Empire of Ice and Stone

“Narra a bit o' bacca, narra a bit o' comfort!”

Buddy Levy is turning into one of those authors I could probably read on release and easily add it to my favorites list for that year. I read Labyrinth of Ice about the Greely expedition in 2021, and this was an easy pick when it showed up in my list of possible ARCs to choose from this year. He sets up the expedition quickly, gets you up to speed on the main players of the trip, and off you go on another adventure where you're not quite sure who's going to make it out on the other side. This one was no exception.

This one was different from the other polar expedition books I've read so far, in that the goal wasn't to strike out for the North Pole in competition with other people, but rather for scientific exploration. Vilhjalmur Stefansson set up the expedition to explore the islands and people of the northernmost regions, and whether he actually believed he could or just wanted to make a name for himself in any way he could, the expedition set out and very quickly things went south. The Karluk was separated from the other ships in the group, icebound, and without much of the supplies that the other ships had on them. Captain Bob Bartlett makes the most of a bad situation, and shepherds his group of sailors and scientists alike through a series of harrowing close calls. Stefansson, meanwhile, bailed out of the Karluk as soon as he was able, and wrote the ship off as being lost at sea, poor men.

Written from a collection of diaries, firsthand accounts, other books on the topic, and archived documents about the trip, this book really drew me in from the start. Bartlett was clearly the hero of the story, and, as with the other books on the topic I've read, I could never imagine willingly risking myself on a wooden ship in the ice. It's such a heroic, heartbreaking, and engaging read, I really had a hard time putting it down once I started.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance ecopy in exchange for an honest review.