The Arctic Fury: A Novel

This was a really hard book for me to rate. There were parts of it I loved, but other parts I sort of hated in equal measure.

The Arctic expedition chapters were interesting and while some actions the characters took were ridiculous they were at least understandable. The characters were mostly great though I wish they were developed more. Some of the diversity elements were handled well and some were not - I thought the Black characters were competently written and did the best they could with what they were handed but the gay character was written in a really weird way and while the trans character herself was fine, the way she was written required another character to “become” a trans man against her will which is certainly A Choice in today's political climate.

I loved the last courtroom chapter but every single other courtroom chapter was boring and repetitive and could have been replaced with a short “court transcript” without losing anything of value.

The author clearly did a lot of research and feels fondly toward the people the characters are based on. There is one connection that the main character has with a separate historical event (I won't spoil it) which felt kind of sensational and unnecessary, and the ultimate scheme behind everything that was happening was way too convoluted.

On the whole I'm happy I read it but it's kind of hard to recommend.

Hmmmm, this book is a little hard to review. On one hand, it kept me intrigued and turning the pages (I finished it in two days!). On the other hand, when I read the last line I couldn't help but think “that's it?!”

I think perhaps my expectations got the better of me with this one. I was expecting an atmospheric rich in a detailed story about an all female expedition into the Arctic. Unfortunately for ME, that was the weakest part of the book. It's like the author glossed over that part in favor of the courtroom parts of the book. I had the same issue with the “twist” thrown in about Virginia's past. It needed more fleshing out, and as it stood, really had zero effect on the overall story.

My last issue was that the ending felt rushed and very abrupt. If ever a book would have benefited from an epilogue, it would be this one. I was invested in these ladies and would have loved to get a peak at what the future held for them all.

So definitely a mixed bag. Worth the read, but not without some issues.