Stormi and I both had several Hunter Shea books we wanted to get to so several months back we slated both of them for this month so look for another "2 Bloggers 1 Book" feature next Thursday as well. First up is "Antarctic Ice Beasts." After reading my thoughts, make sure you check out Stormi's at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!
TITLE: Antarctic Ice Beasts
AUTHOR: Hunter Shea
PUBLISHER: Severed Press
PUBLISHING DATE: February 14, 2019
FROM GOODREADS: The South Pole in winter is one of the deadliest places on Earth. The seven person crew of the US Freedom Base lives alone in months of utter darkness with no hope of help or rescue. A freak storm batters the walls and threatens to expose them to the deadly cold. All they can do is wait…and pray.
The ground quakes. An alien screech rips through the night. There's something, or someone, lurking outside. Fists bang on the walls. Each tiny crack in the base spells death by hypothermia.
Untold horrors have come to Freedom Base...and they want in!
The ground quakes. An alien screech rips through the night. There's something, or someone, lurking outside. Fists bang on the walls. Each tiny crack in the base spells death by hypothermia.
Untold horrors have come to Freedom Base...and they want in!
MY THOUGHTS: I love Hunter Shea and I've read quite a few of his books. Now I have to admit that "Antarctic Ice Beasts" isn't my favorite, but it's still a strong book with lots of positives.
Shea has a wonderful way of making the settings of his plots characters themselves and it's not different here. Not only are the crew battling some unknown forces/creatures, they are also battling the environment and living conditions and it's a tossup which is more dangerous. I've always loved wintry, cold settings in books, just not in real life, and "Antarctic Ice Beasts" really delivers. I also liked a lot of the crew. Yes, I had a few favorites but on the whole, they were all pretty tolerable. At least I wasn't immediately cheering on any deaths. And if you've read Shea's books before you know he isn't afraid to kill off characters but I couldn't help but feel that he intentionally made me love two in particular just to torment me later.
Finally, the "creatures" themselves. It took me a while to get the full picture of what was going on with them and I have to admit they were an interesting concepts. And it's not just one type of creature, there are many. Let's just say I'll never look at penguins the same way again.
Despite all of this, I felt things were a little disjointed between the first half of the book and the second. If you love creature features and wintry settings, this book is worth a read. And Shea will always be an auto-read author for me. I just enjoy some of his other books better.
RATING: 3 PAWS
