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Ice Station Death
All Argentine Army Colonel Javier Balzano had to do was babysit a group of scientists to Antarctica. The months spent at the Belgrano II base promised to be more tedious than dangerous. His only real concern was a mysterious undercover American observer. What might be worth observing on the frozen, empty wastes of Antarctica, no one knew.When the base suddenly goes off air, no one is unduly concerned. Antarctic communications have always been patchy. Then strange creatures are sighted in the surrounding seas and the crew are suddenly thrown into savage battle against prehistoric monsters and the brutal elements.Can anyone survive Ice Station Death?
- GenresHorrorScience Fiction
208 pages, Paperback
Published March 19, 2019
54 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Gustavo Bondoni
215 books41 followersGustavo Bondoni is novelist and short story writer with over three hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He is a member of Codex and an Active Member of SFWA. His latest novel is Test Site Horror (2020). He has also published two other monster books: Ice Station: Death (2019) and Jungle Lab Terror (2020), three science fiction novels: Incursion (2017), Outside (2017) and Siege (2016) and an ebook novella entitled Branch. His short fiction is collected in Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019) Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011).
In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.
His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com
In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.
His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 24, 2025
I wanted to rate this a 3.5. It was an interesting read and had a lot going for it. Part creature feature, part thriller, with a dash of espionage. The writing quality is solid and the plot got pretty intricate, with some good character dynamics, and most scenes with those evolved creatures were fun. I also saw some callbacks to Aliens, which was great, too. I’m just not sure what didn’t fully connect for me. The story sort of had two gears, one of which was raw action and the other being sort of dull, dragged out sections involving the characters interacting with one another. Maybe if the characters were given some more depth, it would have made me feel more invested in the inner workings of the story, but that’s the only thing I can come up with. It was all good, just not great. But, again, I liked a lot more than I didn’t here. For readers who want more of a thriller than a straight up creature feature, this is right up your alley.
November 22, 2019
When contact to a research base in Antarctica is lost, the crew of an icebreaker is sent to investigate. What they find are some prehistoric creatures that start attacking the ship.
For a considerable amount of time, though, the struggle is between the multicultural crew of the ship, because some of them are following their own agenda. And there's also another force involved, with which a confrontation is looming.
The creatures themselves are a little disappointing. Most of them are simply shot by someone at some point, and I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was trying to make this appear more challenging than it ultimately was. There's one very big one that makes it a little harder for our heroes, and of course a lot of people are dying in the process, but ultimately the fight against the beasts turned out to be a little disappointing.
I also think that the author should have made more of the generally very interesting setting. But for me it wasn't much more than the backdrop for the ultimately not very interesting action.
My reading-buddy Cathy pointed out that the book is a bit slow for a creature feature. And that's true as well.
It's really hard for me to find some redeeming qualities in this one. The most interesting thing were probably the circumstances in which I read this (on a flight that couldn't go to its planned destination and during my first days in a country that barely has any internet connection, which made a GR buddy-read pretty difficult, and that also doesn't exactly have cold weather at any point of the year).
Well, whatever the reasons, I just bounced off of this one. And hard.
For a considerable amount of time, though, the struggle is between the multicultural crew of the ship, because some of them are following their own agenda. And there's also another force involved, with which a confrontation is looming.
The creatures themselves are a little disappointing. Most of them are simply shot by someone at some point, and I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was trying to make this appear more challenging than it ultimately was. There's one very big one that makes it a little harder for our heroes, and of course a lot of people are dying in the process, but ultimately the fight against the beasts turned out to be a little disappointing.
I also think that the author should have made more of the generally very interesting setting. But for me it wasn't much more than the backdrop for the ultimately not very interesting action.
My reading-buddy Cathy pointed out that the book is a bit slow for a creature feature. And that's true as well.
It's really hard for me to find some redeeming qualities in this one. The most interesting thing were probably the circumstances in which I read this (on a flight that couldn't go to its planned destination and during my first days in a country that barely has any internet connection, which made a GR buddy-read pretty difficult, and that also doesn't exactly have cold weather at any point of the year).
Well, whatever the reasons, I just bounced off of this one. And hard.
October 30, 2019
Scary name for a book. I went into this with extremely low expectations. Low-and-behold, good writing! Not as fast paced or suspenseful as my previous two creature horror reads though.
Creatures from the Triassic survived and adapted. We messed with them and now they are messing back....
Have a look here, after you found out what the big bad monster is:
https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2014/...
In the last third of the book my interest started to flag a bit. The monsters were nicely monstrous and really TSTL (probably why they should have gone extinct in the first place), but still—the pacing was a little too sedate every now and then.
And the addition of a crazy woman relatively late in the book brought a wacky element to it that didn‘t really gell well with the rest of the story. I would have preferred if the author had just escalated the actual monster story instead.
Also there was a little too much thinking towards the end, when all I wanted was action and blood splatter. I really don‘t want to know the main character‘s relationship history at that point. I wanted to see him kill things. Which he did, eventually, in funny and creative ways, he was “someone who’s shown courage verging on idiocy in the face of danger.”
Bottom line, it was entertaining, I liked the main character, a little too slowly paced here and there, more focus on the monsters would have been nice. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I would read something else by the author.
Creatures from the Triassic survived and adapted. We messed with them and now they are messing back....
Have a look here, after you found out what the big bad monster is:
https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2014/...
In the last third of the book my interest started to flag a bit. The monsters were nicely monstrous and really TSTL (probably why they should have gone extinct in the first place), but still—the pacing was a little too sedate every now and then.
And the addition of a crazy woman relatively late in the book brought a wacky element to it that didn‘t really gell well with the rest of the story. I would have preferred if the author had just escalated the actual monster story instead.
Also there was a little too much thinking towards the end, when all I wanted was action and blood splatter. I really don‘t want to know the main character‘s relationship history at that point. I wanted to see him kill things. Which he did, eventually, in funny and creative ways, he was “someone who’s shown courage verging on idiocy in the face of danger.”
Bottom line, it was entertaining, I liked the main character, a little too slowly paced here and there, more focus on the monsters would have been nice. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I would read something else by the author.
March 30, 2019
.Monsters of both the creature and human kind, international espionage and madness imperil an Argentine scientific mission to Antarctica. This thriller is a great read, well-written with lots of action, tension, and scares, and would make a great movie.
April 8, 2019
Prehistoric monsters in Antarctica
Colonel Javier Balzano of the Argentinean Army is sent on an Argentinean Naval icebreaker overseeing a contingent of scientists, Army replacements for the staff at one of the Argentinean bases on Antarctica, soldiers, sailors, and a U.S. spy.
The base on Antarctica lost contact with Argentina but no one is really worried because communications go down often in Antarctica.
But this mixed bag of people are NOT expecting what they do find when they make it almost to the Antarctic base. Monsters really do exist.
This was a creature feature tale that would make a good B-grade monster movie. It was a fun, gory, fast-paced thriller about bioterrorism gone awry and a ship of unsuspecting people coming to the icy South Pole to fight for their lives.
Colonel Javier Balzano of the Argentinean Army is sent on an Argentinean Naval icebreaker overseeing a contingent of scientists, Army replacements for the staff at one of the Argentinean bases on Antarctica, soldiers, sailors, and a U.S. spy.
The base on Antarctica lost contact with Argentina but no one is really worried because communications go down often in Antarctica.
But this mixed bag of people are NOT expecting what they do find when they make it almost to the Antarctic base. Monsters really do exist.
This was a creature feature tale that would make a good B-grade monster movie. It was a fun, gory, fast-paced thriller about bioterrorism gone awry and a ship of unsuspecting people coming to the icy South Pole to fight for their lives.
January 13, 2020
Revenge is best cold
The book was really good once you got past the politics. The characters were well developed .The story was fast paced and enjoyable.
The book was really good once you got past the politics. The characters were well developed .The story was fast paced and enjoyable.
October 28, 2019
A good read!
If your looking for something to read then you need to read this. I enjoyed the action, the plot and everything else.
If your looking for something to read then you need to read this. I enjoyed the action, the plot and everything else.
September 22, 2020
The story had promise and the writing was well done.
December 2, 2020
Not too bad
Not too bad a story but some parts were rather anoying. This is purely based off personal opinion but the character who snapped mentally really got on my nerves after a while. It ended up taking away from the rest of the story in my mind. Maybe others will feel different.
Not too bad a story but some parts were rather anoying. This is purely based off personal opinion but the character who snapped mentally really got on my nerves after a while. It ended up taking away from the rest of the story in my mind. Maybe others will feel different.
January 27, 2020
meh, not bad, not good.
If it wasn't free, I'd be upset at spending money on it.
If it wasn't free, I'd be upset at spending money on it.
June 7, 2021
This was interesting and very action packed. Would have loved an extra chapter of two.overall pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews