"Engaging science fiction"
In the year 3000 at least earth time, Icebones awakens from
an extended suspended animation to realize she is not on
her native planet anymore, but instead is at the top of
Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain in the solar
system. Even stranger is the behavior of the herd of her
kin, woolly mammoths. They complain of starvation, but
have no concept of feeding themselves. Instead they had
been spoiled from when their former masters, the earthly
humanoids, took care of them. Now the humans have deserted
their pets on Mars. Icebones realizes she is different from the other members
of her species. The human scientists regenerated them all
but she was born in a more natural manner enabling her to
understand mammoth history, legend, tradition, and most
importantly how to survive in the wild. Against some
opposition, she becomes the leader and begins the journey
across the planet where food and water might exist so that
the species can live. ICEBONES, the concluding novel of Stephen Baxter's
imaginative personification of Woolly Mammoths, is an
engaging science fiction tale that readers will enjoy. The
story line requires a stretch to accept yet the audience
will want to read this novel in one sitting. Fans will
appreciate Icebones, a heroine who recognizes her
responsibility to guide the unruly herd to the promised
land and does not shirk away from doing the right thing
though that would be easier on her. This is a strong epic
morality tale that holds up with its two predecessors quite
nicely to provide an entertaining insightful trilogy. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted May 9, 2002
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The daughter of Silverhair, lcebones has awakened from her
strange sleep of a thousand years in a place she does not
recognize, surrounded by others of her gargantuan race who
have grown soft and slow on the generosity of their
captors. But the human masters are gone, abandoning the
mammoths to the harsh realities of a distant, frozen world.
And so it falls to Icebones to unite this ragged band and
lead them on a remarkable quest for safety. But the journey
must wind through a landscape of unimaginable dangers. And
the safe haven they seek may be no more than legend. Still
lcebones must persevere, for only she carries the
accumulated knowledge of mammoth history -- and only she
can achieve the glory foretold in songs older than time.
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