actions when one is no longer there to mount a defense? When is it preferable to maintain a version of the past that tis more complimentary to the survivors and their guilty conscious. This was fantastic, nail biting suspense with excellent insight into human psychology and what makes us tick.
Normally I don’t like these kind of tense, survival stories, but I loved Hunt’s debut novel, Mr. Chartwell so much , I had to read her follow up, regardless of the topic.
Normally I don’t like these kind of tense, survival stories, but I loved Hunt’s debut novel, Mr. Chartwell so much , I had to read her follow up, regardless of the topic.
July 25, 2017
Everland ist eine wirklich tolle Antarktisgeschichte, die sowohl Wissenschaft und Psychologie als auch ein paar Mystery-Elemente vereint. Dabei verfolgen wir zwei Expeditionen, die im Abstand von 100 Jahren durchgeführt werden und erfahren anhand dreier Zeitstränge nach und nach, was im Jahr 1913 wirklich auf der Insel Everland geschah. Insgesamt war das Buch schön kurzweilig und die Charakterkonstellationen gut gewählt. Es war unheimlich spannend, zu sehen, wie sich nach und nach alles zusammenfügt, nur das Finale fand ich leider nicht perfekt. Dennoch fand ich das Buch gut und gebe ihm 4-4,5 Sterne, definitiv eine Empfehlung!
July 19, 2018
I loved this book! It was a slow process for me to get invested in the characters but by the end I had strong favourites and opinions on them all. The storyline is very engaging, and makes it hard to put down as there are many parallels between the two expeditions and every time there is a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter, the next chapter is about the other expedition. My favourite aspect of the book was the psychology of the characters, and how extreme situations really show the true colours of an individual.
August 14, 2015
Having read Mr. Chartwell I honestly didn't know what to really expect from this book but I'm glad I did pick it up. The story begins simply enough following two separate expeditions a hundred years apart to Everland, a volcanic island in the depths of Antarctica. Each expedition consists of three people landing on the island and their support crews remaining elsewhere. Each group echoes the other as the three islanders face sub-zero temperatures, wild animals, the psychological pressures of life at the very edge of survival and living in each others pockets. As with Mr Chartwell both of these stories are largely character driven and interweave between each other and through time as events take various turns, some for the better, most for the worse. This book is slow to start with but picks up after the first quarter and before you know it you are thoroughly engrossed and invested and reading rapidly to find out the truth of what happened a hundred years ago as well as the outcome of the current expedition.
May 10, 2014
Loved this book what an adventure thid book took me on and loved every minute of this story good story lines and characters well thought out and finely put together in some parts of the story gave me chills but that I think is a good thing as it saids something about the story in other words loved this book and would happily recommend this book to all my friends and a big thank you to the author Rebecca Hunt thank you very much for the privilege of reading your wonderful book and with all that said keep smiling and happy reading all with love from wee me.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 29, 2015
I have read more than 120 books which I have listed on my Goodreads account and I am pretty sure that I have never written a review for any one of those books - until now!
Everland - what an amazing read. Beautifully written, loved the parallels between the two expeditions 100 years apart and the cold - I could literally feel it.
Fantastic book - I don't think I will ever feel warm again!
Everland - what an amazing read. Beautifully written, loved the parallels between the two expeditions 100 years apart and the cold - I could literally feel it.
Fantastic book - I don't think I will ever feel warm again!
May 18, 2015
Review to follow but thanks for this Whitestuff.
July 13, 2017
Eisige Kälte
Zum hundertjährigen Jubiläum der Everland-Expedition sollen Wissenschaftler auf den Spuren ihrer Vorfahren wandeln. Zwei Frauen und ein Mann werden entsandt, um die antarktische Insel Everland erneut zu erkunden. Sie sollen wissenschaftliche Daten über die Pinguine sammeln. Obwohl eine der Teilnehmerinnen über keine Expeditionserfahrung verfügt, kommen die drei voran.
Den Bestreitern, die sich hundert Jahre zuvor auf den Weg gemacht haben, ergeht es weniger gut. Schon auf dem Weg zur Insel gerät ihr Boot in einen Sturm, der ihre Ankunft um Tage verzögert und den unerfahrensten der Drei in einen derart schlechten Gesundheitszustand versetzt, dass er nichts anderes als Pflege benötigt.
Gebannt folgt man den Expeditionen zu ihrem unwirtlichen Ziel. Eisige Kälte, Wind, kaum Schutz von der rauen Landschaft. Nicht so unähnlich laufen die Expeditionen ab, deren Zeitabstand im Vergleich mit dem Wachstum einer Flechte nicht besonders hoch ist. Was geschieht während der gemeinsam verbrachten Zeit. Die Mitglieder beider Gruppen gelangen näher an ihre Grenzen als sie es zuvor vermutet hätten. Die jeweils schwächsten Mitglieder erweisen sich als Hindernis, an dem es zu bestehen gilt oder an dem das Scheitern möglich ist. Diese Enge in der Kleingruppe in einer lebensfeindlichen Umgebung, kaum vorstellbar. Eigentlich müssten sie zusammen halten, den Gefahren gemeinsam begegnen, sich den Aufgaben stellen. Doch ganz so läuft es nicht und man beginnt zu zweifeln, ob es jeder gesund in die Heimat schaffen wird.
Mit Aufmerksamkeit begegnet man diesem Buch, drei Ebenen gilt es zu folgen, die klar abgegrenzt sind und Cliffhanger unvermeidlich werden lassen. Denn manchmal wechselt die Perspektive gerade in dem Moment, wo man angespannt wissen möchte, wie es mit der vorherigen weitergeht. Mit dieser fesselnden Komposition entführt die Autorin in eine unwirtliche Region, die vornehmlich Menschen mit großem Forscherdrang aufsuchen werden. Was treibt sie dorthin, wie werden die Gruppen zusammengefügt, wie entwickeln sich die Beziehungen unter den Teilnehmern. Drei, sagt man, ist einer zu viel. Möglicherweise gilt ein solcher Spruch für diese Forschergruppen, die jeweils ein schwächstes Mitglied zu haben scheinen. Was macht diese Konstellation, verbünden sich zwei, wechseln die Bündnisse oder halten sie zusammen? Dies ist nicht das einzige Rätsel, dass die Autorin aufgibt. Mit ihrer ruhigen ausgeklügelten Erzählung fesselt sie ungemein.
Wer Bücher in eisiger Kälte mag, sollte sich dieses Werk nicht entgehen lassen.
