Rating:  Summary: Action Packed Review: This is the second book by this Australian author and it is absolutely action packed. It does not stop with the central character better than James Bond, and Superman rolled into one. I would highly recommend it to all readers of action adventure novels.
Rating:  Summary: One of the best books i have ever read! Truly a great book Review: If you like books from Grisham / Crichton, then you are going to love this book. Set in Antarctica in a remote US Ice station. The action is very fast paced and highly visual. The book sees US marines fighting merciless enemies and secret US government agencies. The writing is snappy and well researched. Unputdownable! A great read guarantied.
Rating:  Summary: Action! Adventure! Danger! Seals! Review: Moving at roughly sixty-two trillion miles per hour, full of explosions, guns and er.... explosions, Matt Reilly's adrenaline-soaked action classic makes for one of the most thrilling reads you can get. In Ice Station, Reilly fuses unbelievable, Die Hard style action sequences with an addictive, light-speed plot. The story starts off with a team of US Marines (led by the walking Cliche, Shane Schofeild) answering a distress call at a remote Antarctic research station. The scentists there found something strange (possible an alien spaceship) deep beneath the ice, and two of their divers just got killed because of it. But before Schofeild and friends can investigate, all hell breaks loose. Seems that every country on Earth wants that ship, and they're willing to kill for it. Gun battles galore? You betcha. Great escapes and daring-do? Of course. Hours of mindless, white-knuckled fun? You bet your sweet ass! But that's not all. Proving that he's the master of the plot twist, Reilly throws into his narrative a series of amazing um... plot twists (I don't do synonems), including a fighter jet that turns invisible, a far-reaching government conspiracy, a hovercraft chase, and a scientist framed for murder. Good stuff. Now, I'm not the only person who's going to tell you, but Reilly's novel isn't exactly an intilectual treat. The characters are two dimesional (well, to be fair, some are fairly developed, once you get past all the cliches). The plot carries no serious moral statement. You don't finnish the book feeling more enlightened than when you started. But if you're looking to an action thriller for those qualities, you need to get your head checked. Ice Station is a great read for anyone who likes good escapist fiction, or just needs something to read on the airplane.
Rating:  Summary: Looking for a fun, fast, ACTION-PACKED read? Review: Now, I'm not into Clancy nor any technical military details so perhaps that's why I don't get how minor mistakes and the main chacter escaping death 1,000 times can ruin a book. In fact, Scarecrow being thrown into impossible situations page after page and slipping out of them with both guns blazing actually made the book BETTER to me. That's the type of book it is, folks. Indiana Jones wasn't a failure because in real life the guy never would have been able to survive like he did in the movie. Same here. It's an over-the-top, spectacular action ride, and a BIG one at that. The way it was written just amused me. Before ICE STATION, I just couldn't have imagined short, snappy paragraphs describing huge, book-filling action scenes better than a Hollywood camera could capture them on screen. In fact, I liked this book because once the action started (almost instantly) it just didn't stop. You have to read it to believe it. Usually, the given formula is to smack the reader with a big action opener, lull down and develope chacters for fifty plus pages, hit 'em with another action scene, lull down in recouperation, etc. until the climax. Well, the lull in those books can get tiring and it is virtually non-existant in ICE STATION. Character developement isn't huge, but the action is, and the idea of a Han Solo/Indiana Jones military hero reacting to earth-shattering action with the occasional "It's just one of those days" sarcasm just works well with me, I guess. So, if you like military thrillers that focus on developing true, 3D characters and piting them against real-life situations where their life can be taken away at the drop of a hat and are nothing but text-book accurate, you may NOT want to read ICE STATION. In fact, the book may REPULSE you. But, if you want a break from the usual action thriller, and get thrown instantly into the front lines of action too big to review here, pick up this book. Either way, you'll walk away saying one thing: "If ICE STATION had anything, it had HUGE, gun-blazing, heroic action that held true from beginning to end."
Rating:  Summary: One of the best action-adventure books ever written Review: This book is pure action-adventure, from the first to the last page. A team of scientists in Anartica finds something deep below their station and before they disappear, they send a SOS signal. US sends their Marines to investigate, while every other world power sends their own for the scientists found something that could change the face of our civilization. Non-stop action, packed with thrills on every page. Reilly's best work to date.
Rating:  Summary: It's pulp fiction - but bloody good pulp fiction Review: Matthew Reilly is, without a doubt, the author I most anticipate every year. Some condemn his novels as being predictable, mindless reads, but to be completely honest, I've never found them particularly dumb. There's enough clever plotting, and factual information tucked in there that you can almost picture Reilly winking and saying, "Look, I know this is improbable, but let's pretend."
So anyhow, "Ice Station" is one of his best novels, and a great starting point for the Reilly neophyte. It concerns a team of Marines, dispatched to a remote Antarctic station to solve the secret of what appears to be a spacecraft buried beneath the ice. SAS soldiers, Orca whales, and a malignant conspiracy all figure into things, and of course, since this is Reilly, there are a couple of mind-blowing twists thrown in for good measure.
