Ice Cave by Toby J. Nichols

Ice Cave by Toby J. Nichols
Publisher: Severed Press
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Saxon Smith is on the research trip of a lifetime in Antarctica to explore a remote ice cave system. A previous expedition found hints that the much warmer subsurface caves could support life and Saxon wants to make that discovery and make a name for himself.

The small team descends into a cavern hollowed out of the ice by volcanic activity expecting lichen and arthropods and maybe the remains of extinct life, what they find is a lost world of dinosaurs that have adapted to the permanent twilight, cool temperature, and constrained location.

The expedition now face a terrifying fight for survival against savage theropods that have learned to herd and trap, and with their ice cave ecosystem starting to fail, they’re ravenous.

Possible side effect include loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, Ejaculation Illness(Reduced Volume of Ejaculate), Impotence, hypersensitivity reactions, Breast Enlargement, Breast Tenderness, Rash, Pruritus, Urticaria, Puffiness of the lips and face and Testicular viagra generika pain. There is enough supplementary aid that is available to treat the hypertensive victims appalachianmagazine.com viagra 100 mg starting from an age group of 6years. Really its the means of getting these links that defines your methods as either “Black Hat or “White buy viagra discount Hat”. The fact is, they all work according to the same principles, there are certain differences. cialis purchase online Saxon enjoys his time in the laboratory but he can’t pass up the opportunity to go with three other Scientists to Antarctica and follow up on a previous expedition’s findings of a warmer subsurface of caves. The possibility they might discover life in Antarctica – or even a new species – thrills Saxon and he knows this is his chance to make a name for himself. But what they find fills the team with fear and awe – can they survive where their curiosity has led them?

I absolutely love “monster eats the crew” style of stories and add in a Scientific exploration and Antarctica and there was no chance I could pass up on this story. I was really pleased therefore when my whim paid off and this was a great, quick read. I enjoyed Saxon’s character and also found the other three members of their party to be interesting and different enough they didn’t feel like cardboard cut outs. There was some understandable – though slightly cliched – tension between the other characters but since this is the authors first book I was willing to give him some slack. There’s also a few typo’s that I really feel the editors should have picked up and will hopefully be fixed in future editions.

That said I found the meat of the story to be really well handled. I enjoyed the pace – while the length of the story is somewhat short there isn’t a lot of fat or waffling which really pleased me. The story starts as the expedition is beginning – already entering the ice cave in Antarctica and we can see the various elements of the team dynamic already in play. This helped me get a good feel for the other characters and I was glad I enjoyed Saxon’s perspective and character.

Some readers might find a few small sections of the story a little too close to horror or gory for their liking. Personally, I felt the author walked a good balance between a monsters/realistic style of writing and going too far into the horror/thriller dark edginess. To be fair though, there is a bit of “blood and guts” once the monsters start killing off the party. So I feel readers should be aware that while there’s no titillation or glorification of the violence, neither is this a “behind closed doors” style of story either.

While the trope of “hidden ecosystem in Antarctica” is not new I felt the author brought enough novelty and his own imagination to the table that it felt fresh and kept my attention from the start. I admit I’m a sucker for these sorts of stories but I feel this book was really well written – particularly considering it’s the author’s first. I felt the monsters were extremely creepy and realistic – I got a few good frights while reading and the tension and thriller aspects of the story were really well handled.

I really enjoyed this story and will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this author. Recommended.