Monday, February 28, 2022

Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik

First Line: Seeing the name "Wyatt Speeks" in my inbox hit me like a physical blow.
 
Val Chesterfield is an extremely talented linguist in the field of dead Nordic languages. She's so talented that, when Wyatt Speeks finds a young girl frozen in the ice, cuts her out, and thaws her back to life, he asks for Val's help because the girl speaks a language no one understands.
 
Although there are many reasons for Val not to go, she accepts the job on the remote island off the coast of Greenland because Walter Speeks is the researcher who was there when her beloved brother Andy walked out onto the ice in fifty degree below zero weather and committed suicide. Val refuses to believe that her brother committed suicide; she believes his death was by foul play.
 
Although Val is almost overwhelmed by the land, the weather, and the enigma that is Walter Speeks, the girl is special, and it doesn't take long for Val to form a special bond with her. But the girl is sick and might even be dying, and Val believes that the key to the girl's survival may lie in Walter's mysterious research.
 
~
 
Val is a complicated character. She not only is an expert on dead languages, but she relies on drugs and alcohol to remain on an even keel. She only feels comfortable in her apartment and most places on the campus where she teaches. She's always felt like two cents waiting on change due to her father's overweening preference for her climate scientist brother Andy. Yes indeed, this woman has issues with a capital I. But she loves her brother so much that she loads up on her meds and flies to Greenland in an attempt to find out what happened to him. 

What she finds is equal parts strange and magical. As research scientist Wyatt Speeks tells her, "Nobody normal comes here. This place is just natural selection for people who want to leap off the edge of the world." And no one at the station is really normal. The magical part of the experience is Sigrid, the girl who was thawed back to life. Although Sigrid has a will of her own and, for the most part, refuses to cooperate, it soon becomes apparent that she knows more than she's letting on. Watching the interplay between these people is almost like reading a locked-room mystery.

There is so much to like about Girl in Ice. The scenes focusing on linguistics are stellar, and I loved learning why the Vikings named Iceland and Greenland the way they did. There's also a wonderful scene involving narwhals. But. Normally I have no problem willingly suspending my disbelief while reading a book. Something has to throw me back out of the pages. In Girl in Ice, two of the characters were almost too good to be true while another two were on the opposite end of the spectrum. And then there was the explanation for Sigrid's being able to be thawed out. How in the world did her people come across that little trick?

So while Girl in Ice has many good parts to it, it also raised some questions. Give it a read and see what you think.

Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik
eISBN: 9781982143046
Scout Press © 2022
eBook, 304 pages
 
Standalone Thriller
Rating: C+
Source: Net Galley

14 comments:

  1. I passed on the information on this book to an archaelogist friend who's been in the Arctic and to Greenland. I'll see what she says, too.
    I have a problem with paranormal aspects in books. It's very hard for me to forget about science and logic.

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    1. There's plenty of science in this book... and no real paranormal activity. The author has included information at the back of the book.

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    2. Oh, good. Do I dare look for another book? There are 12 books waiting for me at the library? I don't drive. Do I take a shopping cart? Make a few trips. One is the 800-page book, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. Will i even get through this batch? I can be selective, just return what I don't want to read.
      What a logistics dilemma. A good one.

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  2. This one definitely appeals to me, just reading a non-fiction about the Scandinavians funnily enough. I'll get it as soon as it becomes a bit cheaper for Kindle.

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one who looks for bargains!

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  3. It will not appeal to me personally but it has definitely got something intriguing in it.

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  4. There is something interesting about this one, Cathy. I like the whole dead-languages angle (I've got a background in languages). And the setting's interesting, too. It sounds like an unusual read, and that can be appealing. But I can certainly see your hesitations about it, too. Hmm.... on the fence on this one, but I will probably put it on the 'I ought to try this' list.

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  5. I've got this one on my list to read. The Greenland aspect caught my eye and then the story seems quite intriguing. Not sure if my new library will buy this one - guess I could ask. I'll get around to it I expect. ;-)

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  6. What a fascinating premise! I definitely want to read this one. :)

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    1. It was really interesting to see how the author's mind worked.

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