Ice's End

With his debut novel, Delawarean P. Finian Reilly has hit the ground running in what promises to be an exciting writing career. In Ice’s End, Reilly has written two separate yet deeply intertwined narratives of exploration, danger, and power-run-amok.

In one narrative, it is the year 2123, and our protagonist Roscoe is a borderline washout assigned to help conglomerate StarCross maintain their global monopoly on energy and water production. Stationed in the archives department of an Antarctic base, all Roscoe wants -all he has ever been raised for- is to escape our ever-deteriorating planet for a life in space. This dream slips further and further from Roscoe’s grasp as he finds himself enmeshed in a doomsday cult bent on nuking Antarctica, as well as the lethal machinations of StarCross’ power politics. Roscoe soon finds himself in a battle not just for his own life, but for the lives of millions of human beings.

In Reilly’s second narrative, it is the year 1841, and the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set sail for the Southern Sea, determined to explore the earth’s southern-most continent in search of the magnetic south pole. As the expedition leader’s judgment seems to diminish, he puts his crew in greater and greater peril in his quest for fame. The novel’s other main protagonist, Second Master Henry Yule, is the son of a hero of Trafalgar. As he struggles to reconcile his sense of honor and duty with the growing danger, Yule is pushed closer and closer to nigh-unthinkable acts of blackmail and mutiny against his captain.

The resolutions to these stories are woven together in a manner reminiscent of the best qualities of magical realism. To tell you how would spoil not one but two endings, but I can assure you it is well worth the effort to reach the final pages of this incredible book.

The strength of Reilly’s book rests not just in the thrills of the plot and the multi-dimensional depths of his characters, though these qualities will hook you from the very beginning. (It takes only three pages for someone to slip into the perilously cold Antarctic waters, and the sense of tension and peril only ratchets up from there.)

One of the most impressive qualities of Ice’s End is its speculative nature. Reilly shows his readers a desperate, “hanging on by a thread” world in which human dignity has been squashed by unfettered capitalism. Technological and scientific development exist for no purpose other than to create profit for the few. Water and energy are used as tools of global domination. Much of the world continues to be ravaged by storms, massive wildfires, and rising sea levels, while most of humanity are simply surviving—very few ever get the opportunity to actually thrive.

Whether the author intended to, he has given us a very clear description of where our world might be heading, and the reader would be forgiven for feeling chilled by it. Yet, Reilly also offers the reader a nova-bright level of hope, hope that even in the worst of times, our joy, altruism, and innate sense of curiosity can be humanity’s greatest achievements, and the tools with which we avoid a world like Ice’s End.

Get Early Access to Ice’s End!

Although Ice’s End officially releases on June 29th, you’ll have an exclusive chance to purchase a signed copy early when Reilly joins Huxley & Hiro for the Wilmington Art Loop on June 6th.

The event runs from 5 to 8 PM and is free and open to the public!

Kenneth L. Hansen for Huxley & Hiro