Under A Pole Star by Stef Penney
Oct. 6th, 2016 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Follow the path to the freezing north.
Follow your ambition.
Follow your heart.
Under a Pole Star
Love will find a way.
Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of twelve. In 1889, the whaler’s daughter from Dundee – dubbed by the press “The Snow Queen” – sets out to become a scientist and explorer. She struggled to be taken seriously but determination and chance lead her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British expedition, despite the main who believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world of men.
Geologist Jakob de Beyn was raised in Manhattan. Yearning for wider horizons, he joins a rival expedition, led by the furiously driven Lester Armitage. When Jakob and Flora’s paths cross, it is a fateful meeting.
All three become obsessed with the north, a place where violent extremes exist side by side: perpetual night and endless day; frozen seas and coastal meadows; heroism and lies. Armitage’s ruthless desire to be the true leader of polar discovery takes him and his men on a mission whose tragic outcome will reverberate for years to come.
In 1948 77-year-old Flora Mackie is part of a group of scientists being flown to the North Pole for a publicity gimmick. She’s there because in her youth she was a famous explorer and scientist, dubbed The Snow Queen by the British press and as the journalist, Randall Crane, quizzes her about her experiences and slowly the memories come back – from her first voyage to Greenland with her father (a whaler captain), to her university experiences and then marriage and her own expeditions.
It was during an expedition in 1892 that she met Jakob de Beyn, an American geologist who shared her love for the frozen north. He’s part of a rival expedition run by explorer Lester Armitage who dreams of discovering a land route to the North Pole and claiming it for the USA. Although Jakob and Flora form a connection, a tragedy befalls Armitage’s expedition that colours their subsequent lives and their relationships both with each other and the Arctic wasteland that they each love …
Stef Penney returns to the frozen landscapes she conveyed so evocatively in the Costa winning THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES with an epic historical romance set among the early polar expeditions. However while the landscape is luscious, the emotionally chilly Flora is difficult to relate to, I never cared about her relationship with Jakob (despite some erotic sex scenes) and found most of the male characters to be under-drawn – especially Lester who is too cartoony to be a successful antagonist and while I kept turning the pages, I never really connected with the story.
It’s easy to admire Flora – determined and resourceful she’s a pioneer both in terms of Arctic exploration and education (where she attends university), but she’s emotionally repressed and laced with self-doubt and the men in her life (notably husband, Freddie and one-time lover Mark) are woefully underdrawn and whiney. Jakob has a more interesting background but he’s also needy, unsure and ultimately rather bland and I think he’s short-changed by the ending. Ultimately the reason to read this is for the Arctic scenes, which are incredible and I really enjoyed the depictions of early exploration and scientific endeavour while the relationship between the western explorers and the Inuit is interesting and shows the condescension exploitation that occurred. Fans of epic romances will probably enjoy this more than I did but I would still definitely check out Penney’s next book.
The Verdict:
Stef Penney returns to the frozen landscapes she conveyed so evocatively in the Costa winning THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES with an epic historical romance set among the early polar expeditions. However while the landscape is luscious, the emotionally chilly Flora is difficult to relate to, I never cared about her relationship with Jakob (despite some erotic sex scenes) and found most of the male characters to be under-drawn – especially Lester who is too cartoony to be a successful antagonist and while I kept turning the pages, I never really connected with the story.
UNDER A POLE STAR will be released in the United Kingdom on 3rd November 2016. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Follow your ambition.
Follow your heart.
Under a Pole Star
Love will find a way.
Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of twelve. In 1889, the whaler’s daughter from Dundee – dubbed by the press “The Snow Queen” – sets out to become a scientist and explorer. She struggled to be taken seriously but determination and chance lead her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British expedition, despite the main who believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world of men.
Geologist Jakob de Beyn was raised in Manhattan. Yearning for wider horizons, he joins a rival expedition, led by the furiously driven Lester Armitage. When Jakob and Flora’s paths cross, it is a fateful meeting.
All three become obsessed with the north, a place where violent extremes exist side by side: perpetual night and endless day; frozen seas and coastal meadows; heroism and lies. Armitage’s ruthless desire to be the true leader of polar discovery takes him and his men on a mission whose tragic outcome will reverberate for years to come.
In 1948 77-year-old Flora Mackie is part of a group of scientists being flown to the North Pole for a publicity gimmick. She’s there because in her youth she was a famous explorer and scientist, dubbed The Snow Queen by the British press and as the journalist, Randall Crane, quizzes her about her experiences and slowly the memories come back – from her first voyage to Greenland with her father (a whaler captain), to her university experiences and then marriage and her own expeditions.
It was during an expedition in 1892 that she met Jakob de Beyn, an American geologist who shared her love for the frozen north. He’s part of a rival expedition run by explorer Lester Armitage who dreams of discovering a land route to the North Pole and claiming it for the USA. Although Jakob and Flora form a connection, a tragedy befalls Armitage’s expedition that colours their subsequent lives and their relationships both with each other and the Arctic wasteland that they each love …
Stef Penney returns to the frozen landscapes she conveyed so evocatively in the Costa winning THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES with an epic historical romance set among the early polar expeditions. However while the landscape is luscious, the emotionally chilly Flora is difficult to relate to, I never cared about her relationship with Jakob (despite some erotic sex scenes) and found most of the male characters to be under-drawn – especially Lester who is too cartoony to be a successful antagonist and while I kept turning the pages, I never really connected with the story.
It’s easy to admire Flora – determined and resourceful she’s a pioneer both in terms of Arctic exploration and education (where she attends university), but she’s emotionally repressed and laced with self-doubt and the men in her life (notably husband, Freddie and one-time lover Mark) are woefully underdrawn and whiney. Jakob has a more interesting background but he’s also needy, unsure and ultimately rather bland and I think he’s short-changed by the ending. Ultimately the reason to read this is for the Arctic scenes, which are incredible and I really enjoyed the depictions of early exploration and scientific endeavour while the relationship between the western explorers and the Inuit is interesting and shows the condescension exploitation that occurred. Fans of epic romances will probably enjoy this more than I did but I would still definitely check out Penney’s next book.
The Verdict:
Stef Penney returns to the frozen landscapes she conveyed so evocatively in the Costa winning THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES with an epic historical romance set among the early polar expeditions. However while the landscape is luscious, the emotionally chilly Flora is difficult to relate to, I never cared about her relationship with Jakob (despite some erotic sex scenes) and found most of the male characters to be under-drawn – especially Lester who is too cartoony to be a successful antagonist and while I kept turning the pages, I never really connected with the story.
UNDER A POLE STAR will be released in the United Kingdom on 3rd November 2016. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
