Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

2024 Challenge Sign-Up Post

January Reviews Link-Up

February Reviews Link-Up

March Reviews Link-Up

April Reviews Link-Up

May Reviews Link-Up

June Reviews Link-Up

July Reviews Link-Up

August Reviews Link-Up

September Reviews Link-Up

October Reviews Link-Up

November Reviews Link-Up

December Reviews Link-Up

My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Friday, January 06, 2017

Atmospheric and Addictive, Antarctic Survival Story Definitely Worth the Read


(Image from Barnes & Noble)

"In Antarctica, every decision is weighty, every outcome either a tragedy or a miracle" (29).

A professor of marine biology at University of Oregon, Deb Gardner lives for the few months out of the year when she heads south to study penguins.  The 39-year-old feels more at home in the harsh Antarctic climate researching her favorite creatures than she does anywhere else.  For the past few years, her trips have had an added bonus: Keller Sullivan.  It's during these annual trips that they rekindle their romance, a relationship that doesn't leak into their real lives in the U.S. 

In exchange for passage to her research site, Deb is playing tour guide on the Cormorant.  Keller is supposed to be on the boat as well.  When he doesn't show, Deb starts to worry.  Then the Cormorant receives an emergency signal from a nearby cruise liner in trouble.  She soon discovers that Keller is on board—that's when she starts to panic.  In such a perilous, unforgiving landscape, the Australis—along with her passengers and crew—is surely doomed.  

A researcher turned rescuer, a desperate Deb will do anything to save the man she loves.  Will their romance end before it even really begins?  What will happen to the panicked people stranded in frigid waters far from any hope of salvation?  Can life prevail at the frozen edge of the world?

The premise behind My Last Continent, a debut novel by Midge Raymond, hooked me immediately.  I enjoy survival stories set in remote locales where characters must battle extreme weather and other impossible obstacles in order to triumph.  This story certainly offers that, but it's not as flashy a tale as I expected.  Which is a good thing.  The slow-building plot appealed to me.  It helped me really understand the book's complex characters, intriguing location, and cautionary themes.  The animal/Antarctic facts added to the story, giving it depth but never bogging it down.  Most of My Last Continent's action comes at the end, which is perfect because, by then, the reader truly cares what happens to Deb, Keller, and their associates.  The tension all comes to a head in the book's taut, terrifying conclusion.  An engrossing, atmospheric novel, My Last Continent is definitely worth the read.  I loved it.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me [at least thematically] of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, blood/gore, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive



2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Susan has read 0 books toward her goal of 200 books.
hide

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction