There are secrets beneath her skin.
Sorykah Minuit is a scholar, an engineer, and the sole woman aboard an ice-drilling submarine in the fro... read full description
Sorykah Minuit is a scholar, an engineer, and the sole woman aboard an ice-drilling submarine in the fro... read full description
reviews
May 11, 2010
Jason
rated it: 
This is a well written dark and unusual fantasy that takes place in a world where DNA mutations and combination's had gone a muck. A female / male protagonist fighting to reclaim hers / his babies is the main story line. There are many interesting turns in this story, and the growth that our main character achieves is very satisfying. I really enjoyed that Kasai did not fall back on typical male / female stereotypes to bring this story to a conclusion. Well paced, well written, a great first
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Nov 07, 2009
Kim
rated it:
Please note: I wrote almost a complete review of this book last night, and then Safari threw me off and my review disappeared. So if you don't like this review, just know that the original was a work of astonishing beauty that would have moved you to tears!
When I grade student papers, I will often give a student a higher grade if s/he has attempted something daring and put forth an original idea, even if the execution was somewhat flawed.
(In over five years of teaching, More...
When I grade student papers, I will often give a student a higher grade if s/he has attempted something daring and put forth an original idea, even if the execution was somewhat flawed.
(In over five years of teaching, More...
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Aug 27, 2009
Matt
rated it:
I didn’t know what to expect from Kirsten Imani Kasai’s debut novel Ice Song. To be honest this is not the type of book I usually go for when at the bookstore. When Ms. Kasani offered to send me a copy to read I thought would go ahead and take a chance. Wow, I am glad I did as this a truly incredible and totally unique novel. Books like Ms. Kasai’s are why I like having a book review blog as it gives me a chance to read novels that normally I would pass on.
The plot is relatively simple More...
The plot is relatively simple More...
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May 12, 2010
Yune
rated it: 
Sorykah is an engineer on an ice-drilling submarine, and a new mother about to be reunited with her children -- except they've been abducted. What makes them so special and worth kidnapping is that they've inherited their mother's Trader ability, which allows them to physically change sex. Meanwhile, other mutations abound; most deal with human-animal hybrids, so that a woman might have an octopus's tendrils or a man the characteristics of a walrus. There are mild flavors of Elizabeth Lynn an
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May 05, 2009
From Publishers Weekly
Kasai's strikingly original but uneven debut posits a world where DNA has gone wild, producing Traders with amazing abilities and somatics with a mix of animal and human genes. Sorykah Minuit, a gender-switching Trader, arrives in the dirty, dangerous polar town of Ostara to meet her twin children and their nursemaid. She encounters an octopus-woman who tells her the children have been abducted by the Trader-torturing Collector. Passages of stunning imagery veer abrup More...
Kasai's strikingly original but uneven debut posits a world where DNA has gone wild, producing Traders with amazing abilities and somatics with a mix of animal and human genes. Sorykah Minuit, a gender-switching Trader, arrives in the dirty, dangerous polar town of Ostara to meet her twin children and their nursemaid. She encounters an octopus-woman who tells her the children have been abducted by the Trader-torturing Collector. Passages of stunning imagery veer abrup More...
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Nov 12, 2009
Maya
rated it:
I had a hard time deciding how to rate this. On the one hand, the author's tremendous creativity, extraordinary worldbuilding, and unforgettable protagonist are all excellent. On the other, I felt the story got a bit bogged down in places by description. It is a strength of the author, but for my taste, gets indulged too frequently, sometimes at the expense of actually understanding what is going on (which is counter-intuitive but had that effect due to complexity and unusual nature of some o
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Jul 28, 2009
Tina (Fantastic Book Review)
rated it:
Ice Song is a new and welcomed addition to the sci-fi/fantasy world and for it to be Kasai’s debut novel, to say the least I’m impressed!
I love Kasai’s writing style and the imagery in Ice Song is fascinating. This novel grabbed my attention well into the first few pages. Kasai’s writing is so vivid and I felt as though I was watching a movie on big screen. I was captivated by the world that Kasai created involving somatics (people born with animal genes/mutations) and the rare and h More...
I love Kasai’s writing style and the imagery in Ice Song is fascinating. This novel grabbed my attention well into the first few pages. Kasai’s writing is so vivid and I felt as though I was watching a movie on big screen. I was captivated by the world that Kasai created involving somatics (people born with animal genes/mutations) and the rare and h More...
Aug 22, 2011
Carolyn
rated it:
Very intense book, intriguing premise.
the review I posted on Snip:
This book was SO GOOD, I find myself very reluctant to return it the library. What if I NEED to read it again, some more, incessantly, every night?!?! The lead character, Sorykah, is a mother of two kidnapped babies, an ice-drilling engineer...and a Trader who can switch back and forth between genders. Her world is also populated by Somatics, people who are part human/part animal, and her search for the twins fi More...
the review I posted on Snip:
This book was SO GOOD, I find myself very reluctant to return it the library. What if I NEED to read it again, some more, incessantly, every night?!?! The lead character, Sorykah, is a mother of two kidnapped babies, an ice-drilling engineer...and a Trader who can switch back and forth between genders. Her world is also populated by Somatics, people who are part human/part animal, and her search for the twins fi More...
Oct 02, 2011
Kara-karina
rated it:
Egalley thanks to Random House
This book reads like a mad inventor's fairy-tale. I love crazy, but sometimes it was too much even for me. That's why I think I'm having difficulties describing what I feel about this book.
You've read the synopsis, right? A mad, mad world full of genetic mutations, hard work and extreme climates.
Sorykah is a Trader, a rare mutation with genetic make-up of two people. Her other half, Soryk has been suppressed all her life and only More...
This book reads like a mad inventor's fairy-tale. I love crazy, but sometimes it was too much even for me. That's why I think I'm having difficulties describing what I feel about this book.
You've read the synopsis, right? A mad, mad world full of genetic mutations, hard work and extreme climates.
Sorykah is a Trader, a rare mutation with genetic make-up of two people. Her other half, Soryk has been suppressed all her life and only More...
Sep 12, 2009
Donna
rated it: 
In a world filled with genetic mutations, Sorykah Minuit is still a rarity: she's a trader- able to switch from her primary female gender to the male,Soryk. Sorykah takes a job as an engineer with a company working in the frozen North. Her nanny is supposed to meet her there with Soryah twin babies but the nanny and babies are kidnapped by the collector who is known to kill the mutants he collects in his efforts to find a cure for his daughter who has mutated into a beast. The book tells the sag
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Jun 07, 2009
Steven
rated it:
This is a dark and heavy fantasy set in the wilderness outside of a 20th century society. Issues of gender, abnormality and family are dealt with as a Nursing mother journeys to retrieve her kidnapped twin infants.
The language is beautiful, the emotions are strong, and violence is not shied away from. I'd not recommend this to the squeamish or prudish. I called it fantasy, but the underlying strangeness in the book could just as easily have scientific explanations and no magic is ex More...
The language is beautiful, the emotions are strong, and violence is not shied away from. I'd not recommend this to the squeamish or prudish. I called it fantasy, but the underlying strangeness in the book could just as easily have scientific explanations and no magic is ex More...
Jun 29, 2010
Joshua
rated it: 
Note: I did not finish this book.
This book was displayed at the library as one of the submarine reads feature. The back of the book was highly tempting and I was looking forward to cracking it open. I honestly should have done so at the library before I got home.
Ice Song is unfortunately chock-full of purple prose. I love a good description, but I was unable to get into the book with page after page of attention breaking descriptions. I set the book down after the fi More...
This book was displayed at the library as one of the submarine reads feature. The back of the book was highly tempting and I was looking forward to cracking it open. I honestly should have done so at the library before I got home.
Ice Song is unfortunately chock-full of purple prose. I love a good description, but I was unable to get into the book with page after page of attention breaking descriptions. I set the book down after the fi More...
Jan 29, 2012
Jessie (Ageless Pages Reviews)
rated it:
3.5 out of 5
This was an engrossing, thrilling, fresh, lovely read... for about 200 hundred pages of the 384 total duration. Not that I didn't enjoy the last of the novel, or that I wasn't involved in Soryk/ah's unique tale - Ice Song simply and sadly suffers (alliteration is fun!) from a problem that so many other novels of the fantasy genre also suffer: it's just too long. Three hundred eighty-four pages is far from the longest book I've read this year, but it's nothing to sneeze at, cert More...
This was an engrossing, thrilling, fresh, lovely read... for about 200 hundred pages of the 384 total duration. Not that I didn't enjoy the last of the novel, or that I wasn't involved in Soryk/ah's unique tale - Ice Song simply and sadly suffers (alliteration is fun!) from a problem that so many other novels of the fantasy genre also suffer: it's just too long. Three hundred eighty-four pages is far from the longest book I've read this year, but it's nothing to sneeze at, cert More...
