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Audiobook16 hours
The Ice Limit
Written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Narrated by Scott Brick
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them.
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Author
Douglas Preston
Douglas Preston writes about archaeology for the New Yorker and National Geographic magazines, as well as novels and nonfiction works (such as The Lost City of the Monkey God). With Lincoln Child, he writes international #1 bestselling thrillers, including the Agent Pendergast adventures.
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Reviews for The Ice Limit
Rating: 3.6923867905349796 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
486 ratings18 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Palmer Lloyd, eccentric billionaire and 7th richest man in the world is an obsessed collector of all sorts of museum quality specimens. He is presently building his own museum to overshadow all of the most famous museum collections. He learns of the discovery of what could be the largest meteorite ever found. He naturally will go to any expense to obtain this spectacular prize.
He assembles a team of experts to not only excavate but retrieve and transport what will be the heaviest load ever moved (5 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower). Unfortunately the location of the meteorite is the frigid, icy, inhospitable Isla Desolacion in the Cape Horn islands south of Tierra del Fuego. The price tag is 300 million dollars. Eli Glinn, head of Effective Engineering Solutions, a Mission Impossible like team of engineers, scientists and mercenaries heads the project. He is ably assisted by oil tanker captain Sally Britton and meteorite hunter and planetary geologist Sam MacFarlane. Together they endeavor to overcome incredulous physical obstacles along with a relentless commendante of a Chilean naval destroyer who is determined to thwart their efforts.
In reading the book, it was amazing. I wanted the team to succeed; sure we have our typical crazy wealthy man sacrificing human life for his own needs, but the characters are so committed to making it work, that I felt like I was right there with them.
It's amazing: Preston/Child give away the novel's "secret ending" early on in the book, but you don't know it until you reach the end. And, oh what an ending. I should have known----it needs a sequel! They can't just leave us hanging, can they? Let's hope not. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I just plain flat out enjoy the writing of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, whether it be a Pendergast novel or a standalone thriller. When I'm in need of high-quality distraction, I know where to go. Well, I was in need, and The Ice Limit filled the bill. The authors really gave me a feel for the weather and seas around Cape Horn-- and made me wonder how on earth those earliest of explorers ever made it through sailing their tiny wooden ships. I also found the logistics of transporting the huge meteorite fascinating, from digging it out of the ground to getting it aboard the oil tanker to beginning the journey home. Of course, there's a nasty villain threatening their very existence during the last half of the book, but his behavior is almost secondary to the weird goings-on surrounding the meteorite.Thrillers aren't usually known for their characterization, but there were two characters in this book to whom I reacted. The most interesting was McFarlane, the meteorite hunter because his character did grow and change. I had a less favorable reaction to Glinn, the man in charge of the operation. I became very tired of him never explaining what he was doing. Yes, he was brilliant at his job, but when a magician pulls an endless number of rabbits out of his hat, he becomes boring.On the whole, this book moves swiftly, and the story is engrossing. It also ends on a doozy of a cliffhanger. For those who can't stand unresolved issues, Beyond the Ice Limit became available this year. I think I'm going to have to find out what's going on with that meteorite!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this book years ago and, other than recalling I liked it, remembered little to nothing about it. Except the last few words. And they were a stunner.I decided to read it again because Preston and Child recently published the a sequel: Beyond the Ice Limit.The story tells of a very wealthy man who wishes to create a museum like none other. He hears of a strange discovery off the coast of Chile and learns its the largest meteorite even found. He enlists the help of Eli Glenn and his company, Effective Engineering Solutions (EES), to unearth the meteorite, get it onto a converted oil tanker, and bring it back to New York where the new museum is located. What follows is an amazing story of triumph, failure, and adventure. I've waited a LONG time to see what happens. In a few moments, I'll begin finding out...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An adventure in the deep deep South.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In reading some of the other reviews of this book, it seems that there's little "gray" in the feelings people have about it.They either find it great fun and adventure or useless tripe. I choose to align with the first group!"The Ice Limit" is a novel set along the lines of what fans of Preston and Child have come to expect...good characterization, great gadgets, and "off-the-wall" plots. They certainly cover all three bases in this book! The 400 pages in this novel seem to fly by due to solid writing and some rather short chapters.When the world's 7th richest man decides that he wants to add to his eclectic collection of world's "greatest and biggest", the reader is set forth on an adventure of grand proportions. What he seeks is a red meteorite weighing in at 250,000 tons. Money becomes no object in this billionaire's quest, so he hires the best experts and scientists and biggest ship that money can buy. Greed is the motivating factor for most of these people, except for archi-geologist Sam McFarlane who wants to study the meteorite for science's sake and Ship Captain Sally Britton, both of whom are seeking to put troubled pasts behind them.Weather and the Chilean Navy play big roles in the success and/or failure of this venture. Without giving away too much of the plot, let me suffice to say that there are twists and turns every few pages with an ending that certainly leaves the door open for the sequel published some 15 years later. For those of you who like the novels of Cussler, Crichton, James Rollins, Robert Darnton, or a good "Indiana Jones-type yarn", you won't go wrong with "The Ice Limit". While perhaps not as good as the authors' eariler hits, "Relic" and "Reliquary", this book stands on it's own merits and would make a great motion picture.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5overall very pleased with the book. The story started off very quickly and maintained a very strong pace for the first 2/3rds of the book. The last 40 of pages or so was a struggle to get through. Have to say that I was not extremely happy with the ending of the book. Was a fun book to read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow. Once again Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have put together an exciting story with fully rounded, real characters. Love the audiobook version! Scott Brick is a fantastic narrator. I found myself in my parking spot at work unable to stop listening, and doing household chores seem to go by in a blink.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very entertaining. Well written with lots of suspense and surprises. Really enjoyed this book :)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ice Limit is a difficult book to plow through. The thriller story is not easy to believe. The characters are good, the settings are very well described. The situations that the characters are placed are not believable. It is a four star book, if one does not give up through the first half of the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice book to relax
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have to admit that Preston & Child books are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Sometimes they're over the top, but they're almost always a darn good yarn, and Ice Limit is no exception. With a wide cast of interesting characters and a wild plotline, it kept me listening and interested until the very end. I'm also a fan of Scott Brick's narration, so this was a great package for me. Recommended if you like adventure, thrills, and science fiction that could be taking place right now.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Non-stop action. One of their best outside the Pendergast series
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Lloyd (this is his last name) is a super-rich guy who decides he wants to bring a giant meteorite back to the US to his museum from a small island off the coast of Chile, so he brings together a group of people to do so. Plenty of bumps and bruises along the way (apparently, people died, too!). Sorry for the poor summary. Was listening to the audio and as soon as it was introduced and I hear the narrator (Scott Brick), I thought “oh no”. He has a very nice voice, but it’s also very monotone and I tend not to pay much attention as he narrates. So, I missed much of what was happening (including anyone dying!). I hated that they referred to pretty much everyone in the book by their last name. Because of this (and my lack of attention), when I was paying attention, I couldn’t even remember who the lone female character was. Oh, look! As I read a summary, apparently there were 2 women characters! Who knew!? If only the authors had referred to them by their first names, I’m sure I, at least, would have caught that! The book was loosely based on a real giant meteorite, apparently.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A non-Pendergast suspense novel by the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, as the 7th-richest man in the world, Palmer Lloyd, organizes an expedition to the south coast of Chile to retrieve for his new museum in New York the largest meteorite ever discovered. At 25,000 tons, it would be the heaviest object ever moved by man. But things begin to go wrong as the meteorite displays unexpected properties, and is apparently composed of an unknown element from uncharted areas of the periodic table. It reacts with electrical violence to human touch, and has aroused the interest of a Chilean military officer who suspects that this American expedition is not here to mine gold, as put forth to the authorities. It's a decent story of suspense and technological achievement, only marred by a disappointing conclusion that leaves too many unanswered questions, among them being, how was Palmer Lloyd able to touch the meteorite without consequence? The final paragraph, however, is a nifty little twist that puts the meteorite in a wholly new light that I did not see coming.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I listened to an abridged version of this book; it's definitely not Preston & Child's finest work - but that might have been mainly due to the fact that it was abridged.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I ran across this book on a list of novels set in Antarctica. While Antarctica actually isn't the setting, most of the action does take place in the islands off the southern tip of Chile during winter. Funded by one of the world's richest men, a group of engineers and scientists attempt to remove the heaviest meteorite ever found from a small Chilean island so it can be displayed in a new museum in New York. The expedition is threatened by a rogue Chilean destroyer captain who is suspicious of the group's intentions, and at the same time the mysterious meteorite, unlike any ever found in more ways than weight, seems to be responsible for a series of deaths. This is an extremely fast-paced thriller with a vocal following which has convinced the authors to write a sequel (unpublished as of this writing, July 2010).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fast paced thriller. A group sets out to retrieve a meteorite from an island off the southern coast of Chile. Heavily financed, carefully planned, the expedition lays plans on moving the largest single object moved by man.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"In the desolate regions of Chile, a remarkable discovery has been made. It is a massive meteorite whose existence will change science and mankind forever. An expedition sets out to recover it, but what should be a straightforward undertaking becomes dangerous, and the bizarre artefact may not be what it seems. When a raging storm drives the tanker beyond the dangerous Antarctic latitude known as the Ice Limit, superstition, egos, and the unknown clash in a stunning finale that will risk the lives of everyone on board." Good adventure yarn. Remided me of Wilbur Smith's [Hungry as the Sea]