The Age of Ice, an epic debut novel by a research professor in Seattle, is quite the accomplishment. Born in Russia, J.M. Sidorova turns to her homeland's great tradition of "big" fictional stages--think War and Peace, with a little Tom Jonesian road novel mixed in--and a dash of science fiction. Her story spans nearly three centuries across a worldwide stage--Russia, Afghanistan, Paris, India, America, the Arctic--with a list of characters three pages long.
The narrator, Prince Alexander Velitzyn, and his brother Alexi, are conceived in 1740 on a cold bed in a literal ice palace, when the Empress commands a humpbacked woman and a jester to have sex. (The mother will die in childbirth.) Alexander was a "colorless runt," his brother robust. He grows up, joins Catherine the Great's elite guards and gradually becomes aware of his immunity to cold, no matter how severe. And, as time passes, he has to accept the fact that, "half ice, half human," he won't die.
He carries these burdens with him through his many adventures, marriage and friendships. We're captivated as he tells us about meeting Mary Shelley, serving on an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage, fighting Napoleon, spying in Iran and, in 2007, traveling to the Arctic.
Sidorova beautifully convinces us of Alexander's wonderful, stirring quest for who he is--"I am becoming a story"--as it subtly begins to corresponds with climate change and the world's melting ice. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher