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An epic debut novel about a lovelorn eighteenth-century Russian noble, cursed with longevity and an immunity to cold, whose quest for the truth behind his condition spans two thrilling centuries and a stunning array of historical events.
The Empress Anna Ioannovna has issued her latest eccentric order: construct a palace out of ice blocks. Inside its walls her slaves build a wedding chamber, a canopy bed on a dais, heavy drapes cascading to the floor—all made of ice. Sealed inside are a disgraced nobleman and a deformed female jester. On the empress’s command—for her entertainment—these two are to be married, the relationship consummated inside this frozen prison. In the morning, guards enter to find them half-dead. Nine months later, two boys are born.
Surrounded by servants and animals, Prince Alexander Velitzyn and his twin brother, Andrei, have an idyllic childhood on the family’s large country estate. But as they approach manhood, stark differences coalesce. Andrei is daring and ambitious; Alexander is tentative and adrift. One frigid winter night on the road between St. Petersburg and Moscow, as he flees his army post, Alexander comes to a horrifying revelation: his body is immune to cold.
J. M. Sidorova’s boldly original and genrebending novel takes readers from the grisly fields of the Napoleonic Wars to the blazing heat of Afghanistan, from the outer reaches of Siberia to the cacophonous streets of nineteenth-century Paris. The adventures of its protagonist, Prince Alexander Velitzyn—on a lifelong quest for the truth behind his strange physiology—will span three continents and two centuries and bring him into contact with an incredible range of real historical figures, from Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, to the licentious Russian empress Elizaveta and Arctic explorer Joseph Billings.
The Age of Ice is one of the most enchanting and inventive debut novels of the year.
- Sales Rank: #895578 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-07-23
- Released on: 2013-07-23
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
Sidorova’s imaginative and densely detailed first novel mingles historical and speculative fiction. Prince Alexander Velitsyn was conceived in ice: he and his twin brother were born of two jesters forced to wed and remain overnight in Empress Anna Ioanovna’s ice palace in January 1740. As a young soldier, Alexander is startled to discover he’s unaffected by cold and that heightened emotions turn his body literally frigid. Thus begins his quest for a scientific explanation and fellow sufferers, if they exist. Since his condition makes it challenging to get close to women, he turns to a life of adventure and exploration. His jaunts propel readers on an informative journey over 250 years of Russian history and ventures abroad, from an Arctic expedition to the Napoleonic Wars and the Great Game in central Asia. (He also becomes immortal at one point.) Alexander’s detached narration—which suits his situation—keeps readers at a distance, but his interactions with other characters, real and fictional, and his continual yearning for connections enrich the tale with depth and meaning. --Sarah Johnson
Review
"Jeweled with the kind of narrative intricacies and heights of fancy that transform a good story into a sensory glut, in this mesmerizing debut, Sidorova reduces you to a primal state of readership, casting you into darkness so vast that you have no choice but to press on and discover what about it feels so familiar. The Age of Ice rekindles every far-flung childhood memory you have of what it means to experience a great book." (Téa Obreht, New York Times-bestselling author of The Tiger's Wife )
About the Author
J.M. Sidorova was born in Moscow when it was the capital of the USSR, to the family of an official of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. She attended Moscow State University and the graduate school of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1990 and works as a research professor at the University of Washington, where she studies cellular biology of aging and carcinogenesis.
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
"The age of delicate senses had not yet dawned, nerves had not been discovered."
By Amelia Gremelspacher
Alexander was conceived to parents sealed in an ice place by decree of Empress Anna Ionnovna, ruler of Russia. His father, a prince, had been disgraced by being designated a court jester. His mother, a humpback was a jester by birthright and died giving birth to Alexander and Andrei, his twin. Remarkably, this setting for our journey in magical realism was entirely possible in the marginally civilized world of Russia in 1740. Indeed, this novel,spanning decades, is embedded in the miraculous but true progression and regression of Russia. The ornate writing itself bears the mark of an intellect searching for meaning and knowledge in this huge country of extremes. As quoted in my title, introspection was not highly regarded and only men entering and completing 25 years of military duty were deemed to have grown ou of the official title of juvenile.
Alexander had been into privilege and ease as a prince of the realm. His natural ease and physical beauty had earned him a place in the guard of the Empress herself. Indeed he was in that group who overthrew the czar to put Catherine the Great on the throne in their regard for an Empress ruling the country. He gradually learns that shades of passion come to render him freezing to the point he will eventually kill anyone in his embrace, while he feels no change of temperature.
In a world of extreme emotions, he must shield himself from lust, rage, and grief. There is no one to guide him and no one to understand. He cannot even trust another person with his secret. His only eternally constant companion is the ecstasy of ice, the transformation of all life other than his to to a crystalline death. The prose can become exhausting at some points, but the author always rescues the reader from the brink metaphysical burn out into the hands of a compelling story. These decades of Russian history are consumed with extremes heroism to depths of ignominy. He participates in the heartless splendor of Catherine the Great, the search through Siberia for the Northeast passage, and the Napoleonic Wars. Seemingly immortal, his story stretches through every extreme.
In his encounters with ice, an allegory on the transformation of the world emerges. As water is the base of life, is ice a part of every cycle? "A story is a form of death or a form of immortality of life, very much like life itself." Here is a story to bring one kind of order to a boiling world. I urge you to take this trip to Ice.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
He is Ice.
By Greg Polansky
This is a book that, if you choose, will reward you on multiple levels.
If you want a good story, set in an exotic local as many fantasies written in the twenty-first century seem wont to do to now to differentiate themselves from the typical Tolkienesque medieval world, then you will enjoy the alien world written about here.
If you are Russian, Russophone or have a background where you learned the tales of the bogatyrs, about the succession of Russian czars and czarinas of the 18th century, and about Russian culture then you will smile at the casual references to things you know and grew up with. And maybe you still recall watching the most awesome Soviet cartoon, The Snow Queen (1957), and so something about the title of the book and the cover art will have sparked your imagination and cause you to order this on the day it came out.
Either way, or perhaps because of both ways, you will indeed enjoy this fantasy. Set against the backdrop of long centuries and across the span of the Russian Empire and beyond to the Middle East of the 19th century and Europe of the 20th century, the story begins with the copulation of the protagonist's (Alexander) father with a dwarf. In an ice palace of all places. Why there and why the deed? Because the author's father offended the Empress Anna with a dalliance with an Italian Catholic. Ah the whims of royalty when you're the not the ruler but living in an autocratic system. Fun times.
The writing itself can sometimes feel/be considered overwrought. But only to the eyes of someone used to twenty-first century simplicity. No one seriously calls Jane Austen verbose or full of love for her own self because of how she wrote. And I did get a slight Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell vibe from the writing of this book, another book written now but as it were originally written in another century. It's not too easy to capture the writing style of a bygone era. The book sometimes feels as if it is being written in the 18th century but with modern just slightly too self indulgent and self aware tendencies. Considering that the protagonist is thinking about his own history, then perhaps this mismatch between 18th century and 21st century will resolve itself.
But where is the fantasy you're asking yourself. Early on in our riveting tale, Alexander slowly begins to realize that he cannot feel cold. And what this means for him is what drives his story. Because Alexander is different than everyone else and his search for the reason why he is different is the heart of the book. It will lead him across the Russian Empire. And beyond. Lots of great descriptions. Lots of good story telling.
Fantasy can be many things these days. While I am happy reading Tolkien or Lewis, I'm also happy reading this kind of book that sets the story in a world many of us are just as unfamiliar with, but that still seeks to tell a good story and allow us an escape from the "real" world into the fantastical world. This time to that of a Russia that was.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
An amazing writer
By Ionia Froment
Assessing this book for review is somewhat like trying to tell the entire world history is less than 300 words. It isn't possible. Reading this novel is a journey through a world of history and amazing wonders and is a truly beautiful read. If you are into books that slowly and carefully unfold with excellent character development, "the Age of Ice" has you covered.
This is not an action filled book where things happen a mile a minute. The writing seems somewhat reserved and you never feel particularly close to the main character, but you never really have the desire to give up on him either. There is always a shield up between him and the reader, although I can't help, based on the story, but feel that this was intentional.
The main character suffers from a "cold" condition, where any time he is riled up, either positively or negatively, he experiences a full body cold that allows him to hold snow without it melting and makes his desire for a normal relationship more than impossible. The idea that the author wrote his character somewhat impersonally matches that theme perfectly. I found that I, as the reader, spent my time trying to get inside his head and feel closer to him but continually came up short, which made me feel frustrated, just as the character did as he searched for someone to be close to. Well played, J.M. Sidorova.
This book spans a long period of time, and while I found the complicated tale interesting and well written, there were times when I felt my mind wander a bit while reading. The writing itself is solid. The author has an amazing grasp on how to use the proper language to evoke emotion, and the dialogue is excellent, although written in the same second hand delivery that makes it feel much less personal.
While I did have moments of wandering mind, there were many sections of this novel where I completely forgot myself and became so bound in the story that I could do nothing else but read, hoping the eventual result would be a happy one for the character that I had been with for the duration.
The ending of the book was a bit odd for me, and the reason why I have decided to go with four stars rather than five. I don't want to include a spoiler, so I will proceed cautiously. This book, as I mentioned above, spans a longer time period than most. When it catches up to the more recent history of the world, the character makes a decision about how he will carry on, and I just didn't feel that it quite worked with the rest of the book. It may have just been a personal expectation, but I felt the end struggled a bit to match the previous parts of this incredible Russian literature. I do give the author a lot of credit for dealing with important issues of environmental impact.
If you are going to read this book (and I recommend that you do) take some time away from life. Find a quiet place, and devote your mind to the story. It will consume you, amaze you and remind you that there are authors out there who use common words to create uncommon magic.
This review is based on a digital ARC from the Publisher.
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