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Sailing to Utopia #1
The Ice Schooner
The world lay frozen under a thousand feet of ice—and only in the Eight Cities of the Matto Grosso did men still live, hunting the wary ice whales for meat and oil, following the creed of the Ice Mother which foretold the end of all life in ultimate cold. But legend told of a city far to the north—fabled New York—whose towers rose above the ice, whose crypts held the forgotten lore that might bring warmth to Earth once again. And, in the best ice ship in the Eight Cities, Konrad Arflane embarked on the impossible voyage to New York—an odyssey of incredible peril and adventure...with a shattering discovery at journey's end!
183 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
15 people are currently reading
511 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,207 books3,747 followersMichael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
March 8, 2023
[9/10]
... the quest was a noble one, almost a holy one. To go north towards the home of the Ice Mother, to sail, like the mariners of ancient times, on a great voyage of many months, seeking knowledge that might change the world, suited his essentially romantic nature.
It suits me just fine, too. Planetary romances, or pulp adventures, were not high on my list the first time I set sail from an ice-bound Matto Grosso plateau in search of the temple of an Ice Goddess. Hard science was the name of the game in my late teens: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Greg Bear, and so on.
With age, I became more mellow and more ready to embrace my own essentially romantic nature, so I moved to the top the names of Jack Vance, Patricia McKillip or the brooding saga of Elric, the albino sorcerer.
As his distant ancestors had been men of the sea, Konrad Arflane was a man of the ice. He had the same solitary habits, the same air of self-sufficiency, the same distant expression in his grey eyes.
Even the name of the ice captain who will guide us north into the vast ice fields and innumerable dangers of a cold post-apocalyptic Earth seems borrowed now from a Dying Earth story by Vance. Moorcock seems determined to point out to Herman Melville as a revered inspiration for his own fateful, doomed voyage across the glaciers. The ancient harpooner Urquart may even be a direct reference to ‘Moby Dick’.
I don’t mind it: this literary continuity actually enhances the journey for me and allows me to exclaim over the elegance and brevity of Moorcock narrative style. This slim book packs an epic scope and larger than life characters carved from the classic heroic cloth analysed by Campbell or Eliade. Still, this is Moorcock, so the reader must be prepared for a solid serving of weirdness along the way:
‘In the dark of dawn, in the grey time when men and ships are nothing but shadows without weight and substance, they met the Fate sent by Ice Mother to punish them their crimes. It surrounded them, flickering and leaping, soundless as snow, weird as Death itself.’
Even the obligatory love interest for the hero is covered in other stuff than roses and singing nightingales, flirting dangerously close to statutory rape:
He stepped forward and embraced her, holding her tightly against his blood-slippery body, while behind them the monster screamed, shuddered, and died. For minutes its pungent, salty blood gushed out in huge spurts, drenching them, but they were hardly aware of it.
It’s really a revelation for me how much I am willing to forgive the author for playing fast and loose with actual science when I enjoy the ride and the style. A biologist would probably point out that whales need a food source in order to survive on ice, and that they couldn’t anyway adapt so fast to a completely new ecosystem. A structural engineer will be scandalized by the stress limits expected from whale bones that will be capable to sustain a heavy sailing ship on several slender runners. I am often pulled out of the story if I come across too many such inconsistencies, but in the case of Moorcock, I just relaxed and went where the winds blow.
Once I had my fill of chasing wild packs of aggressive cetaceans, or fending off wild bears attacks, raids by savage tribes, storms and whiteouts in the fog, mutiny and betrayal among the crew, active volcanoes and treacherous patches of rotten ice, I noticed the subtle art of creating a new religion based on the harsh realities of a hostile planet. The cult of the Ice Mother became the highlight, the anchor point of the whole novel.
The Keltshilian laughed, high and wild. ‘Since when’, he said, ‘did pity figure in the scheme of things? Pity, or blame? Friends, we are bound to the Ice Eternal; to the cold that will increase and conquer, lay us all in our bones. Is not human effort vain, all life doomed to cease?
[...] ‘The ice is real,’ shouted Skalter, rising. ‘Ice, and blood. All else is delusion, toys for weak men and fools.’
>>><<<>>><<<
You can recognize a great writer sometime by the influence he or she has on the artists who follow in their footsteps. The greatest names are not always commercial success stories, but their imagination is so powerful that it generates a trend: from Burroughs to Robert E Howard or Lovecraft, more recently J R R Tolkien, George R R Martin or J K Rowling. Suddenly everybody wants to write high fantasy, or grimdark or magic schools. I read a couple of years ago an excellent ‘Dying Earth’ collection written by fans of the original series.
The world of the ‘Ice Schooner’ is enhanced by a couple of atmospheric short stories written by a friend of the author: Keith Roberts.
Coranda : a beautiful woman sends her suitors on a wild hunt for the rare trophy of a magical creature, a unicorn or narwhal.
The Wreck of the ‘Kissing Bitch’ a pirate adventure, a story of revenge and death on the ice.
... the quest was a noble one, almost a holy one. To go north towards the home of the Ice Mother, to sail, like the mariners of ancient times, on a great voyage of many months, seeking knowledge that might change the world, suited his essentially romantic nature.
It suits me just fine, too. Planetary romances, or pulp adventures, were not high on my list the first time I set sail from an ice-bound Matto Grosso plateau in search of the temple of an Ice Goddess. Hard science was the name of the game in my late teens: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Greg Bear, and so on.
With age, I became more mellow and more ready to embrace my own essentially romantic nature, so I moved to the top the names of Jack Vance, Patricia McKillip or the brooding saga of Elric, the albino sorcerer.
As his distant ancestors had been men of the sea, Konrad Arflane was a man of the ice. He had the same solitary habits, the same air of self-sufficiency, the same distant expression in his grey eyes.
Even the name of the ice captain who will guide us north into the vast ice fields and innumerable dangers of a cold post-apocalyptic Earth seems borrowed now from a Dying Earth story by Vance. Moorcock seems determined to point out to Herman Melville as a revered inspiration for his own fateful, doomed voyage across the glaciers. The ancient harpooner Urquart may even be a direct reference to ‘Moby Dick’.
I don’t mind it: this literary continuity actually enhances the journey for me and allows me to exclaim over the elegance and brevity of Moorcock narrative style. This slim book packs an epic scope and larger than life characters carved from the classic heroic cloth analysed by Campbell or Eliade. Still, this is Moorcock, so the reader must be prepared for a solid serving of weirdness along the way:
‘In the dark of dawn, in the grey time when men and ships are nothing but shadows without weight and substance, they met the Fate sent by Ice Mother to punish them their crimes. It surrounded them, flickering and leaping, soundless as snow, weird as Death itself.’
Even the obligatory love interest for the hero is covered in other stuff than roses and singing nightingales, flirting dangerously close to statutory rape:
He stepped forward and embraced her, holding her tightly against his blood-slippery body, while behind them the monster screamed, shuddered, and died. For minutes its pungent, salty blood gushed out in huge spurts, drenching them, but they were hardly aware of it.
It’s really a revelation for me how much I am willing to forgive the author for playing fast and loose with actual science when I enjoy the ride and the style. A biologist would probably point out that whales need a food source in order to survive on ice, and that they couldn’t anyway adapt so fast to a completely new ecosystem. A structural engineer will be scandalized by the stress limits expected from whale bones that will be capable to sustain a heavy sailing ship on several slender runners. I am often pulled out of the story if I come across too many such inconsistencies, but in the case of Moorcock, I just relaxed and went where the winds blow.
Once I had my fill of chasing wild packs of aggressive cetaceans, or fending off wild bears attacks, raids by savage tribes, storms and whiteouts in the fog, mutiny and betrayal among the crew, active volcanoes and treacherous patches of rotten ice, I noticed the subtle art of creating a new religion based on the harsh realities of a hostile planet. The cult of the Ice Mother became the highlight, the anchor point of the whole novel.
The Keltshilian laughed, high and wild. ‘Since when’, he said, ‘did pity figure in the scheme of things? Pity, or blame? Friends, we are bound to the Ice Eternal; to the cold that will increase and conquer, lay us all in our bones. Is not human effort vain, all life doomed to cease?
[...] ‘The ice is real,’ shouted Skalter, rising. ‘Ice, and blood. All else is delusion, toys for weak men and fools.’
>>><<<>>><<<
You can recognize a great writer sometime by the influence he or she has on the artists who follow in their footsteps. The greatest names are not always commercial success stories, but their imagination is so powerful that it generates a trend: from Burroughs to Robert E Howard or Lovecraft, more recently J R R Tolkien, George R R Martin or J K Rowling. Suddenly everybody wants to write high fantasy, or grimdark or magic schools. I read a couple of years ago an excellent ‘Dying Earth’ collection written by fans of the original series.
The world of the ‘Ice Schooner’ is enhanced by a couple of atmospheric short stories written by a friend of the author: Keith Roberts.
Coranda : a beautiful woman sends her suitors on a wild hunt for the rare trophy of a magical creature, a unicorn or narwhal.
The Wreck of the ‘Kissing Bitch’ a pirate adventure, a story of revenge and death on the ice.
May 14, 2020
This is fine Michael Moorcock straight-sf adventure, and one of his least-known books. It's a post-catastrophe story set on a frozen Earth, but is much more influenced by Herman Melville than by Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard. It's a fast-paced (and probably very quickly written) quest story in which Konrad Arflane (is that a cool name for a character or what!) sails on seas of ice in search of the mythical lost city of New York. It's a myth-driven story with a twist-ending that really caught me by surprise. It's not connected to Moorcock's multiverse tapestry and can be read as a quick stand-alone. Have a blanket close at hand; you'll need it before the voyage is over.
February 7, 2012
I considered for a bit here and was sort of stuck between a 3 and a 4. Could I have gone with a 3.5 I would have. I'll go with the round up and make it a 4...barely. It's a pretty good read.
I am, on the whole, "sometimes" a Michael Moorcock fan. (but there are some of his books I intensely dislike.) This is a slightly (repeat, slightly) unusual fantasy novel. The story isn't all that unusual...but the characters are. There is some resemblance to Moby Dick here (I've read others say that this is a retelling, I'm not so sure.)
I found the book a pretty good one and (if you can find it) it would make a good read for most fantasy fans and also an interesting addition to the collections of Moorcock fans. It's one of the "peripheral parts of the Eternal Champion Cycle".
The search for a lost or destroyed city from the past by a pair of unconventional protagonists makes it one to recommend.
I am, on the whole, "sometimes" a Michael Moorcock fan. (but there are some of his books I intensely dislike.) This is a slightly (repeat, slightly) unusual fantasy novel. The story isn't all that unusual...but the characters are. There is some resemblance to Moby Dick here (I've read others say that this is a retelling, I'm not so sure.)
I found the book a pretty good one and (if you can find it) it would make a good read for most fantasy fans and also an interesting addition to the collections of Moorcock fans. It's one of the "peripheral parts of the Eternal Champion Cycle".
The search for a lost or destroyed city from the past by a pair of unconventional protagonists makes it one to recommend.
August 11, 2009
It contained some powerful imagery: the frozen city of New York, half-buried in the ice, its tall towers emerging and standing tall over the ice plain, and a world slowly succumbing to the Ice Mother.
Moorcock plays with faith and purpose, here. How does one react when the bedrock of your identity, your faith, and your society is proven wrong, and the quest you were on is turned on its head? Konrad Arflane undergoes crisis of faith as his ship undergoes crisis, and the resolution of his quest is not what he expected.
Moorcock plays with faith and purpose, here. How does one react when the bedrock of your identity, your faith, and your society is proven wrong, and the quest you were on is turned on its head? Konrad Arflane undergoes crisis of faith as his ship undergoes crisis, and the resolution of his quest is not what he expected.
July 26, 2010
My favorite book by Moorcock. It really ignited my imagination. Great ideas and great carry through.
January 22, 2008
Michael Moorcock, The Ice Schooner (Berkley, 1966)
Michael Moorcock is a singularly prolific writer; the number of novels and short stories that has flowed from the man's pen is almost unforgivable. Over the course of the last twenty years, I've read roughly a hundred of Moorcock's novels, maybe half again the same number of short stories. So when I say that The Ice Schooner may be Moorcock's finest hour, take it with as much salt as necessary, given that I've read such a small amount of his output.