In closing, if you feel like grabbing a really fun book to while away a couple of hours, "Ice Station" is definitely your one-way ticket to excitement.
Rating:  Summary: Total Waste of Time Review: Almost all of the positive reviews mention that the book is "fast paced" and "over the top". If by these phrases they mean "ludicrously continuous fight scenes" and "distractingly factually incorrect" then the reviews would be on target.
The fast pace is indeed well laid out for this type of book. What I call a coast-to-coast reader. A book worth only reading on cross-country flights. The lack of real plot or character development could be excusable if the action were engrossing enough. Alas, the book fails to be engrossing due to the distracting factual errors.
In the spirit of this genre I can suspend technical reality, and Reilly invents some interestingly cool weapons and tech (nitrogen grenades, magnetic grapple, etc. What Reilly does however, is also suspend the laws of physics. From soldiers running around Antarctica without extreme-temperature clothing, to scuba diving to depths that will crush one man but not the guy next to him. The errors get so constant that it becomes goofy. I couldn't get into the action because I was too busy being offended at how the author seemed to assume that his readers don't understand things like gravity (when you fall off a 300ft cliff you do not have time to have a conversation before saving yourself).
All in all, the book is barely readable. If the young author had taken to time to do the research and get things correct instead of just making it up, the book could have been stellar.
Rating:  Summary: This is an action book not literature. Review: Usually, I like a book to challenge the way I think and feel. I like books to help me to be smarter or better. This is not one of those books. The author never pretends to be that kind of author. He is the kind of author you wish wrote the screenplays for action movies. He is a very young man, and writes the kind of stuff that appeals to him. Each of his books cover a very small period of time usally less than a couple of days, because ther is so much exciting action it would take a series of books to cover a week in one. Ice station is fun to read. The characters are really bad or really good the way people aren't, you always know who to hate and who to love. There are some great one liners that will make you laugh, and so much action you will finish this book in one reading. So if you want a fun action story that will not change your life, not tax your brain, but will keep you entertained... This is a book for you.
Rating:  Summary: Thrilling Review: A great read is what I consider Ice Station. Yes, it is one of those books you need to read as a source of escape when you are in the train, plane or any other time consuming movement. Not a story with a great deal of intellectual strength. An action packed thriller that involves lots of explosions, guns, fighting etc. Fast-paced and adrenaline stirring, this gun-blazing, heroic action book is capable of holding any lover of thrillers from beginning to end. The plot begins with a team of US Marines led by the Shane Schofeild who answers a distress call at a remote Antarctic research station based on the worries of some scientists who found a possibly alien object deep beneath the ice, a discovery that caused the lives of two of their divers .Even before Schofeild and friends start an investigation, they suddenly themselves at risk from everybody. It isn't only the USA that is interested in the discovery. Several other countries are interested in having a stake in the ship, at all cost. That involves killing, and destroying for it. That is where the adrenaline starts flowing in the gun battles that ensued, the hilarious characters, actions and conspiracies. Reilly captured it all. To show that he's the master of the plot twist, Reilly throws includes a series of gripping narratives and hair spinning encounters that includes a fighter jet that turns invisible, a far-reaching government conspiracy, a hovercraft chase, and a scientist framed for murder. The plot carries no serious moral statement. If you like unusual military thrillers, this is your pick. Also recommended: TRIPLE AGENT, DOUBLE CROSS, THE CONFESSIONAL, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE
Rating:  Summary: Thrilling Review: A great read is what I consider Ice Station. Yes, it is one of those books you need to read as a source of escape when you are in the train, plane or any other time consuming movement. Not a story with a great deal of intellectual strength. An action packed thriller that involves lots of explosions, guns, fighting etc. Fast-paced and adrenaline stirring, this gun-blazing, heroic action book is capable of holding any lover of thrillers from beginning to end.
The plot begins with a team of US Marines led by the Shane Schofeild who answers a distress call at a remote Antarctic research station based on the worries of some scientists who found a possibly alien object deep beneath the ice, a discovery that caused the lives of two of their divers .Even before Schofeild and friends start an investigation, they suddenly themselves at risk from everybody. It isn't only the USA that is interested in the discovery. Several other countries are interested in having a stake in the ship, at all cost. That involves killing, and destroying for it. That is where the adrenaline starts flowing in the gun battles that ensued, the hilarious characters, actions and conspiracies.
Reilly captured it all. To show that he's the master of the plot twist, Reilly throws includes a series of gripping narratives and hair spinning encounters that includes a fighter jet that turns invisible, a far-reaching government conspiracy, a hovercraft chase, and a scientist framed for murder. The plot carries no serious moral statement. If you like unusual military thrillers, this is your pick.
Also recommended: TRIPLE AGENT, DOUBLE CROSS, THE CONFESSIONAL, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE
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