The Yiddish Policeman's Union meets The Windup Girl when a female PI goes up against a ruthless gangster-just as both humans and robots agitate for independence in an Argentinian colony in Antarctica.
In Argentine Antarctica, Eliana Gomez is the only female PI in Hope City-a domed colony dependent on electricity (and maintenance robots) for heat, light, and survival in the icy deserts of the continent. At the center is an old amusement park-now home only to the androids once programmed to entertain-but Hope City's days as a tourist destination are long over. Now the City produces atomic power for the mainland while local factions agitate for independence and a local mobster, Ignacio Cabrera, runs a brisk black-market trade in illegally imported food.
Eliana doesn't care about politics. She doesn't even care much that her boyfriend, Diego, works as muscle for Cabrera. She just wants to save enough money to escape Hope City. But when an aristocrat hires Eliana to protect an explosive personal secret, Eliana finds herself caught up in the political tensions threatening to tear Hope City apart. In the clash of backstabbing politicians, violent freedom fighters, a gangster who will stop at nothing to protect his interests, and a newly sentient robot underclass intent on a very different independence, Eliana finds her job coming into deadly conflict with Diego's-just as the electricity keeping Hope City from freezing begins to fail...
With the inner workings of the mob combined with the story of a revolution, "Clarke brings novelty and delight to steampunk Antarctica in this complex and lovely mystery" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Our Lady of the Ice questions what it means to be human, what it means to be free, and whether we're ever able to transcend our pasts and our programming to find true independence.
The best way to describe this book is Antarctic android noir. And if that doesn't immediately grip you, I don't know what will!
A fan of Clarke's The Assassin's Curse series, I was excited to step into the adult science-fiction/fantasy realm with her. Our Lady of the Ice tells the story of an alternate 20th century Antarctic colony built around nuclear power plants for the Argentine mainland. A domed city, abandoned amusement park, and the struggle for independence and equality make for an interesting plot.
The story focuses on Eliana, a PI who wishes to leave Hope City for the mainland, her boyfriend Diego, a gangster, leader of the androids, a former pleasure bot named Sofia, and a cyborg noblewoman Marianella. The secondary characters of gangster boss Cabrera, Sofia's right hand android Luciano and independence leader (whose name I completely forget, a month after reading this book! yikes!)
The characters are wonderfully vibrant, from Eliana's difficulty in resolving to stay or leave Hope City, Diego's love for Eliana and his father-figure Cabrera, Marianella's involvement in independence and acceptance in both worlds, and Sofia's struggle to overcome her programming. Every character is torn by their duality to both worlds and it plays out well - although a bit slow.
The place is slow and focuses more on the development and struggle of its characters rather than a fast paced action plot. The ending feels a bit incomplete, and maybe I was expecting more than I got, but I definitely walked away feeling like there could be a sequel.