The Ice Schooner is Moorcock's high-fantasy retelling of Moby Dick, but without the two-hundred-odd-page "how to kill, skin, and eat a whale" interruption in Melville's bloated tome. Actually, it's not so much a retelling (as was, say, Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres a retelling of King Lear) as it is a retooling. Instead of a big whale, Konrad Arflane, the book's main character, is on a quest to find the ancient, legendary city of New York. (One wonders if Pierre Boulle read this in the year between its publication and his writing of Planet of the Apes.) The quest comes not from his obsession with the city, but with another's obsession. But still, when it comes right down to it, Arflane and Ahab are more similar than just in name. Certain supporting characters are also recognizable (the similarities run deeper than name, too, in Urquart and Queequeg, and dandyish Manfred has more than a bit of Ishmael about him). The conscious warping of Moby Dick alone would be enough to make this novel stand out with the litt-rat-chaw crowd, where most of Moorcock's stuff is so easily dismissed by most of them. But it's also romance in the finest sense of the word, as the word was used back in the days when Melville was writing. Burly whalemen putting their lives in danger every time they harpoon a whale (and whales do get harpooned here, though not in the living detail rendered them by Melville), star-crossed lovers, and Manfred in the middle of it all, happy to be adventuring, despite (or perhaps because of) the adventure's possibly fatal nature.
A word on the star-crossed lovers. Moorcock has a long tradition in his novels of the traditional love story; even when things look bleakest for his protagonists, their lovers are beacons of hope, no matter how distant. He turns his (and romance's) convention on its head in this novel; from the moment the two lovers are introduced to one another, the air of foreboding in the novel palpably thickens. You know as well as they do things are not going to turn out right for the two of them. For the veteran reader of Moorcock, this is a refreshing change from the norm, especially in the Eternal Champion novels. (Moorcock neophytes may take a different view, as this particular pair of star-crossed lovers is of the most traditional sort: adulterers. And, as we all know, adulterers can never get away with it.)
The one failing the book has is in its ending. The book was originally serialized in a magazine, which may account for the rather rapid fantasy-cliché ending. Still, despite the annoying deus-ex-machina approach Moorcock takes in the last chapter, he does remain true to his characters; Arflane and what little of his company remains when they get to the final confrontation with the white whale-oops, excuse me, New York-act exactly as one who has come to know them through these pages would expect them to. Not that this doesn't keep Moorcock from throwing in a final, unexpected twist or two at the end. Not all the loose threads get neatly tied. (This is a good thing.)
Those of you, and I know you are legion, who have yet to pick up a Michael Moorcock novel, this may be the finest place you could possibly start. All the brooding grandeur of high fantasy without any of the parody of, say, the Kane of Old Mars novels, and far less of the otherworldliness to be found in the Eternal Champion books. Moorcock turns inward here, as Melville did in the book that he wrote as atonement for Moby-Dick (Pierre, ironically Melville's most hated novel by critics and fans alike; at times I think I'm the only person on Earth who thinks it's the best book he ever published), and what he finds is utterly fabulous. **** ½
Michael Moorcock is a singularly prolific writer; the number of novels and short stories that has flowed from the man's pen is almost unforgivable. Over the course of the last twenty years, I've read roughly a hundred of Moorcock's novels, maybe half again the same number of short stories. So when I say that The Ice Schooner may be Moorcock's finest hour, take it with as much salt as necessary, given that I've read such a small amount of his output.
The Ice Schooner is Moorcock's high-fantasy retelling of Moby Dick, but without the two-hundred-odd-page "how to kill, skin, and eat a whale" interruption in Melville's bloated tome. Actually, it's not so much a retelling (as was, say, Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres a retelling of King Lear) as it is a retooling. Instead of a big whale, Konrad Arflane, the book's main character, is on a quest to find the ancient, legendary city of New York. (One wonders if Pierre Boulle read this in the year between its publication and his writing of Planet of the Apes.) The quest comes not from his obsession with the city, but with another's obsession. But still, when it comes right down to it, Arflane and Ahab are more similar than just in name. Certain supporting characters are also recognizable (the similarities run deeper than name, too, in Urquart and Queequeg, and dandyish Manfred has more than a bit of Ishmael about him). The conscious warping of Moby Dick alone would be enough to make this novel stand out with the litt-rat-chaw crowd, where most of Moorcock's stuff is so easily dismissed by most of them. But it's also romance in the finest sense of the word, as the word was used back in the days when Melville was writing. Burly whalemen putting their lives in danger every time they harpoon a whale (and whales do get harpooned here, though not in the living detail rendered them by Melville), star-crossed lovers, and Manfred in the middle of it all, happy to be adventuring, despite (or perhaps because of) the adventure's possibly fatal nature.
A word on the star-crossed lovers. Moorcock has a long tradition in his novels of the traditional love story; even when things look bleakest for his protagonists, their lovers are beacons of hope, no matter how distant. He turns his (and romance's) convention on its head in this novel; from the moment the two lovers are introduced to one another, the air of foreboding in the novel palpably thickens. You know as well as they do things are not going to turn out right for the two of them. For the veteran reader of Moorcock, this is a refreshing change from the norm, especially in the Eternal Champion novels. (Moorcock neophytes may take a different view, as this particular pair of star-crossed lovers is of the most traditional sort: adulterers. And, as we all know, adulterers can never get away with it.)
The one failing the book has is in its ending. The book was originally serialized in a magazine, which may account for the rather rapid fantasy-cliché ending. Still, despite the annoying deus-ex-machina approach Moorcock takes in the last chapter, he does remain true to his characters; Arflane and what little of his company remains when they get to the final confrontation with the white whale-oops, excuse me, New York-act exactly as one who has come to know them through these pages would expect them to. Not that this doesn't keep Moorcock from throwing in a final, unexpected twist or two at the end. Not all the loose threads get neatly tied. (This is a good thing.)
Those of you, and I know you are legion, who have yet to pick up a Michael Moorcock novel, this may be the finest place you could possibly start. All the brooding grandeur of high fantasy without any of the parody of, say, the Kane of Old Mars novels, and far less of the otherworldliness to be found in the Eternal Champion books. Moorcock turns inward here, as Melville did in the book that he wrote as atonement for Moby-Dick (Pierre, ironically Melville's most hated novel by critics and fans alike; at times I think I'm the only person on Earth who thinks it's the best book he ever published), and what he finds is utterly fabulous. **** ½
July 13, 2023
I would probably recommend this more to fans of classic sea faring stories than those of science fiction: the SF is strongest in the world building, mostly delivered in the very beginning, but the plot is that of a stubborn captain getting one more chance at a future. It's compelling, but there is a terrible case of insta-love and I was hoping to get more on the speculative side.
Read
May 17, 2022Think Waterworld, only the water covering this distant post-apocalyptic Earth is frozen solid. The remaining humans inhabit cities suspended above the ice and travel about by sailing ships mounted on skis. The protagonist seeks the Atlantis of his epoch, the lost city of New York.
The Ice Schooner is minor Moorcock--which is to say, still imaginative, fast paced, unpretentious, smart, and pretty damn good. I read it cover to cover on a day I stayed home sick from high school. It was the perfect occasion for this novel. Immersing myself in its icy atmosphere helped me cope with my raging fever.
The Ice Schooner long predates Waterworld. It could make at least as good a movie.
The Ice Schooner is minor Moorcock--which is to say, still imaginative, fast paced, unpretentious, smart, and pretty damn good. I read it cover to cover on a day I stayed home sick from high school. It was the perfect occasion for this novel. Immersing myself in its icy atmosphere helped me cope with my raging fever.
The Ice Schooner long predates Waterworld. It could make at least as good a movie.
May 8, 2024
Just like the eponymous ice schooner, this story suffers from uneven pacing, stilted prose and a disappointing finale.
Set many years in the future, in an Ice Age caused by the witless actions of men, our heroic main character Konrad Arflane captains a boat outfitted with skis, to sail over the ice, in search of a mythical city, home of the goddess Ice Mother: New York.
Fascinating premise, wonderful atmosphere, and a very strong start with the grimly masculine character of Arflane, a man of devout faith in his goddess the Ice Mother and the local creed of survival. By associating with the soft ruling family of Friesgalt, who are adapting to the changing times and morals, Arflane's own morals and his core of inner strength are eroded, until he's a shell of the strong man he previously was.
This is continually frustrating to read, but also fairly well motivated and understandable.
What wasn't so fun was the jerky prose - in places very beautiful, descriptive and poetic, and then switching to almost childish levels within the space of a couple sentences.
The plotting was the weakest point; characters would shift motivations seemingly out of nowhere, people would be introduced and be killed off a couple pages later; things just seem to happen and then go past and have no further impact on the story, which, I know, it's a journey and random things are supposed to happen - but it never felt realistic in the slightest.
The worst is the rushed ending. Everything is wrapped up in the space of two chapters without the slightest bit of conclusion to the themes of the story - more in the form of a checklist, an exposition dump.
TL;DR: cool atmosphere, dying earth trope, strong masculine character getting slowly eroded, uneven writing and prose and plot pacing all over the place.
Would I re-read: no.
Set many years in the future, in an Ice Age caused by the witless actions of men, our heroic main character Konrad Arflane captains a boat outfitted with skis, to sail over the ice, in search of a mythical city, home of the goddess Ice Mother: New York.
Fascinating premise, wonderful atmosphere, and a very strong start with the grimly masculine character of Arflane, a man of devout faith in his goddess the Ice Mother and the local creed of survival. By associating with the soft ruling family of Friesgalt, who are adapting to the changing times and morals, Arflane's own morals and his core of inner strength are eroded, until he's a shell of the strong man he previously was.
This is continually frustrating to read, but also fairly well motivated and understandable.
What wasn't so fun was the jerky prose - in places very beautiful, descriptive and poetic, and then switching to almost childish levels within the space of a couple sentences.
The plotting was the weakest point; characters would shift motivations seemingly out of nowhere, people would be introduced and be killed off a couple pages later; things just seem to happen and then go past and have no further impact on the story, which, I know, it's a journey and random things are supposed to happen - but it never felt realistic in the slightest.
The worst is the rushed ending. Everything is wrapped up in the space of two chapters without the slightest bit of conclusion to the themes of the story - more in the form of a checklist, an exposition dump.
TL;DR: cool atmosphere, dying earth trope, strong masculine character getting slowly eroded, uneven writing and prose and plot pacing all over the place.
Would I re-read: no.
April 5, 2025
Part of the “Sailing to Utopia Trilogy” (the others being The Black Corridor and The Distant Suns), The Ice Schooner is a tale of adventure and exploration, set in an ice age many years in the future. A captain of a ship that traverses the land by using giant ski’s sets out with his crew to search for the mythical city of New York.
Initially, I thought this was a prime example of good concept, bad execution. Of all of the books I’ve read by Moorcock, this is the worst written. The first half of the story is such a slog. The characters are dull, humourless and forgettable.
Fortunately, it picks up in the second half and by the end of it, I was hooked. You can see elements of Moby Dick, as well as your usual traits of post-apocalyptic storytelling.
So yes, I’m a little disappointed. It’s not as good as The Black Corridor. I’m yet to read The Distant Suns. Overall, it’s an average adventure yarn, with a satisfying ending.
P.s. I’m not sure how but apparently it’s a part of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion Multiverse.
Read:
•The Jewel in the Skull (Hawkmoon 1)
•Warriors of Mars (Michael Kane 1)
•The Black Corridor (Sailing to Utopia 2)
•Elric of Melniboné (The Elric Saga 1)
•Rituals of Infinity (The Roads between the Worlds)
•The Ice Schooner (Sailing to Utopia 1)
Next to read:
•An Alien Heat (Dancers at the End of Time)
•The Knight of the Swords (Corum)
Initially, I thought this was a prime example of good concept, bad execution. Of all of the books I’ve read by Moorcock, this is the worst written. The first half of the story is such a slog. The characters are dull, humourless and forgettable.
Fortunately, it picks up in the second half and by the end of it, I was hooked. You can see elements of Moby Dick, as well as your usual traits of post-apocalyptic storytelling.
So yes, I’m a little disappointed. It’s not as good as The Black Corridor. I’m yet to read The Distant Suns. Overall, it’s an average adventure yarn, with a satisfying ending.
P.s. I’m not sure how but apparently it’s a part of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion Multiverse.
Read:
•The Jewel in the Skull (Hawkmoon 1)
•Warriors of Mars (Michael Kane 1)
•The Black Corridor (Sailing to Utopia 2)
•Elric of Melniboné (The Elric Saga 1)
•Rituals of Infinity (The Roads between the Worlds)
•The Ice Schooner (Sailing to Utopia 1)
Next to read:
•An Alien Heat (Dancers at the End of Time)
•The Knight of the Swords (Corum)
August 27, 2023
Really enjoy the novel. This one is quite old from Moorcock (1969). In terms of rating I would say 8/10. Moorcock is one of those writers that politically is not one I tend to agree but in terms of writing and characters so far they are great. To be honest I only read around 5/6 of his and so far they've been good. I like is chaotic side of things. This story is set in the future and the wet dream of political activists happened and earth is ball of ice. People have been living in eight cities in Mato Grosso (it's in Brazil).
Here we follow Konrad Arflane, a former captain of one of those cities but now turn a solitary man. As he travels through the ice he finds and helps a lord from another city. As he helps him arrive to his city he is tasked by him to take the best ship in the eight cities to a fable city of New York where they think their goddess has her court.
First of all, have you read moby dick? or master and commander? you going to need since there is a lot of talk about ships with names of stuff unknown to me plus the all whaling with harpoons. The story is epic and you could see another writer (or if written probably 30 years later) to have 400 or 500 pages instead of the current 207. It's fast pace and to be honest If I had a complain it would be this fast pace sometimes made the timeframe a bit wonky - like several months have pass and so probably the interaction of characters probably would be important to understand why x character is so deeply in love with Y or respects Z. But, alas, it's not horrible.
So, what did I not enjoy? first of all, it was the romance stuff. Some people would complain about Konrad but to them I would say, grow up. But yes, my problem would be the believability of it. Second it was ending , well not the ending but the last 8 or 9 pages where the full explanation my first explanation was "was this it? "okay".
It was a nice philosophical story about tradition vs progression, about history. If Moby Dick he wanted to kill the whale here is about fable new york.
Advisable if you wish to start reading Moorcock. But if you are starting please read Elric. Interesting that this novel along with The Black Corridor & The Distant Suns are all part of "Sailing to Utopia" series but although some themes connect this stories, you can read them at any order since they are not connected at all.
Here we follow Konrad Arflane, a former captain of one of those cities but now turn a solitary man. As he travels through the ice he finds and helps a lord from another city. As he helps him arrive to his city he is tasked by him to take the best ship in the eight cities to a fable city of New York where they think their goddess has her court.
First of all, have you read moby dick? or master and commander? you going to need since there is a lot of talk about ships with names of stuff unknown to me plus the all whaling with harpoons. The story is epic and you could see another writer (or if written probably 30 years later) to have 400 or 500 pages instead of the current 207. It's fast pace and to be honest If I had a complain it would be this fast pace sometimes made the timeframe a bit wonky - like several months have pass and so probably the interaction of characters probably would be important to understand why x character is so deeply in love with Y or respects Z. But, alas, it's not horrible.
So, what did I not enjoy? first of all, it was the romance stuff. Some people would complain about Konrad but to them I would say, grow up. But yes, my problem would be the believability of it. Second it was ending , well not the ending but the last 8 or 9 pages where the full explanation my first explanation was "was this it? "okay".
It was a nice philosophical story about tradition vs progression, about history. If Moby Dick he wanted to kill the whale here is about fable new york.
Advisable if you wish to start reading Moorcock. But if you are starting please read Elric. Interesting that this novel along with The Black Corridor & The Distant Suns are all part of "Sailing to Utopia" series but although some themes connect this stories, you can read them at any order since they are not connected at all.
June 13, 2019
Even when Moorcock writes science fiction, it still reads pretty much like fantasy, at least, that is the case in this book. This is a post-apocalyptic tale, although we don't discover that until the final couple of chapters.
This is not one of the best examples of his work, although it's certainly readable. My copy of the book indicates to me that I purchased this as a schoolboy in the 70s, and read it then, but I doubt I have read it since then, until now, which is unusual, as most Moorcock series I have reread several times.
This is not one of the best examples of his work, although it's certainly readable. My copy of the book indicates to me that I purchased this as a schoolboy in the 70s, and read it then, but I doubt I have read it since then, until now, which is unusual, as most Moorcock series I have reread several times.
May 27, 2024
This was a pretty interesting read that's well outside my comfort zone. Captain Arflane is tasked with finding the mythical city of New York aboard a whaling vessel in the frozen Earth of our far future.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
January 31, 2023
Pretty good book with a very unique setting that plays on the theme of losing one's faith and maybe finding it again... who knows?
January 13, 2025
Freezing, mythic, and beautifully barbaric, The Ice Schooner shows off Michael Moorcock’s ability to create a world that feels both otherworldly and grounded. Frozen wastelands, land whales, and ships skating across the ice lure us into this harsh and mesmerizing future ice age. The main character, Konrad Arflane, is unwillingly drawn into an Odyssey-like quest to New York. Throughout this journey, the atmosphere is pulses with immersion, drawing you into a world of endless ice and violent survival. Readers of Moorcock will know that his imagination is one of his greatest strengths. The man knows how to paint just enough to give the story its shape, kind of like an impressionist artist, letting your imagination fill in the rest. It’s evocative without ever feeling overindulgent.
More than the worldbuilding, the story’s biggest strength is its theme—tradition and faith versus progress and change. Throughout Arflane’s thousand-mile journey across the ice, he struggles with his beliefs, his survival, and the cost of moving forward. Moorcock builds a fascinating framework here, and for the most part, it works beautifully.
Unfortunately, there’s the ending.
Right before the conclusion, the story delivers what feels like the perfect setup: the figurative death of tradition. Arflane, who has spent the story caught between tradition and progress, kills a character who represents faith and the old ways. It’s a dramatic moment, a clear figurative moment for Arflane, and it left me excited for the ending to come. But then last survivors reach New York, and everything just falls apart.
I accept that vintage science fiction often relegates female characters to plot devices. There’s historical context in it—most SF readers were male, and the authors were writing for this male gaze. It’s something I’ve come to expect. But Moorcock seems to want more for the love interest of Arflane, Ulrica, and that’s where my frustration comes in. At the end, she’s the one who accepts progress and moves forward, while Alfrane slips back into tradition. But why isn’t she given enough room to grow into that role? We don’t follow her thoughts or struggles, and her motivations remain unclear. Her shifts—from Arflane to Janek, from tradition to progress—feel less like the result of her own choices and more like the result of whoever happens to be the strongest man in the room. It’s frustrating because she’s pivotal to the story, but her decisions lack the depth to make this character arc feel earned or meaningful.
The final revelation fumbles because it hinges so much on Ulrica and doesn’t deliver the emotional weight it needs. Sure, there’s something to say about man’s regression into tradition when change comes. I believe that’s what Arflane is meant to represent. But Moorcock seems to want to show the strength of progress through Ulrica and the weakness of tradition through Arflane, but neither arc is given the development it deserves. Arflane’s journey seems to mirror Ulrica’s in some ways, but his evolution feels equally muted. By the time the story ends, it’s hard not to feel like everything fizzles out instead of delivering a satisfying resolution.
Still, I liked most of this book. Moorcock’s worldbuilding and the icy, mythic atmosphere are worth the read alone. If you’re looking for a stark, imaginative journey, The Ice Schooner delivers. But if you’re here for fully realized character arcs or a resolution with real impact, you might be left disappointed. For me, it’s a 3/5—a flawed but memorable odyssey across the ice.
More than the worldbuilding, the story’s biggest strength is its theme—tradition and faith versus progress and change. Throughout Arflane’s thousand-mile journey across the ice, he struggles with his beliefs, his survival, and the cost of moving forward. Moorcock builds a fascinating framework here, and for the most part, it works beautifully.
Unfortunately, there’s the ending.
Right before the conclusion, the story delivers what feels like the perfect setup: the figurative death of tradition. Arflane, who has spent the story caught between tradition and progress, kills a character who represents faith and the old ways. It’s a dramatic moment, a clear figurative moment for Arflane, and it left me excited for the ending to come. But then last survivors reach New York, and everything just falls apart.
I accept that vintage science fiction often relegates female characters to plot devices. There’s historical context in it—most SF readers were male, and the authors were writing for this male gaze. It’s something I’ve come to expect. But Moorcock seems to want more for the love interest of Arflane, Ulrica, and that’s where my frustration comes in. At the end, she’s the one who accepts progress and moves forward, while Alfrane slips back into tradition. But why isn’t she given enough room to grow into that role? We don’t follow her thoughts or struggles, and her motivations remain unclear. Her shifts—from Arflane to Janek, from tradition to progress—feel less like the result of her own choices and more like the result of whoever happens to be the strongest man in the room. It’s frustrating because she’s pivotal to the story, but her decisions lack the depth to make this character arc feel earned or meaningful.
The final revelation fumbles because it hinges so much on Ulrica and doesn’t deliver the emotional weight it needs. Sure, there’s something to say about man’s regression into tradition when change comes. I believe that’s what Arflane is meant to represent. But Moorcock seems to want to show the strength of progress through Ulrica and the weakness of tradition through Arflane, but neither arc is given the development it deserves. Arflane’s journey seems to mirror Ulrica’s in some ways, but his evolution feels equally muted. By the time the story ends, it’s hard not to feel like everything fizzles out instead of delivering a satisfying resolution.
Still, I liked most of this book. Moorcock’s worldbuilding and the icy, mythic atmosphere are worth the read alone. If you’re looking for a stark, imaginative journey, The Ice Schooner delivers. But if you’re here for fully realized character arcs or a resolution with real impact, you might be left disappointed. For me, it’s a 3/5—a flawed but memorable odyssey across the ice.
April 20, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"The Ice Schooner (1969) is the second of Michael Moorcock’s novels I’ve read — the first was the equally unremarkable adventure The Warlord of the Air (1971). The Ice Schooner, an homage to seafaring works of Joseph Conrad, functions as a standalone novel without the trappings of Moorcock’s multi-verse mythology. Despite the lack of explicit connection between this novel’s hero and the “eternal champion” character archetype that features in so many of his works, one could argue that Konrad [...]"
"The Ice Schooner (1969) is the second of Michael Moorcock’s novels I’ve read — the first was the equally unremarkable adventure The Warlord of the Air (1971). The Ice Schooner, an homage to seafaring works of Joseph Conrad, functions as a standalone novel without the trappings of Moorcock’s multi-verse mythology. Despite the lack of explicit connection between this novel’s hero and the “eternal champion” character archetype that features in so many of his works, one could argue that Konrad [...]"
November 1, 2020
What a load of garbage. The world? Maybe a little potential to be interesting. But my God, I have rarely read a less interesting manchild of a protagonist. And I knew that reading sci-fi from the 60s wasn't going to be great to women, but the dubcon and complete lack of agency in the only female character was infuriating.
Would have DNF'd if I hadn't been reading for a book club.
Would have DNF'd if I hadn't been reading for a book club.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2023
An infuriating read. There’s a lot of underdeveloped material here with a ton of potential. This could have been quite the ice opera. Instead, it’s a shallow bumbling conglomeration, weighted heavily by adolescent writing and a lackluster plot.
This is the first Moorcock novel I’ve read, and I am not impressed. Hopefully his other works have more to offer.
This is the first Moorcock novel I’ve read, and I am not impressed. Hopefully his other works have more to offer.
May 17, 2016
Hard to not be impressed with someone that wrote some Hawkwind lyrics. The only Moorcock I ever read though. Recall thinking it was pretty good all those years ago. Never read anymore, just moved on I suppose.
July 24, 2021
It took me a long times to finish this book. Because it was not very good.
January 6, 2025
Another from my collection. My copy of this was 267 pages and had copyrights of 1969 and 1977 with a note that it had been modified by the author.
This was not directly connected to the Eternal Champion,
The setting of this world was pretty cool. It was Earth as an ice planet, perhaps brought on by Nuclear Winter, starting to thaw. And thus Ice Schooners.
The book itself had potential. But the best characters often acted stupidly. And the body count was too high. And in the end the whole book seemed relatively pointless.
But never boring and always readable.
This was not directly connected to the Eternal Champion,
The setting of this world was pretty cool. It was Earth as an ice planet, perhaps brought on by Nuclear Winter, starting to thaw. And thus Ice Schooners.
The book itself had potential. But the best characters often acted stupidly. And the body count was too high. And in the end the whole book seemed relatively pointless.
But never boring and always readable.
January 9, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in December 2001.
Although made part of the general repackaging of Moorcock's fantasy output around the Eternal Champion theme, The Ice Schooner is not really that closely linked to the other novels. Having a hero and a quest is not really enough; there are few novels in the genre by any author which would share these common elements.
The much revised novel is set in a future Ice Age, so severe that oceans of ice cover almost the entire surface of the Earth. On these frozen wastes sail great ship-like wind powered sledges, hunting the land whales evolved from the sea creatures of our own time. Konrad Arflane is captain of such a vessel fallen on hard times until he rescues a dying man out on the remote ice. He turns out to be the ruler of an important city, but more relevantly to the plot, he gives Arflane a quest, to find the fabled lost city of New York, a vision, in his daughter, and a ship, a great ice schooner, to captain. The voyage to New York is the quest at the centre of the novel, as Arflane and Ulrica fall in love even in the presence of her husband.
The Ice Schooner is quite a minor piece of early Moorcock, even with the later revisions. Its apocalyptic setting is clearly influenced by the ecological disaster novels of J.G. Ballard, but it lacks the satirical edge. In fact, it is an enjoyable piece of straightforward fantasy with an unusual setting.
Although made part of the general repackaging of Moorcock's fantasy output around the Eternal Champion theme, The Ice Schooner is not really that closely linked to the other novels. Having a hero and a quest is not really enough; there are few novels in the genre by any author which would share these common elements.
The much revised novel is set in a future Ice Age, so severe that oceans of ice cover almost the entire surface of the Earth. On these frozen wastes sail great ship-like wind powered sledges, hunting the land whales evolved from the sea creatures of our own time. Konrad Arflane is captain of such a vessel fallen on hard times until he rescues a dying man out on the remote ice. He turns out to be the ruler of an important city, but more relevantly to the plot, he gives Arflane a quest, to find the fabled lost city of New York, a vision, in his daughter, and a ship, a great ice schooner, to captain. The voyage to New York is the quest at the centre of the novel, as Arflane and Ulrica fall in love even in the presence of her husband.
The Ice Schooner is quite a minor piece of early Moorcock, even with the later revisions. Its apocalyptic setting is clearly influenced by the ecological disaster novels of J.G. Ballard, but it lacks the satirical edge. In fact, it is an enjoyable piece of straightforward fantasy with an unusual setting.
August 12, 2023
The Day After Tomorrow meets Moby Dick. Underrated Moorcock novel set in a far-future icehouse earth where humanity seemingly regressed to an "ice-faring" civilization based on whale hunting, and where metropolises like New York are stuff of legends and mythology.
This is a stand-alone story and can be read without reading any other Moorcock novel. Konrad Arflane is mentioned only once in The Eternal Champion for reasons I won't get into due to their potentially spoiler-y nature. In general this is a decent gateway to the rest of the MM/EC universe and makes me want to read the rest of the stories.
This is a stand-alone story and can be read without reading any other Moorcock novel. Konrad Arflane is mentioned only once in The Eternal Champion for reasons I won't get into due to their potentially spoiler-y nature. In general this is a decent gateway to the rest of the MM/EC universe and makes me want to read the rest of the stories.
March 11, 2014
An interesting novel by Moorcock; though it has some of the trappings of fantasy (or even science fantasy), it's really a nautical adventure and a morality play. The story is an enjoyable one mainly due to the depth of the characters and the insight into what they do when they face a world that is changing.
January 12, 2023
Solid mid-tier Moorcock, nothing to write home about, but helped along by some great ice age imagery and his usual ability to deliver a propulsive plot, every chapter hurtling us into a new unknown, a new crisis.
September 13, 2019
Good world-building and even good characters, but too ambitious, theme-wise, to be an easy adventure read, too serious to be fun, and too small to grow into a classic.
January 29, 2020
Nice winter read,easy to follow.
February 7, 2022
Didn't care enough about ship rigging to finish it.
April 17, 2023
Probabil cândva în viitor, ca efect al încălzirii globale, toate oceanele au înghețat, doar câteva orașe supraviețuind fiind săpate în platourile Americii de Sud. Konrad Arflane, fost căpitan de balenieră de gheață (o corabie care se deplasează ca o sanie, pe niște tălpice uriașe) primește misiunea de a găsi ruinele miticului New York, un loc despre care noile religii spun că este tronul Mamei Gheață.
Scriitorul britanic, arhicunoscut în cercurile SF și fantasy, mai ales pentru personajul său principal, Elric of Melnibone (spadasinul cu păr lung și alb și care nu e Geralt) a publicat numeroase romane, a scris cântece pentru diverse formații rock, i-a criticat pe marii Tolkien și Lewis, a făcut poveștile unor jocuri pe calculator și a scos chiar și un roman despre Doctor Who.
Publicat în volum în 1969, acest scurt roman SF/F a apărut inițial în foileton în, aș paria, ceva revistă specifică de literatură pulp. Subiectul, world-building-ul și feeling-ul general se potrivesc perfect pe acest calapod. Căci în puține pagini se întâmplă multe; personajele principale sunt creionate în tuș gros, iar cele secundare mai mult decât caricatural (domnițele sunt sensibile și la ananghie, gata să fie salvate, iar dușmanii aproape că sunt mustăcioși și își răscucesc continuu proverbiala podoabă capilară). Lumea prezentată este interesantă, dar autorul nu intră prea adânc în detalii, îndemnând parcă pe cititor să nu se concentreze atât de mult la detalii precum "oare ce mănâncă balenele astea?" sau "ce fizică potențial cuantică ar supraviețui asalturilor logice pe care le face autorul când povestește despre deplasarea corăbiilor pe schiuri?" și doar să se bucure de acțiune. Intriga are cu siguranță câteva ecouri din capodopera lui Herman Melville, unele personaje părând a fi teleportate 1:1 din acel univers, dar asemănările cu Moby Dick se opresc la nivelul estetic. În ciuda a tuturor acestora și a unui final atât de grăbit încât pare scris la prima ciornă, aproape schiță, Schoonerul Gheții merită o scurtă lectură, în special pentru ideile inedite ale autorului.
Scriitorul britanic, arhicunoscut în cercurile SF și fantasy, mai ales pentru personajul său principal, Elric of Melnibone (spadasinul cu păr lung și alb și care nu e Geralt) a publicat numeroase romane, a scris cântece pentru diverse formații rock, i-a criticat pe marii Tolkien și Lewis, a făcut poveștile unor jocuri pe calculator și a scos chiar și un roman despre Doctor Who.
Publicat în volum în 1969, acest scurt roman SF/F a apărut inițial în foileton în, aș paria, ceva revistă specifică de literatură pulp. Subiectul, world-building-ul și feeling-ul general se potrivesc perfect pe acest calapod. Căci în puține pagini se întâmplă multe; personajele principale sunt creionate în tuș gros, iar cele secundare mai mult decât caricatural (domnițele sunt sensibile și la ananghie, gata să fie salvate, iar dușmanii aproape că sunt mustăcioși și își răscucesc continuu proverbiala podoabă capilară). Lumea prezentată este interesantă, dar autorul nu intră prea adânc în detalii, îndemnând parcă pe cititor să nu se concentreze atât de mult la detalii precum "oare ce mănâncă balenele astea?" sau "ce fizică potențial cuantică ar supraviețui asalturilor logice pe care le face autorul când povestește despre deplasarea corăbiilor pe schiuri?" și doar să se bucure de acțiune. Intriga are cu siguranță câteva ecouri din capodopera lui Herman Melville, unele personaje părând a fi teleportate 1:1 din acel univers, dar asemănările cu Moby Dick se opresc la nivelul estetic. În ciuda a tuturor acestora și a unui final atât de grăbit încât pare scris la prima ciornă, aproape schiță, Schoonerul Gheții merită o scurtă lectură, în special pentru ideile inedite ale autorului.
September 21, 2023
« La Nature, déséquilibrée par une série de guerres en Afrique et en Asie, avait rapidement tiré une pellicule de glace protectrice sur la surface dévastée de la planète. L'entrée dans une période glaciaire fut au départ la conséquence de bombes (on l'appela la Nuit nucléaire ) »
Écrit en 1969, ce roman post apocalyptique nous plonge donc dans un univers de glace : « elle était présente en tout point de la carte, sous une forme ou une autre ; falaises de glace, plaines de glace, vallées de glace et même, bien qu'il en eût seulement entendu parler, cités entières de glace ».
Le héros de l'histoire , c'est Konrad Arflane, un jeune capitaine de navire, dont les ancêtres étaient marins et qui « navigue », lui, sur la glace. Ou plutôt il naviguait , puisqu'il se retrouve sans navire des glaces à commander et part sur la banquise pour réfléchir à son avenir . Il y fera une rencontre qui l'embarquera dans une quête improbable et dangereuse.
Si vous aimez l'univers de la Marine à voiles, vous serez servi car ces « navires des glaces » sont au coeur du récit :
« Les navires des glaces – pour la plupart des vaisseaux de commerce ou de pêche – étaient des voiliers montés sur des patins semblables à des skis gigantesques qui leur permettaient de traverser la glace à grande vitesse. » Certains pratiquent la pêche à la baleine , devenue « terrienne » puisque les océans ont disparu sous la glace.
Aux côtés d'Arflane, on trouvera d'autres personnages au caractère bien trempé qui affrontent avec lui (ou contre lui ?) les dangers de ce voyage vers l'inconnu.
Le roman se lit plutôt facilement, on se laisse prendre par cette atmosphère glaciale même si j'ai personnellement trouvé l'expédition un peu longue et la fin, par contre, trop vite expédiée … j'aurais aimé en savoir un peu plus !
Écrit en 1969, ce roman post apocalyptique nous plonge donc dans un univers de glace : « elle était présente en tout point de la carte, sous une forme ou une autre ; falaises de glace, plaines de glace, vallées de glace et même, bien qu'il en eût seulement entendu parler, cités entières de glace ».
Le héros de l'histoire , c'est Konrad Arflane, un jeune capitaine de navire, dont les ancêtres étaient marins et qui « navigue », lui, sur la glace. Ou plutôt il naviguait , puisqu'il se retrouve sans navire des glaces à commander et part sur la banquise pour réfléchir à son avenir . Il y fera une rencontre qui l'embarquera dans une quête improbable et dangereuse.
Si vous aimez l'univers de la Marine à voiles, vous serez servi car ces « navires des glaces » sont au coeur du récit :
« Les navires des glaces – pour la plupart des vaisseaux de commerce ou de pêche – étaient des voiliers montés sur des patins semblables à des skis gigantesques qui leur permettaient de traverser la glace à grande vitesse. » Certains pratiquent la pêche à la baleine , devenue « terrienne » puisque les océans ont disparu sous la glace.
Aux côtés d'Arflane, on trouvera d'autres personnages au caractère bien trempé qui affrontent avec lui (ou contre lui ?) les dangers de ce voyage vers l'inconnu.
Le roman se lit plutôt facilement, on se laisse prendre par cette atmosphère glaciale même si j'ai personnellement trouvé l'expédition un peu longue et la fin, par contre, trop vite expédiée … j'aurais aimé en savoir un peu plus !
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