Review: Icebreaker by Steven William Hannah
Blurb:
A frozen, psychedelic post-apocalyptic Scotland.
Shamanic science fiction, written in a unique voice, with a strong cast of memorable characters.
A trilogy-spanning mystery that answers every question it raises.
Cosmic horror, artificial intelligence, and questions of consciousness, perception and identity.
"Of the dozens of indie authors I've ever read, only two have left me genuinely hungry to read more from them. Steven William Hannah is one of those." - O.R. Lea, author of the Bruised Moon Sequence
Inside their walls, the people are safe from exposure to the unnamed horror that broke the world long ago; but now Bear, the last scientist in Forgehead, takes a case that threatens to throw that safety into question. Someone has been terminally exposed to the phenomenon, despite never having ventured outside the walls. This has only happened once before - to Bear's father.
With the safety of Forgehead in question, and an opportunity to finally discover what happened to his father, Bear must leave the safety of the walls to unravel the mysteries left behind by the pre-cataclysm world; a task that will require him to join the Interloper Initiative, the team who crew the gigantic Crawler landships, the only vehicles that can roam the world outside the walls in relative safety. "Icebreaker" is the first entry in the Interloper Trilogy, a tale of horror and science charting the last days of a dying world, and humanity's endeavour to survive.
Review:
Man. I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did.
I picked it up after reading one of SWH’s (currently unreleased) short stories. The talent displayed in that tale was startling, featuring usage of present tense and a lyrical timbre.
It wasn’t a fluke.
SWH can freaking write. His abilities are on full display in Icebreaker, a novel centering on a frozen, post-apoc world. In this world, people lived in walled cities and do anything they can to avoid something called “the phenomen”, a moving, landscape and reality altering storm. I’m still not sure whether to call it an entity, a thing, or something else, and I hope that answer is one day revealed, but for now, we’re left in mystery.
Our protagonist is a scientist intent on unlocking what makes the phenomen tick. He interviews those who were exposed, studies, performs experiments, and more. He really feels like a scientist, which also makes him a rarity in a world that’s split between Christianity and “Gaians”, two religious factions at war with each other.
He’s a scientist, but he’s also more than that. He’s got a tragic backstory, friends, and a budding love interest. He’s someone you root for easily while also occasionally want to smack.
The side characters unbelievably fresh. They bicker, they worship, they swear, they fear, they cry. It’s really, really good stuff. They all have their scars, too, which you slowly find out about, but never fully. There’s always an air of mystery behind everything, but it never becomes too much or too little.
The character work is only outdone by the world-building. It’s electric stuff, just unendingly full of cool little details. Soldiers with flamethrowers going in blind and deaf, a roving tank with a british-AI co-pilot, the phenomenon itself, all of it. SWH has outdone himself. The bones of the story are so well laid out that every character’s motivations feel true, valid, and important, even (if not especially) the antagonist’s.
I truly have no complaints about this book. It’s present tense, so buyer beware, but if you’re looking for a book that’ll make your knuckles white and set your mind aflame, check this one out.
