Icehenge

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

Narrated by: Danny Campbell, Kevin T. Collins, Carla Mercer-Meyer

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

On the North Pole of Pluto there stands an enigma: a huge circle of standing blocks of ice, built on the pattern of Earth's Stonehenge - but 10 times the size, standing alone at the farthest reaches of the Solar System. What is it? Who came there to build it?

The secret lies, perhaps, in the chaotic decades of the Martian Revolution, in the lost memories of those who have lived for centuries.

©1984 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2018 Tantor

An unusually realistic (& depressing) dystopia.

As a literary experiment, a novel without a single likable character and no conclusion is an interesting concept. But, it makes for a deeply unsatisfying experience for the reader.

Like any Robinson novel, the writing is excellent and the science impeccable. The premise is interesting. But, this is a novel that hates the world, humankind, and the reader. A future filled with petty, selfish jerks who never achieve their objectives may be realistic, but it isn't any fun to read about.

Great characters, don’t look for closure

KSR has grown on me. Despite his sharp left turns in plots, and the sometimes disappointing and less than heroic realistic conclusions to some stories, he is enthralling to read. His flawed characters striving for more mixed with hard hard science make for a great binge weekend. I hope that the ship of fools gets its own book.

Not my personal favorite(:

The more KSR you read or listen to the better it gets. The factoids and story build. For example, this story mentions several times the mirrors that were initially placed in the original trilogy.

As with most of KSR's writing there is techno-speak, that accurate or not, doesn't directly affect the story and it just pours over your head like heavy rainfall. For me, that doesn't detract from the story.

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger or soft landing that left me wondering what I had missed? Maybe that was the intention.

I wouldn't recommend this.

Great book by a SciFi master

Icehenge is an excellent, but often overlooked, early novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. The narration is top notch.

I can't finish it. I just don't care.

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my favorite authors. The Mars trilogy. Forty Days series. Many of his stand alone books, particularly Days of Rice and Salt. I was happy to find another of his stand-alones and looking forward to it.

The first section of Icehenge is very good. Enjoyable, thought-provoking, forward-looking, science dependant, with slightly juvenile interpersonal relationships but solid overall.

The second section has an entirely different feel, more of a crusty old-fashioned spacer looking for his big break gritty drama. It was also enjoyable and the callbacks to the first part were meaningful.

The third part, which has driven me away, is anchored by a whiny protagonist about whom I just don't care. I can see the theme that appears to be the big payoff (I think. If I never finish the book I will never know if I got it all wrong and some twist finale makes this third section worthwhile.) has something to do with how our perception of historical events can be twisted by politics. personal bias, and social change over time. There may also be elements acknowledging that each generation assumes they are more brilliant than the previous and has a better grasp on Truth. Perhaps my distaste for this section is related to the dearth of adherence to fact in current real world political discourse.

If I ever push through to the end, I will update my review and give more credit if due!

Surprisingly anti-climactic

The science, the idea, the writing are all phenomenal. Without question one of KSR’s coolest ideas. Full of the deep research expected from any KSR book. Having listened to every single one of his books, Icehenge is by far bottom of the barrel. The mystery is interesting and was really gripping at moments. But the book only really gripped me in the last hour or so of listening. Overall, decent, but lacks some seriously gripping material.

One of the most frustrating book I ever listion to

I never write a review but this book made me mad. The 3 Main character in this book kept repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again to the point i wanted to rip my hair out of my head.

Don't waist your time with this book if your looking for a exciting sci fi book. You wont find it here.

Sort of fun

... until you get to the third part and figure out that it's going nowhere.

Not KSRs best wotk

I struggled to finish this. The narrative and characters are way less polished than his later works. This feels like a set piece.

It's kind of a neat pseudo-mystery.

I liked the story. It's in the same universe that Kim always writes in. Not bad, but less than some of his other stories.

A story that went no where

What did you like best about Icehenge? What did you like least?

I have enjoyed many of Kim Stanley Robinson's books and this one started well, it caught my interest and I sat back to enjoy the rest. However when the end of the book arrived somewhat suddenly I was left feeling "did I miss something". I accept that all stories are not neatly tied up by the final chapter but this almost felt like the story line got stuck and remained undeveloped. I think the author has developed in his skills since this was written and this might not be the best place to discover his great story telling talent.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The narrators brought the characters to life in a way that text might not have and made a good job of a limited storyline.

Quite slow and plodding.

I enjoyed the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, but this is not of the same standard. It lacks the epic quality of his trilogy, and is quite slow, and unfortunately dull. It is told in three sections, with three different narrators, and all did a good job, but the material they had to work with was just not strong enough.