Zum hundertjährigen Jubiläum der Everland-Expedition sollen Wissenschaftler auf den Spuren ihrer Vorfahren wandeln. Zwei Frauen und ein Mann werden entsandt, um die antarktische Insel Everland erneut zu erkunden. Sie sollen wissenschaftliche Daten über die Pinguine sammeln. Obwohl eine der Teilnehmerinnen über keine Expeditionserfahrung verfügt, kommen die drei voran.
Den Bestreitern, die sich hundert Jahre zuvor auf den Weg gemacht haben, ergeht es weniger gut. Schon auf dem Weg zur Insel gerät ihr Boot in einen Sturm, der ihre Ankunft um Tage verzögert und den unerfahrensten der Drei in einen derart schlechten Gesundheitszustand versetzt, dass er nichts anderes als Pflege benötigt.
Gebannt folgt man den Expeditionen zu ihrem unwirtlichen Ziel. Eisige Kälte, Wind, kaum Schutz von der rauen Landschaft. Nicht so unähnlich laufen die Expeditionen ab, deren Zeitabstand im Vergleich mit dem Wachstum einer Flechte nicht besonders hoch ist. Was geschieht während der gemeinsam verbrachten Zeit. Die Mitglieder beider Gruppen gelangen näher an ihre Grenzen als sie es zuvor vermutet hätten. Die jeweils schwächsten Mitglieder erweisen sich als Hindernis, an dem es zu bestehen gilt oder an dem das Scheitern möglich ist. Diese Enge in der Kleingruppe in einer lebensfeindlichen Umgebung, kaum vorstellbar. Eigentlich müssten sie zusammen halten, den Gefahren gemeinsam begegnen, sich den Aufgaben stellen. Doch ganz so läuft es nicht und man beginnt zu zweifeln, ob es jeder gesund in die Heimat schaffen wird.
Mit Aufmerksamkeit begegnet man diesem Buch, drei Ebenen gilt es zu folgen, die klar abgegrenzt sind und Cliffhanger unvermeidlich werden lassen. Denn manchmal wechselt die Perspektive gerade in dem Moment, wo man angespannt wissen möchte, wie es mit der vorherigen weitergeht. Mit dieser fesselnden Komposition entführt die Autorin in eine unwirtliche Region, die vornehmlich Menschen mit großem Forscherdrang aufsuchen werden. Was treibt sie dorthin, wie werden die Gruppen zusammengefügt, wie entwickeln sich die Beziehungen unter den Teilnehmern. Drei, sagt man, ist einer zu viel. Möglicherweise gilt ein solcher Spruch für diese Forschergruppen, die jeweils ein schwächstes Mitglied zu haben scheinen. Was macht diese Konstellation, verbünden sich zwei, wechseln die Bündnisse oder halten sie zusammen? Dies ist nicht das einzige Rätsel, dass die Autorin aufgibt. Mit ihrer ruhigen ausgeklügelten Erzählung fesselt sie ungemein.
Wer Bücher in eisiger Kälte mag, sollte sich dieses Werk nicht entgehen lassen.
November 2, 2017
Rezension von Melanie zu Everland von @Rebecca Hunt
4 von 5 🌟 Eine Gruppe ist nur so stark, wie ihr schwächste Glied
Inhalt
Rebecca Hunts zweiter Roman ist Abenteuergeschichte, spannender Thriller und psychologisches Drama in einem. Die Insel Everland wird von zwei Antarktisexpeditionen erforscht, zwischen denen hundert Jahre liegen. Doch die Einsamkeit, die harten Wetterbedingungen und die feindseligen Kräfte der Natur sind heute wie damals bestimmend, und bei beiden Expeditionen zeigt sich: Die Antarktis enhüllt den wahren Charakter der Menschen, die sich ihr aussetzen.
Die Autorin war mir bis dato vollkommen unbekannt. Da ich aber vor kurzem Ice Station gelesen habe, war ich ein bissel angefixtwas kühle Gegenden angeht. Und da sprach mich der Klappentext total an. Eigentlich sind es ja sogar zwei Geschichten, die zu verschiedenen Zeiten spielen.
Es beginnt auf einer fiktiven Insel namens Everland mitten in der Antarktis. Die eine startet mit der ersten Expedition 1913 und hat durch widrige Umstände nur einen Überlebenden.
Eine erneute Expedition erfolgt mit ähnlichen Voraussetzungen im Jahr 2012.
Der Clou bei der Story, ist die Erzählperspektive denn beide Reisen werden nach und nach parallel geschildert. Die Natur wird wunderbar beschrieben, die Mitglieder der Forschungsreise werden detailliert dargestellt. Und ihre unterschiedlichen Beziehungen. Ich liiiiiiiiiebe Pinguine, denn diese Tiere kann man sich nicht böse vorstellen und Eisbären sind soooo majestätisch. Wahnsinnig ergreifend und realistisch. Ich hatte zwischendurch wirklich Gänsehaut.
Nach und nach wird klar, was dazu geführt hat das nur eine Person überlebt hat. Und es ist wirklich bis zum Schluss spannend. Mal eben die Nacht durchgelesen. Der Schreibstil ist klar, flüssig und regelrecht plastisch nachvollziehbar. Ich wurde abgeholt, ind nirgendwo zurückgelassen. Ich flog durch die Seiten.
Einzig ein Aha -Effekt fehlte mir zum Lesehimmel.
Klare Leseempfehlung! Und nicht mein Letztes Buch der Autorin!
Fakten
371 Seiten
HC 22,00 €
Ebook 17,99 €
TB 14,99 €
Erschienen im @Luchterhand LiteraturVerlag
Kaufen kann man das Buch direkt beim Verlag und hier :
https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/3630874...
Ich möchte mich bei @Randomhouse für die Verfügung Stellung des Rezensionsexemplars bedanken.
Dies hat keinerlei Einfluss auf meine persönliche Meinung!
Ihr findet diese Rezension auch wie immer auf unserem Blog:
http://ourfavorbooks.blogspot.de/?m=1
4 von 5 🌟 Eine Gruppe ist nur so stark, wie ihr schwächste Glied
Inhalt
Rebecca Hunts zweiter Roman ist Abenteuergeschichte, spannender Thriller und psychologisches Drama in einem. Die Insel Everland wird von zwei Antarktisexpeditionen erforscht, zwischen denen hundert Jahre liegen. Doch die Einsamkeit, die harten Wetterbedingungen und die feindseligen Kräfte der Natur sind heute wie damals bestimmend, und bei beiden Expeditionen zeigt sich: Die Antarktis enhüllt den wahren Charakter der Menschen, die sich ihr aussetzen.
