Review – Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 432 pages
Publisher: Saga Press
Release Date: October 27, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-1481444262
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

I have read everything by Clarke (and with the exception of The Wizard’s Promise) really enjoyed all of her books. This book was masterfully written and incredibly intriguing but also moved fairly slow. It’s a book that needs to be read slowly and carefully, but the description throughout and the creativity of the setting is amazing.

The book takes place in the Southernmost city in the world; Hope City, Antarctica. Hope City started out as a domed amusement park but when the amusement park shut down the residents were trapped there…only those who can afford an expensive mainland Visa ever get to leave.

The story follows four main characters and the story alternates POV between these four. The first character is Eliana, who is a PI desperately working toward saving for a visa to leave Hope City. The second is her boyfriend Diego, who is the right hand man to Hope City’s top gangster. The third is Marianella Luna who has a dangerous secret that she needs Eliana’s help to keep safe. And the fourth is Sofia, a pleasure android from Hope City’s amusement park days that has begun to evolve.

Hope City is starting to wear at the seams. Power outages are becoming common and Eliana is desperate to leave. However to get the money to leave she needs to take on cases and Marianella is offering too much money to refuse. As Eliana works with Marianella she gets drawn into the dark underworld of factions and secrets that her boyfriend Diego has been part of from the beginning. Little does everyone know that Hope City may be at the whim of the androids that run it.

I absolutely loved the setting here; the idea of Hope City is unique and Clark’s absolutely phenomenal description makes it so that the reader can smell, taste, and hear the city around them.

The switching POV worked great for this novel. All of the characters are interestinng and I loved reading from all of their POVs; there were never any sections where I was bummed to be reading from one character’s POV or another’s.

The story is mainly a mystery and it was a mystery that was incredibly well woven and wonderfully unveiled. There is also quite a bit of science fiction in here because of all the robots and androids throughout the story. I really enjoyed the story as a whole.

My main complaint is that the story moved a bit too slowly and I found my attention wandering at points. I also felt like things weren’t wrapped up all that well.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It’s a well done story about a domed city on a world of ice and cold. I really loved the setting and the unique set of characters that tell the story. There was some excellent mystery here as well. I would recommend to those who enjoy a good sci-fi mystery.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge