Ice Hammer

Invasion, Insurgent, and Invincible

By: Basil Sands

Narrated by: Basil Sands

Length: 34 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

In this omnibus edition of Basil Sands' Ice Hammer series, Brad Stone does whatever it takes to keep his family alive through a dangerous war set in frigid Alaska.

Invasion

When a new communist alliance invades North America, former Marine Brad Stone must do whatever it takes to keep his family alive, even become Ice Hammer - the most wanted man in Alaska.

Insurgent

Following the invasion of the previous year, Brad Stone has become the figure head of Alaska’s resistance movement. He’s now head of the largest militia in the former state, including the Chiknik Rangers, making him enemy number one to the Chinese leadership based in Anchorage.

At the same time, his sons, Ben and Ian, find themselves waging a bloody guerilla operation against Russian troops in the east. Unknown to any of them, Youngmi - whose mangled, dead body haunts Brad’s dreams - has become the mistress of General Zhang, head of the Chinese forces in Alaska, and a major player in the resistance movement, passing on information that could mean her real death if she’s caught.

Invicible

The war is in its third year. No help is coming. America is no more.

Brad Stone could not escape the image of his first wife’s mangled body in the opening days of the invasion. Ben Stone has grown into a capable leader, his younger brother Ian, a bloodthirsty monster. The family is being pushed ever nearer to being reunited while Brad and the Chiknik Rangers plan their most ambitious mission to date, throwing their full strength against General Zhang’s forces before they get too close to the thousands of refugees under his protection, in this daring conclusion to Ice Hammer.

©2020 Basil Sands (P)2021 Permuted Press

Review of Ice Hammer

Ice Hammer is a thrilling and dare I say chilling tale that takes place in the unforgiveable Alaskan wilderness. Basil masterfully combines suspense, survival, and espionage to create a thriller that make it hard to put down. The vivid descriptions of the artic landscape make you feel like you're right there with the characters, facing the harsh elements and dangers they encounter.

I highly recommend for anyone interested in the military fiction genre.

Christians Beware [Includes Minor Spoiler]

If you're a Christian, I cannot recommend this book to you. For one thing, there are quite a few instances where the characters take the Lord's name in vain. There is also a fair amount of cursing besides that. There are some Christian undertones in the story, but they're a mix of Catholic, Mormon, and probably some basic Evangelical. I also noticed a works-based salvation being emphasized at one time..

SPOILER ALERT

There is also a situation where the main character and his wife get separated and he presumes her to be dead. It's quickly revealed that she's not dead though. Nevertheless, he goes on to fall in love with another woman. While this might make sense from the story perspective, it's not at all good from the Christian's perspective when we are shown the truth from the beginning.

If you're looking for good Christian fiction along these lines, then I'd recommend Mark Goodwin's books. If you're not concerned about the Christian undertones and won't be looking at this from a Christian perspective, then this might be for you.

It is Hammer Time

Brad Stone, his three sons, and his wife are all enjoying their summer … Brad is an IT guy, two of his boys are Scouts at camp, the third is a cook, and his wife is at home. Then the invasion came – not one country but multiple countries seem to pull together to attack America. This series focuses specifically on Alaska.
Brad Stone aka Ice Hammer does what he needs to survive and save others. Retired from the military and a sit at your desk IT person, Stone takes on the challenge of leading his people and fighting the enemy. Aided by another lone survivor, Kharzai formerly a CIA operative and the ride begins!

Each book in this trilogy takes Stone, Kharzai, Youngmi, Sammi, Ian, and others one step closer to confronting the communist invaders in one form or another. Each member of Stone’s circle of friends and family must confront the enemy on their own terms.

Action-packed, this box set does not let up until the end. The end is a bit of a shocker but so well delivered and so appropriate! I have to say the author, Basil Sands, has one vivid and rich imagination – I definitely would NOT want to get on his bad side! The ending made me cringe, laugh, and then shudder. The books are epic in length, but you will not want to put them down until you reach the end. As the listener, you cannot help but become pulled in.

There are a lot of characters in these three books, but the Sands does an amazing job of keeping their stories straight and easy for the listener to follow. The characters and backstories are realistic and solidly built. Sands also plays the heartstrings making each step of the journey filled with doubt, fear, hope, and love.

The narrator, also the author, Basil Sands does a commendable job. I LOVE the voice of Kharzai! The rest are unique as well but the voice of Kharzai is absolutely PERFECT. The pronunciation, diction, cadence, and inflections are spot on and fit the personality of the character impeccably.

I enjoyed the writing style – you knew whose perspective you were getting from the title. This helped me see the book on a much larger scale.

There were no issues with the production or quality of this book. The quality of the sound was crisp and clear.

This book is being awarded the AudioBookReviewer’s Choice Award. This prestigious award is presented to the author of the book whose book is believed to deserve higher than the standard 5 Star Rating.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Keeps You Wondering

This series will have you thinking and wondering about the ending after just a few chapters into the first book. All I can say is it’s a good thing I was listening to an audio book, because if I had been reading the book myself, I would have skipped to the end of the series long before even the first book ended. I was soooo curious, lol. There are twists and turns throughout the series that keep you wanting to listen and find out where this is going. I don’t want to say too much and give it away, but you will long for the ending even though you don’t really want it to end. Basil Sands wrote a great series, but he was also great at narrating. I was so surprised when I realized the author was the narrator. He did a fantastic job with all of the accents and voices. Also, I really want to visit Alaska now, lol.

Point of the spear!

Goodreads reviews of Ice Hammer: Invasion #1 - https://bit.ly/3uWvSbX and Ice Hammer: Insurgent #2 - https://bit.ly/3tTFwL9.
This review covers Ice Hammer: Invincible #3. Micro-seconds before the shoulder-fired missile went off Brad saw that the woman in the up-armored SUV was Young-mi. Now Brad fears that he has killed Young-mi. Even if she lives, she has been with the General for the past two years and Brad has a pregnant Sammi waiting for him. Boyscout Troop 104 has hardened into a team of experienced warriors. They continue to harass and eliminate the Chinese invaders in all-out guerilla warfare. They have made several successful raids and ambushes but it only takes one failure for disaster. In another part of the state, Brad, Karzi, and crew work their brand of guerilla tactics to keep the Chinese off-balance. They too walk a thin line of a lethal cat-and-mouse game. The now undisclosed relationships between Brad, Young-mi, and Sammi could be a bit confusing. Is Sammi a mistress or a concubine? Is Young-mi a wife, mistress, or adulteress? What about Brad? Is he guilty of bigamy or polygamy? So then he’s a polygamist, bigamist, or adulterer. What a mess and how is this situation going to work out? Back to the story. The Chiknik Rangers will roll the dice for an all-or-nothing strike against General Zhang. The series will conclude with the Battle for Palmer FOB. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entertaining story

I enjoyed listening to this story. Very entertaining with a couple cool plot twist, great characters and entangled story lines. Action, drama, anger, love, hardship, lots of death, birth, revenge and on and on.

Kinda like a modern action movie some parts of the story are simply unbelievable but that is often part of stories today. I guess if everything was typical and believable it might not be a worthwhile story. That being said I kinda lose connection with the story when archers are sending home made arrows through body armor of modern warriors at long distances. I was beginning to think maybe there were some woodland elves from Lord of the Rings in the scene.