Die Autorin war mir bis dato vollkommen unbekannt. Da ich aber vor kurzem Ice Station gelesen habe, war ich ein bissel angefixtwas kühle Gegenden angeht. Und da sprach mich der Klappentext total an. Eigentlich sind es ja sogar zwei Geschichten, die zu verschiedenen Zeiten spielen.
Es beginnt auf einer fiktiven Insel namens Everland mitten in der Antarktis. Die eine startet mit der ersten Expedition 1913 und hat durch widrige Umstände nur einen Überlebenden.
Eine erneute Expedition erfolgt mit ähnlichen Voraussetzungen im Jahr 2012.
Der Clou bei der Story, ist die Erzählperspektive denn beide Reisen werden nach und nach parallel geschildert. Die Natur wird wunderbar beschrieben, die Mitglieder der Forschungsreise werden detailliert dargestellt. Und ihre unterschiedlichen Beziehungen. Ich liiiiiiiiiebe Pinguine, denn diese Tiere kann man sich nicht böse vorstellen und Eisbären sind soooo majestätisch. Wahnsinnig ergreifend und realistisch. Ich hatte zwischendurch wirklich Gänsehaut.
Nach und nach wird klar, was dazu geführt hat das nur eine Person überlebt hat. Und es ist wirklich bis zum Schluss spannend. Mal eben die Nacht durchgelesen. Der Schreibstil ist klar, flüssig und regelrecht plastisch nachvollziehbar. Ich wurde abgeholt, ind nirgendwo zurückgelassen. Ich flog durch die Seiten.
Einzig ein Aha -Effekt fehlte mir zum Lesehimmel.
Klare Leseempfehlung! Und nicht mein Letztes Buch der Autorin!
Fakten
371 Seiten
HC 22,00 €
Ebook 17,99 €
TB 14,99 €
Erschienen im @Luchterhand LiteraturVerlag
Kaufen kann man das Buch direkt beim Verlag und hier :
https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/3630874...
Ich möchte mich bei @Randomhouse für die Verfügung Stellung des Rezensionsexemplars bedanken.
Dies hat keinerlei Einfluss auf meine persönliche Meinung!
Ihr findet diese Rezension auch wie immer auf unserem Blog:
http://ourfavorbooks.blogspot.de/?m=1
February 20, 2024
Strong four-star book.
At times, and specifically at first, the novel's style seemed slightly wooden, especially in its use of adjectives. However, this feeling soon made way for a feeling of awe in the face of the well-crafted and cleverly arranged text this is.
The parallels between the two expeditions work astonishingly well and are never forced or dished out haphazardly, despite being quite frequent. Instead, they are both intricate and subtle.
I especially enjoyed the intertextual and intermedial elements such as the diegetic film screening or the poetry references.
Themes such as time, the nature-culture divide, the body, human character and its morphing under pressure, and gender offer a complex foil to the suspenseful plot.
The use of different reflector characters is cleverly done, too.
Overall both a quick and gripping as well as an inspiring and thought-provoking read.
Highly recommendable.
At times, and specifically at first, the novel's style seemed slightly wooden, especially in its use of adjectives. However, this feeling soon made way for a feeling of awe in the face of the well-crafted and cleverly arranged text this is.
The parallels between the two expeditions work astonishingly well and are never forced or dished out haphazardly, despite being quite frequent. Instead, they are both intricate and subtle.
I especially enjoyed the intertextual and intermedial elements such as the diegetic film screening or the poetry references.
Themes such as time, the nature-culture divide, the body, human character and its morphing under pressure, and gender offer a complex foil to the suspenseful plot.
The use of different reflector characters is cleverly done, too.
Overall both a quick and gripping as well as an inspiring and thought-provoking read.
Highly recommendable.
November 9, 2025
I have really mixed feelings about this book. Some of the reviews were so good that during the first half of the book I wondered what I was missing. I couldn’t get into it, nearly DNF’d a few times but part of me needed to know how it ended and this increased as the book went on. In the last quarter of the book, I ended up not putting it down and thought for sure I’d rate 4 stars but I wanted a bit more from the ending I think
The parallels between the two expeditions were really interesting, and the linked references aswell, such as the pineapple tin, the buried oil cans. Even the group dynamics changing in the same way was really clever. I don’t think this book is for everybody but I am glad I got through to the end.
The parallels between the two expeditions were really interesting, and the linked references aswell, such as the pineapple tin, the buried oil cans. Even the group dynamics changing in the same way was really clever. I don’t think this book is for everybody but I am glad I got through to the end.
March 8, 2017
This book takes two Arctic expeditions, in 1913 and 2012, and examines the psychology of those who undertook them. From the derring-do of the early adventurers to the quest for scientific knowledge of the present day, it looks in detail at two groups of three landed on a very remote island. The depiction of the privations of life in the Antarctic climate are portrayed in fine detail and leave one failing to understand why anyone would put themselves through such torture. In both cases the impact on the minds of the explorers is graphically depicted. In the case of the earlier expedition we also follow the main party from whom the trio become separated.
On the whole the writing is well paced and lucid. I both enjoyed and learned from this book.
On the whole the writing is well paced and lucid. I both enjoyed and learned from this book.
May 22, 2017
I really enjoyed this book which was a impulse pick up, I liked the look of the cover but it was a real find. A good suspenseful book which was heightened by the movement back and forth in time. It was light and grisly all at the same time and made me very aware of how quickly life can slip away in these treacherous conditions. A great read, so atmospheric.
October 28, 2018
This is a novel set in that most mysterious place, Antarctica. In 1912 a team of three men Dinners, Miller-Bass and Napps are sent from the base on the Antarctic mainland to explore the uncharted island of Everland. One hundred years later Brix, Jess and Decker recreate the same expedition.
The second expedition reflects the first in many ways - each team has one member who is significantly weaker than the others and both expeditions come across many problems with the weather, injury and things getting lost. (At times there seemed like too many forced co-incidences between the two stories to be honest) and in both cases the physical obstacles found on the expedition cause problems between the team members.
The writing is excellent and the sense of tension in both stories is really ratched up as the novel moves forward. I also loved the descriptions of the landscape and the wildlife:
"In the fifty days it took for a hatchling to grow into a self sufficient Adelie penguin] a chick needed to bulk up by around a hundred grams every twenty four hours....... The rapid transformation from tiny scrap to sleek adult was ungainly and the chicks had reached the ungainly adolescent stage. Their flippers were too big for them and dragged on the ground like long sleeves."
This is an engrossing adventure story, and a cautionary tale for anyone wanting to go to Antarctica!
The second expedition reflects the first in many ways - each team has one member who is significantly weaker than the others and both expeditions come across many problems with the weather, injury and things getting lost. (At times there seemed like too many forced co-incidences between the two stories to be honest) and in both cases the physical obstacles found on the expedition cause problems between the team members.
The writing is excellent and the sense of tension in both stories is really ratched up as the novel moves forward. I also loved the descriptions of the landscape and the wildlife:
"In the fifty days it took for a hatchling to grow into a self sufficient Adelie penguin] a chick needed to bulk up by around a hundred grams every twenty four hours....... The rapid transformation from tiny scrap to sleek adult was ungainly and the chicks had reached the ungainly adolescent stage. Their flippers were too big for them and dragged on the ground like long sleeves."
This is an engrossing adventure story, and a cautionary tale for anyone wanting to go to Antarctica!
August 28, 2018
This book certainly improved between the start and end. As I figured out how to differentiate between the different dates and characters, I began to have internal debates about who my favourite was. By the end, I could barely put the book down as the mystery unraveled on what happened on the first edition, and what was so similar about the second.
December 2, 2015
Everland is a book about Antarctic exploration. It takes the story of two expeditions to the fictional titular island, each comprising three people. The first expedition takes place in 1913, the second is set in 2012, to celebrate the centenary of the first disastrous landing. Author Rebecca Hunt appears to draw on her experiences with the Arctic Circle residency to present a highly convincing picture of both a frozen landscape and of its effect on the vulnerable human body. This makes Everland a somewhat pungent book. I had recently read Hannah Kent's Burial Rites which, with an Icelandic setting, gives a similar feel of the odour generated by people huddled together in a freezing environment.
Secondly it is a book about the passage of time. There are frequent references to the lichen on the island, which lives for thousands of years, barely changing over the 100 year timescale of the book. At the other end of the spectrum is technology. The 20th century explorers are isolated for months at a time with rudimentary, barely adequate equipment. Their 21st century successors on the other hand have constant contact via radio, and the extent of their isolation is limited to being two hours away by sea plane. What doesn't change is their vulnerability in the face of the sheer unforgiving hostility of the environment. Hunt's main theme, however, is the constancy of human nature. She seemingly creates a basket of character traits which she shares between the earlier Dinners, Millet-Bass and Napps, and then redistributes them between the later Blix, Jess and Decker. Each party has a weak link who joined the party as a result of outside influence. Each has a no-nonense expert. Each has a leader struggling with the responsibility. Everland thus becomes a sort of dark and twisted Never-neverland in which human nature never grows up.
Thirdly it is a book about relationships under pressure. As the story of the two expeditions move along similar arcs, with clear parallels between the difficulties each faces, so the development of the relationships between the three main characters follow corresponding paths at either end of the century. In both there is an initial hostile divide between naivety and competence, with a seemingly more mature character keeping the peace. As time passes hostility turns to acceptance and diplomacy deteriorates into vindictiveness. A critical exploration of the effects of stress comes near the end of the 21st century thread when one of the characters takes an uncharacteristically selfish decision. Is this a piece of poor, unrealistic writing or is it a totally credible account of something having to give in a man squeezed by competing demands in an unbearably stressful situation?
Fourthly it is a book about how history is written by the victors. Early on the 2012 expedition watch a film based on the story of their predecessors, during which the supposed villain of the piece is roundly booed. Through the book we learn of the very different reality of the situation, and of why, to protect vested interests, the name of a noble if uncompromising man was blackened. This is repeated in both eras as characters reach sordid little compromises to obscure the truth of their own misdeeds.
The strengths of Everland are the apparent authenticity of the environment (I don't have the personal experience to judge this definitively) and in the complex characterisations of and relationships between the historical protagonists. The more modern characters are less successful. While they show some development, they start off as very crudely drawn stereotypes. I wasn't always convinced by the number of parallels between the two stories. The author at times seemed to be trying too hard, for example there is an incident involving the burying of meat in both timelines which seems almost peripheral to the plot, and only in there to create a temporal echo. It is also only vaguely explained (although one can guess at what happened).
Overall, Everland is a well researched, engrossing book with a narrative which both moves at a reasonable pace and keeps some of its secrets right up to the final denouement.
Recommended.
Secondly it is a book about the passage of time. There are frequent references to the lichen on the island, which lives for thousands of years, barely changing over the 100 year timescale of the book. At the other end of the spectrum is technology. The 20th century explorers are isolated for months at a time with rudimentary, barely adequate equipment. Their 21st century successors on the other hand have constant contact via radio, and the extent of their isolation is limited to being two hours away by sea plane. What doesn't change is their vulnerability in the face of the sheer unforgiving hostility of the environment. Hunt's main theme, however, is the constancy of human nature. She seemingly creates a basket of character traits which she shares between the earlier Dinners, Millet-Bass and Napps, and then redistributes them between the later Blix, Jess and Decker. Each party has a weak link who joined the party as a result of outside influence. Each has a no-nonense expert. Each has a leader struggling with the responsibility. Everland thus becomes a sort of dark and twisted Never-neverland in which human nature never grows up.
Thirdly it is a book about relationships under pressure. As the story of the two expeditions move along similar arcs, with clear parallels between the difficulties each faces, so the development of the relationships between the three main characters follow corresponding paths at either end of the century. In both there is an initial hostile divide between naivety and competence, with a seemingly more mature character keeping the peace. As time passes hostility turns to acceptance and diplomacy deteriorates into vindictiveness. A critical exploration of the effects of stress comes near the end of the 21st century thread when one of the characters takes an uncharacteristically selfish decision. Is this a piece of poor, unrealistic writing or is it a totally credible account of something having to give in a man squeezed by competing demands in an unbearably stressful situation?
Fourthly it is a book about how history is written by the victors. Early on the 2012 expedition watch a film based on the story of their predecessors, during which the supposed villain of the piece is roundly booed. Through the book we learn of the very different reality of the situation, and of why, to protect vested interests, the name of a noble if uncompromising man was blackened. This is repeated in both eras as characters reach sordid little compromises to obscure the truth of their own misdeeds.
The strengths of Everland are the apparent authenticity of the environment (I don't have the personal experience to judge this definitively) and in the complex characterisations of and relationships between the historical protagonists. The more modern characters are less successful. While they show some development, they start off as very crudely drawn stereotypes. I wasn't always convinced by the number of parallels between the two stories. The author at times seemed to be trying too hard, for example there is an incident involving the burying of meat in both timelines which seems almost peripheral to the plot, and only in there to create a temporal echo. It is also only vaguely explained (although one can guess at what happened).
Overall, Everland is a well researched, engrossing book with a narrative which both moves at a reasonable pace and keeps some of its secrets right up to the final denouement.
Recommended.
June 3, 2018
Everland has a thrilling premise - two explorations, each with three members, set a hundred years apart on the Everland island. The book starts to delve into what humans will do survive under the right circumstances, and Hunt is excellent at building suspense and writing a person slowly unravelling. Unfortunately, though, she is less good at motivation. I enjoyed her writing style and found it gripping but ultimately the characters - and the island, which could have been the best character of them all - were two-dimensional at best.
April 9, 2014
Rebecca Hunt's first novel, Mr Chartwell used an audacious, almost fantasy, conceit to capture the reader and examine a difficult subject - depression.
Her follow-up to that reads as more naturalistic, but still chases big themes - truth, lies, courage and consequences.
One hundred years ago, three men - Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass - set out from the Antarctic survey ship Kismet in a dinghy to land a small island, which they name Everland after the sponsor of their expedition of the title. Right from the start, thing go wrong, and they are soon stranded. Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass are explorers in the classic Edwardian mould, defying the Southern winter with plenty of Imperial pluck and pitiful equipment. They are all pipes, woollens and tinned food. And it is getting darker
One hundred years later, but in summer, a modern survey team, Jess, Brix and Decker, visit the same island. They land by plane, are in radio contact with a nearby base, and use the latest kit, including quad bikes. But life in the Antarctic is still brutal - the cold means that wounds won't heal, and the work they have lined up, tagging observing seals and penguins, is arduous. As with the 1913 party, there is a suspicion that one of the team isn't up to the job: this is only one of many echoes linking the two narratives - others include patterns of language, coincidences, shifts in the relationships within each group (three is unstable: alliances form, jealousies and fears surface... secrets are kept) and even the background of some of the explorers (Decker is tired, and wants to be home after years of exploration: so is Napps).
Also linking the two stories is a classic 60s film, Everland, portraying the earlier events - notably the cowardly action of one of the party, who is portrayed almost as a reverse Captain Oates. When the film is shown in Aegeus base before the 2012 mission, everyone hisses. The story can't, and sensibly doesn't try to, escape the shadow of Scott of the Antarctic - instead Hunt cleverly traps, kills, and flenses the hoary Antarctic tale, turning it inside out and producing a very clever alternate view which is as much about truth and lies as about survival, pitiless nature or Victorian nobility. So in a third strand of narrative, following the return of the 1913 expedition to New Zealand. The battered survey ship limps back, and the battered, shattered men in it (captain, doctor) negotiate what happened, fix blame, and make up the future (eventually to be made into that film).
Which has its own consequences, because the myth they create sets the pattern for the later expedition - undertaken largely for symbolism, intended to celebrate the centenary of the first but ending up closer than anyone would have thought. And again, in 2012, there are those small choices, lies told to oneself or to others, evasions, some undertaken with the best of intentions but leading to disaster. And again, the disaster is spun, blame is fixed, and the future begins to emerge, like the treacherous ice around Everland.
This is an enthralling book. It draws the reader in, makes its characters so real and - without ever falling into hyperbole - contains some beautiful prose. Hunt has a wonderful knack of just nailing a description, an attitude, a character. Freshly laid ice at the top of glacier is "plutonium blue". After one of the crises (Hunt is good at making the small things add up, disaster building as one thing follows another) she says of Millet-Bass that "there was also another problem of gigantic scale which demanded his full attention to avoid". Later, "a huge bruise was developing in various shades of ugly".
A powerful, thought-provoking read, easily as good as and probably better than Mr Chartwell. If this doesn't win prizes there is no justice in the world.
Her follow-up to that reads as more naturalistic, but still chases big themes - truth, lies, courage and consequences.
One hundred years ago, three men - Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass - set out from the Antarctic survey ship Kismet in a dinghy to land a small island, which they name Everland after the sponsor of their expedition of the title. Right from the start, thing go wrong, and they are soon stranded. Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass are explorers in the classic Edwardian mould, defying the Southern winter with plenty of Imperial pluck and pitiful equipment. They are all pipes, woollens and tinned food. And it is getting darker
One hundred years later, but in summer, a modern survey team, Jess, Brix and Decker, visit the same island. They land by plane, are in radio contact with a nearby base, and use the latest kit, including quad bikes. But life in the Antarctic is still brutal - the cold means that wounds won't heal, and the work they have lined up, tagging observing seals and penguins, is arduous. As with the 1913 party, there is a suspicion that one of the team isn't up to the job: this is only one of many echoes linking the two narratives - others include patterns of language, coincidences, shifts in the relationships within each group (three is unstable: alliances form, jealousies and fears surface... secrets are kept) and even the background of some of the explorers (Decker is tired, and wants to be home after years of exploration: so is Napps).
Also linking the two stories is a classic 60s film, Everland, portraying the earlier events - notably the cowardly action of one of the party, who is portrayed almost as a reverse Captain Oates. When the film is shown in Aegeus base before the 2012 mission, everyone hisses. The story can't, and sensibly doesn't try to, escape the shadow of Scott of the Antarctic - instead Hunt cleverly traps, kills, and flenses the hoary Antarctic tale, turning it inside out and producing a very clever alternate view which is as much about truth and lies as about survival, pitiless nature or Victorian nobility. So in a third strand of narrative, following the return of the 1913 expedition to New Zealand. The battered survey ship limps back, and the battered, shattered men in it (captain, doctor) negotiate what happened, fix blame, and make up the future (eventually to be made into that film).
Which has its own consequences, because the myth they create sets the pattern for the later expedition - undertaken largely for symbolism, intended to celebrate the centenary of the first but ending up closer than anyone would have thought. And again, in 2012, there are those small choices, lies told to oneself or to others, evasions, some undertaken with the best of intentions but leading to disaster. And again, the disaster is spun, blame is fixed, and the future begins to emerge, like the treacherous ice around Everland.
This is an enthralling book. It draws the reader in, makes its characters so real and - without ever falling into hyperbole - contains some beautiful prose. Hunt has a wonderful knack of just nailing a description, an attitude, a character. Freshly laid ice at the top of glacier is "plutonium blue". After one of the crises (Hunt is good at making the small things add up, disaster building as one thing follows another) she says of Millet-Bass that "there was also another problem of gigantic scale which demanded his full attention to avoid". Later, "a huge bruise was developing in various shades of ugly".
A powerful, thought-provoking read, easily as good as and probably better than Mr Chartwell. If this doesn't win prizes there is no justice in the world.