Jul 01, 2011
Kelly
rated it: 
(4.5 stars) I’ve never been a big science fiction reader, and so it took me far too long to get around to reading Kirsten Imani Kasai’s Ice Song. Its beautiful cover would draw my eye again and again in the bookstore, then I’d flip it over to read the back cover copy and think, “Oh. Submarines. Mutations. This is that science fiction book again.” Now that I’ve read it, I wish the blurb had contained one brief sentence that would have had me snapping up the book right away: This is a fairy tale.
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May 12, 2009
Liviu
rated it:
Excellent debut; I marked it as sf since while undeniably fantasy-like in style it's also closest to Liz Williams Darkland/Bloodmind in theme and setting, so it's more of a gothic sf than anything else.
Superb style, imagery and emotion with an ok plot and a little too much tell rather than show, but debut and all the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. A strange book and I expect it will be a love it, hate it kind - I loved it
This is a book that establishes More...
Aug 09, 2010
Terena
rated it:
This is a completely original fantasy written by a talented new writer, two things which make me excited. Kirsten Imani Kasai has created a beautiful, dangerous, multi-layered, world and a protagonist who is strong, yet completely believable, even as she changes genders. This is the story of a mother trying to rescue her kidnapped children from a mad man known as "The Collector," a woman who is not a superhero, but who faces incredible dangers and trials as she crosses the frozen land.
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Aug 30, 2011
Heidi
rated it:
Eh. I picked up this book because Tattoo seemed to be getting a lot of hype when it came out and it seemed interesting. It's not bad per se, certainly not unreadable, but I couldn't really get into it and sort of figured why bother when I have so many other books I want to read.
Aug 27, 2010
Emily
rated it:
didn't like it very much, slow to start too fast throughout the second half not much happened and then too much happened. not fully fleshed out, oddly anticlimactic even though all sorts of sh*t happens... wish i had never read it. it was weird and gross and confusing and disappointing, if you havent read it dont, if you have read it im sorry.
Feb 28, 2010
Flitterkit
rated it:
This was a very odd book that I picked up because I liked the cover. It took me a bit to get into, but I did enjoy the book as a whole. The transitions were a bit abrupt, confusing me a tad bit, however the characters were relatively well fleshed out. Felt like a new author book. If another comes out set in the same world, I'd probably try it.
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Sep 17, 2010
Nathan
rated it:
3.5 stars on this one.. the prose was well written and the world an original one but the 'quest' seemed too stereotypical of the genre. The pacing was poor.. and despite elegant descriptions, I wasn't drawn into the world Kasai created. I enjoyed the read but if there were a sequel, it wouldn't make it to my 'must-read' stack.
Jan 25, 2011
ivyleaf
rated it:
Link to LJ post. Disappointed. Very, very disappointed; excellent, intriguing premise and failed execution.
Sep 06, 2011
Sherry
rated it:
Words are too deep. Took me a while to read it but thank goodness I am finally done. I feel Sorykah for I am a mom too. Whatever she did to save them, it's all worthit. Not all are right but things that are wrong has to be done for the outcome to be a good one.
Apr 06, 2010
A bit overwritten for my tastes. I'm having a hard time getting into it and so I've decided to move on.
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Dec 13, 2011
Deyara
rated it:
I picked this up to fulfil a reading challenge calling for a book with the word "Ice" in the title and I'm really glad I did! It was a good read, some ideas flashed past a bit quickly, and others dragged on a bit (most of the pleasure palace stuff) but overall interesting ideas and an enjoyable read.
Aug 29, 2009
Liz
rated it:
I am still not really sure what I think of this book. Admittedly it took me over a month to get through, but that wasn't because it was bone-achingly boring. When I was reading it I enjoyed it for the most part, but it didn't give me that "can't put it down" feeling. It was also confusing because there were chunks of the book that I felt were just thrown in there because, not for any specific literary purpose. I am happy to be done with it and moving on to another of my other books. I
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Aug 26, 2010
Sarahjane
rated it:
beautifully written. much better than i expected. a modern and dark fantasy.
Jul 30, 2010
Julia
rated it:
An interesting book. There were some interesting scifi concepts regarding human mutation and corporate power that were compelling. The main characters were mostly engaging. There were some parts of the book that were a little gross for my tastes. Overall pretty engaging.
May 21, 2010
Latrice
rated it:
I had a very difficult time getting through this book. It wasn't terrible a little too dull for my taste. The concept of the main character Soryk/ah was rather interesting, I just wished we more "conflict" with her alter-ego.
