Through the Eye of the Glacier

by Michael R. Pollen

One thousand B.C. In the receding ice age of the vast Tanana River Valley of interior Alaska, mammoth hunters encounter a mysterious and beautiful treasure. Rediscovered deep within a glacier during the heyday of Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction, two Athabaskan students from the University of Alaska share an adventure of scientific and cultural discovery in the midst of stunning, ethereal beauty of Alaska. This is a story of music, brilliant auroras, and luminescent moonlight on crisp Alaska snowfields. It is a tale of hope and shared dreams that will be told around the campfires of a thousand worlds.

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

Reviews

[tx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two blurb writers, most likely people who know the author personally, found the book "hard to put down". Myself, I sometimes got so frustrated that I threw it into a corner! But the story was interesting enough for me to come back to it. I also enjoyed the descriptions of scenery.
Michael Pollen obviously loves Alaska. He would probably be awesome writing travel books. Or popular science, because he has a knack for making science approachable to laymen. But, judging by this book, he can't write fiction! In the scenes where people interact his writing is awkward. It's a lot better in the scenery, science, technical parts. His characters are cliches. They have no personality or depth. Overall, he's WAY too long-winded, repetitive, and goes into detail where it's absolutely not necessary, neither for understanding nor storyline. I found this extremely irritating.
Also, "Das is gut. Ich habe zehr hunger." ( page 173) is NOT "pretty good German"! It's lousy German! LOL

[Harry Heitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. A bit unusual but rewarding... sci-fi and time travel and many other things.

[Waven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This somewhat odd little sci-fi read begins with a hunt for woolly mammoths and ends in ... well, a different space-time. At its heart, the tale is about love and tradition and living through the stories we leave behind. Set around an Athabaskan (Native American) family group and their acquaintances, who make an incredible discovery, the story speaks lovingly of family and nature, learning and determination, and the value of remembering. I think the author, who clearly adores Alaska (the setting for much of the story) and its characters, might have been better suited in a different genre, or prehaps with a different storyline... But it was a pleasant read and would probably do well with a YA audience.