March 24, 2018
I liked the idea of ‘Everland’ more than the execution. It reminded me quite strongly of Cold Earth, in which PhD students attempt to survive the wilderness. Here, two polar expeditions are narrated in close parallel, one in 1913 and the other in 2012. In both novels, I found the petty mean-spiritedness of the characters greatly reduced my appreciation of the plot and setting. Here, the Edwardian explorers sounded oddly modern and, like their 21st century counterparts, unbelievably petty and unprofessional. In an environment so harsh that a mere moment of unprofessionalism could kill multiple people, this seemed unrealistic. Arctic expeditions must have been better than this at managing interpersonal tensions, otherwise no-one would have returned from any of them! The emphasis on petty dispute also made the characters hard to sympathise with. Perhaps the intent was to show how everyone was pushed to their limits; if so Rebecca Hunt must have a very pessimistic view of human nature.
Characters aside, the central mystery was compelling, albeit ghoulish given it amounted to . The setting was evoked vividly, with plenty of visceral details showing how arctic conditions damage the human body. Despite being fond of writing about very cold and snowy places, I found ‘Everland’ not really to my taste. It kept me reading on the train, despite the characters rather than because of them.
Characters aside, the central mystery was compelling, albeit ghoulish given it amounted to . The setting was evoked vividly, with plenty of visceral details showing how arctic conditions damage the human body. Despite being fond of writing about very cold and snowy places, I found ‘Everland’ not really to my taste. It kept me reading on the train, despite the characters rather than because of them.
February 23, 2018
3,4 Sterne:
Lange schon bin ich um diesen Roman herumgeschlichen – angezogen von diesem wunderschönen und geheimnisvollen Cover. Und jetzt in der kalten Jahreszeit, dachte ich mir, wäre doch die perfekte Zeit gekommen, um in diese Abenteuergeschichte über zwei Antarktisexpeditionen, zwischen denen zwar ein ganzes Jahrhundert liegt und die doch so viel gemeinsam haben, einzutauchen.
„Wie uns die Zeit dazu verleitet zu sehen, wer wir wirklich sind und welche Entscheidungen wir treffen.“ S. 336
Worum geht’s?
Dieser Roman erzählt die Geschichte zweier Antarktisexpeditionen.
Die Erste startet im März 1913, als die Besatzung der unter britischer Flagge segelnden Kismet eine neue Insel entdeckt. Drei Männer werden auserwählt diese zu erforschen. Sie nennen sie Everland. Sie sollen einige Tage dort verbringen und dann wieder von der Kismet abgeholt werden. Doch schon auf dem Hinweg geraten sie in dem kleinen Beiboot in einen Sturm und erreichen nur wie durch ein Wunder die Insel. Doch dann kehrt die Kismet nicht zurück und ein Kampf ums Überleben beginnt.
Fast ein Jahrhundert später soll zu Ehren der ersten Everland-Expedition erneut ein Forscherteam der Antarktisstation Aegeus auf die Insel geschickt werden. Dieses Mal werden die Auserwählten und ihr durchaus weiterentwickeltes Equipment, mit einer Propellermaschine dorthin geflogen. Zudem ist es November, also antarktischer Sommerbeginn, und es gibt täglichen Funkkontakt zur Forschungsstation. Viel bessere Voraussetzungen als vor hundert Jahren – kann also nichts schiefgehen, könnte man meinen. Doch da wurde die Rechnung nicht mit der immer noch unbezähmbaren Natur sowie der Natur des Menschen gemacht.
Meine Meinung
Ich muss sagen, dass mir der Einstieg in dieses Buch wirklich alles andere als leichtgefallen ist. Es werden relativ zügig sehr viele Charaktere eingeführt, dann gibt es zwischen den relativ kurzen Kapiteln Zeitsprünge zwischen den zwei Expeditionen und innerhalb der Kapitel wechselt zudem die Erzählperspektive zwischen den verschiedenen Protagonisten – ohne, dass dies durch Absätze kenntlich gemacht wird. So kam ich lange nicht in einen richtigen Lesefluss, musste oft nochmal zurückblättern um nachzulesen, wer jetzt was gesagt oder gedacht hatte oder woher man diese Person nochmal kannte.
„Everland“ wird im Klappentext als Abenteuergeschichte, spannender Thriller, und psychologisches Drama beschrieben.
Eine Abenteuergeschichte ist es zweifellos, wie sie typischer nicht sein könnte. Die Spannung kam für mich erst etwa ab der Mitte des Buches auf. Zwar wird schon zu Beginn des Buches im Jahr 1913 ein Überlebender der ersten Expedition gefunden und man möchte natürlich wissen, was auf Everlend geschehen ist und was aus den anderen beiden Expeditionsteilnehmern geworden ist. Von da an wird in diesem Erzählstrang abwechselnd das Geschehen bei der Expedition selbst und die Ereignissen auf der Kismet nach dem Fund des Überlebenden erzählt. Zwischendurch gibt es sogar Rückblenden zu derzeit vor der Expedition. Ziemlich verwirrend, aber auch interessant.
Und das würde an sich schon für einen guten Spannungsaufbau reichen, doch wurde dieser für mich enorm gedämpft, indem ich einfach keinen Bezug zu den Protagonisten bekommen konnte. Sie blieben für mich bis zum Schluss leere Stereotype, die sich ihren Rollen entsprechend verhielten. Beispielsweise die junge Forscherin Brix, die bei der zweiten Expedition mit von der Partie ist, wurde so überspitzt hilflos und ungeeignet für diesen Job dargestellt, dass man nur darauf wartet, dass sie als nächstes Hilfe beim Zähneputzen benötigt. Die Charaktere spielen ihre Rolle, büßen dabei jedoch unglaublich an Authentizität ein.
Im Laufe der Geschichte werden immer mehr Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den Teams und dem Ablauf der beiden Expeditionen deutlich, was durch die abwechselnde Erzählung beider Zeitstränge noch hervorgehoben wird. Das hat mir einerseits sehr gut gefallen, da es die Aussage des Romans zusätzlich unterstreicht. Andererseits glaube ich, dass auch dies dazu beigetragen hat, dass mir die Charaktere so stereotypisch vorkamen. Es gibt nicht nur eine zartbesaitete junge Forscherin, eine knallharte und pragmatisch veranlagte Feldassistentin und einen erfahrenen älteren und idealistischen Antarktisforscher, nein, es gibt sie jeweils zweimal. In ihrer Profession und dem Geschlecht natürlich leicht abgeändert, aber im Grunde fast identisch. Es hat mich etwas gestört, dass man als Leser diese Ähnlichkeiten nicht langsam erkennen muss, sondern sie so sehr unter die Nase gerieben bekommt.
Interessant ist hingegen, dass das zwischenmenschliche Beziehungsgefüge in den Teams etwas anders verteilt ist, was in der zweiten Hälfte des Buches dann doch einige Fragen aufwirft und zur zunehmenden Spannung beiträgt. Die Drei scheint zudem hier die magische Zahl zu sein, denn auch an Bord der Kismet gibt es drei zentrale Charaktere, die versuchen, einen Weg zu finden, mit den Geschehnissen umzugehen.
Drei Gruppen aus je drei Leuten in drei Ausnahmesituationen und die Frage wie sie sich verhalten.
Die Tatsache, dass die Teams so gleich und doch irgendwie unterschiedlich sind, dass hundert Jahre zwischen den beiden Expeditionen liegen und die Menschen dennoch nicht gegen alle Naturgewalten gewappnet sind, unterstreicht die Aussage des Romans:
Egal wie sicher wir uns sind, dass wir uns gegen die Natur schützen können, dass wir, glauben genau zu wissen, welche Entscheidungen wir in welchen Situationen fällen würden und vor allem, dass man nicht die gleichen Fehler noch einmal machen wird, weil man ja so gut vorbereitet ist, wir liegen mit dieser Einschätzung falsch. Die menschliche Natur ist ebenso wie die Natur der lebensfeindlichen Weite der Antarktis unberechenbar.
Zum Schluss möchte ich noch hervorheben, dass ich mir, obwohl ich Schwierigkeiten hatte, einen Zugang zu den Protagonisten zu finden und somit richtig in die Geschichte einzutauchen, die Atmosphäre der kalten und unwirtlichen Landschaft, diese Einsamkeit und dennoch erdrückende Enge durch die anderen, sehr vorstellen konnte und alleine das hat den Roman für mich lesenswert gemacht.
Fazit
Eine zum Ende hin spannende Abenteuergeschichte, in die ich aber erst einmal hereinkommen musste. Trotz einer interessanten Aussage, führte vor allem die fehlende Tiefe der Charaktere dazu, dass mich das Buch nicht richtig abholen konnte.
Für jeden, der gerne Abenteuergeschichten und Geschichten darüber, welche psychologischen Auswirkungen Extremsituationen auf die menschliche Natur haben können, liest, kann ich diesen Roman dennoch empfehlen.
Lange schon bin ich um diesen Roman herumgeschlichen – angezogen von diesem wunderschönen und geheimnisvollen Cover. Und jetzt in der kalten Jahreszeit, dachte ich mir, wäre doch die perfekte Zeit gekommen, um in diese Abenteuergeschichte über zwei Antarktisexpeditionen, zwischen denen zwar ein ganzes Jahrhundert liegt und die doch so viel gemeinsam haben, einzutauchen.
„Wie uns die Zeit dazu verleitet zu sehen, wer wir wirklich sind und welche Entscheidungen wir treffen.“ S. 336
Worum geht’s?
Dieser Roman erzählt die Geschichte zweier Antarktisexpeditionen.
Die Erste startet im März 1913, als die Besatzung der unter britischer Flagge segelnden Kismet eine neue Insel entdeckt. Drei Männer werden auserwählt diese zu erforschen. Sie nennen sie Everland. Sie sollen einige Tage dort verbringen und dann wieder von der Kismet abgeholt werden. Doch schon auf dem Hinweg geraten sie in dem kleinen Beiboot in einen Sturm und erreichen nur wie durch ein Wunder die Insel. Doch dann kehrt die Kismet nicht zurück und ein Kampf ums Überleben beginnt.
Fast ein Jahrhundert später soll zu Ehren der ersten Everland-Expedition erneut ein Forscherteam der Antarktisstation Aegeus auf die Insel geschickt werden. Dieses Mal werden die Auserwählten und ihr durchaus weiterentwickeltes Equipment, mit einer Propellermaschine dorthin geflogen. Zudem ist es November, also antarktischer Sommerbeginn, und es gibt täglichen Funkkontakt zur Forschungsstation. Viel bessere Voraussetzungen als vor hundert Jahren – kann also nichts schiefgehen, könnte man meinen. Doch da wurde die Rechnung nicht mit der immer noch unbezähmbaren Natur sowie der Natur des Menschen gemacht.
Meine Meinung
Ich muss sagen, dass mir der Einstieg in dieses Buch wirklich alles andere als leichtgefallen ist. Es werden relativ zügig sehr viele Charaktere eingeführt, dann gibt es zwischen den relativ kurzen Kapiteln Zeitsprünge zwischen den zwei Expeditionen und innerhalb der Kapitel wechselt zudem die Erzählperspektive zwischen den verschiedenen Protagonisten – ohne, dass dies durch Absätze kenntlich gemacht wird. So kam ich lange nicht in einen richtigen Lesefluss, musste oft nochmal zurückblättern um nachzulesen, wer jetzt was gesagt oder gedacht hatte oder woher man diese Person nochmal kannte.
„Everland“ wird im Klappentext als Abenteuergeschichte, spannender Thriller, und psychologisches Drama beschrieben.
Eine Abenteuergeschichte ist es zweifellos, wie sie typischer nicht sein könnte. Die Spannung kam für mich erst etwa ab der Mitte des Buches auf. Zwar wird schon zu Beginn des Buches im Jahr 1913 ein Überlebender der ersten Expedition gefunden und man möchte natürlich wissen, was auf Everlend geschehen ist und was aus den anderen beiden Expeditionsteilnehmern geworden ist. Von da an wird in diesem Erzählstrang abwechselnd das Geschehen bei der Expedition selbst und die Ereignissen auf der Kismet nach dem Fund des Überlebenden erzählt. Zwischendurch gibt es sogar Rückblenden zu derzeit vor der Expedition. Ziemlich verwirrend, aber auch interessant.
Und das würde an sich schon für einen guten Spannungsaufbau reichen, doch wurde dieser für mich enorm gedämpft, indem ich einfach keinen Bezug zu den Protagonisten bekommen konnte. Sie blieben für mich bis zum Schluss leere Stereotype, die sich ihren Rollen entsprechend verhielten. Beispielsweise die junge Forscherin Brix, die bei der zweiten Expedition mit von der Partie ist, wurde so überspitzt hilflos und ungeeignet für diesen Job dargestellt, dass man nur darauf wartet, dass sie als nächstes Hilfe beim Zähneputzen benötigt. Die Charaktere spielen ihre Rolle, büßen dabei jedoch unglaublich an Authentizität ein.
Im Laufe der Geschichte werden immer mehr Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den Teams und dem Ablauf der beiden Expeditionen deutlich, was durch die abwechselnde Erzählung beider Zeitstränge noch hervorgehoben wird. Das hat mir einerseits sehr gut gefallen, da es die Aussage des Romans zusätzlich unterstreicht. Andererseits glaube ich, dass auch dies dazu beigetragen hat, dass mir die Charaktere so stereotypisch vorkamen. Es gibt nicht nur eine zartbesaitete junge Forscherin, eine knallharte und pragmatisch veranlagte Feldassistentin und einen erfahrenen älteren und idealistischen Antarktisforscher, nein, es gibt sie jeweils zweimal. In ihrer Profession und dem Geschlecht natürlich leicht abgeändert, aber im Grunde fast identisch. Es hat mich etwas gestört, dass man als Leser diese Ähnlichkeiten nicht langsam erkennen muss, sondern sie so sehr unter die Nase gerieben bekommt.
Interessant ist hingegen, dass das zwischenmenschliche Beziehungsgefüge in den Teams etwas anders verteilt ist, was in der zweiten Hälfte des Buches dann doch einige Fragen aufwirft und zur zunehmenden Spannung beiträgt. Die Drei scheint zudem hier die magische Zahl zu sein, denn auch an Bord der Kismet gibt es drei zentrale Charaktere, die versuchen, einen Weg zu finden, mit den Geschehnissen umzugehen.
Drei Gruppen aus je drei Leuten in drei Ausnahmesituationen und die Frage wie sie sich verhalten.
Die Tatsache, dass die Teams so gleich und doch irgendwie unterschiedlich sind, dass hundert Jahre zwischen den beiden Expeditionen liegen und die Menschen dennoch nicht gegen alle Naturgewalten gewappnet sind, unterstreicht die Aussage des Romans:
Egal wie sicher wir uns sind, dass wir uns gegen die Natur schützen können, dass wir, glauben genau zu wissen, welche Entscheidungen wir in welchen Situationen fällen würden und vor allem, dass man nicht die gleichen Fehler noch einmal machen wird, weil man ja so gut vorbereitet ist, wir liegen mit dieser Einschätzung falsch. Die menschliche Natur ist ebenso wie die Natur der lebensfeindlichen Weite der Antarktis unberechenbar.
Zum Schluss möchte ich noch hervorheben, dass ich mir, obwohl ich Schwierigkeiten hatte, einen Zugang zu den Protagonisten zu finden und somit richtig in die Geschichte einzutauchen, die Atmosphäre der kalten und unwirtlichen Landschaft, diese Einsamkeit und dennoch erdrückende Enge durch die anderen, sehr vorstellen konnte und alleine das hat den Roman für mich lesenswert gemacht.
Fazit
Eine zum Ende hin spannende Abenteuergeschichte, in die ich aber erst einmal hereinkommen musste. Trotz einer interessanten Aussage, führte vor allem die fehlende Tiefe der Charaktere dazu, dass mich das Buch nicht richtig abholen konnte.
Für jeden, der gerne Abenteuergeschichten und Geschichten darüber, welche psychologischen Auswirkungen Extremsituationen auf die menschliche Natur haben können, liest, kann ich diesen Roman dennoch empfehlen.
October 17, 2015
In 1913 a British expedition to Antartica involves a trip to the island of Everland. Explorers Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass are selected to be sent in a wooden dinghy with supplies to take on a mission of scientific and naturalist exploration. The expedition ends in tragedy and no one other than the three know why and what happened.
2012 - almost the centenary of the fated expedition sees a follow up visit with explorers Brix, Decker and Jess, they take all the modern day survival items and technology with them to survey Everland, to scientifically assess the wildlife and to perhaps discover why and what happened to the 1913 expedition....
I enjoyed Everland, it's a book split in two, but by chapters, chronicalling the fated 1913 expedition alongside the 2012 expedition, filled with personalities, split by time and history it explores human nature in its rawest kind when exposed to the brutal climate of Antartica. Thrilling, mysterious, exciting, historical and thought provoking, sad and enjoyable. A cleverly and wonderfully descriptive novel that is unlike anything I've read before.
2012 - almost the centenary of the fated expedition sees a follow up visit with explorers Brix, Decker and Jess, they take all the modern day survival items and technology with them to survey Everland, to scientifically assess the wildlife and to perhaps discover why and what happened to the 1913 expedition....
I enjoyed Everland, it's a book split in two, but by chapters, chronicalling the fated 1913 expedition alongside the 2012 expedition, filled with personalities, split by time and history it explores human nature in its rawest kind when exposed to the brutal climate of Antartica. Thrilling, mysterious, exciting, historical and thought provoking, sad and enjoyable. A cleverly and wonderfully descriptive novel that is unlike anything I've read before.
January 29, 2014
I received this book from a goodreads giveaways competition.
I really loved this book! The author's descriptions of a place as alien and extreme as the Antarctic is excellent, as are the characters.
The plot follows two groups of explorers, one hundred years apart, but on the same island, with chapters entwining both narratives. The way information is revealed is really good, and makes it so easy to just keep reading.
Uncomfortable parallels can't help but be drawn between both groups for a reader hoping for a happy ending for the modern group, as topics such as morality in extreme conditions is explored.
Showing history really is written by the winners, this book will stay with you.
I really loved this book! The author's descriptions of a place as alien and extreme as the Antarctic is excellent, as are the characters.
The plot follows two groups of explorers, one hundred years apart, but on the same island, with chapters entwining both narratives. The way information is revealed is really good, and makes it so easy to just keep reading.
Uncomfortable parallels can't help but be drawn between both groups for a reader hoping for a happy ending for the modern group, as topics such as morality in extreme conditions is explored.
Showing history really is written by the winners, this book will stay with you.
February 4, 2014
Brilliant! What a terrific book!
I won this book in Goodreads first reads and reading it was a wild ride.
I have to admit that after reading this book I felt like I was hit by a blizzard. My heart was pounding all the way through this read, and I couldn't put the book down. Adrenaline mixed with fear, danger and with overwhelming feelings of doubt and desperation.
It tells us about two different group of explorers with one hundred years of difference between them. But no matter how the technology and science have evolved the circumstances are the same. The characters keep surprising us through all the book in a good or bad way. Nothing is linear, nothing is what it seems,the heroes and the cowards are not who we think they are.
I won this book in Goodreads first reads and reading it was a wild ride.
I have to admit that after reading this book I felt like I was hit by a blizzard. My heart was pounding all the way through this read, and I couldn't put the book down. Adrenaline mixed with fear, danger and with overwhelming feelings of doubt and desperation.
It tells us about two different group of explorers with one hundred years of difference between them. But no matter how the technology and science have evolved the circumstances are the same. The characters keep surprising us through all the book in a good or bad way. Nothing is linear, nothing is what it seems,the heroes and the cowards are not who we think they are.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews