Review: The Age of Ice

The Age of Ice: A Novel by J. M. Sidorova
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How to assess J.M. Sidorova's debut novel, The Age of Ice? Not an easy task.

The premise of the tale is an epic journey of a Russian nobleman over 200 years of his unnaturally extended life, from 18th century Czarist Russia, through countless wars, political upheaval both national and international. Throughout that journey we are witness to protagonist, Prince Alexander M. Velitzyn's, struggle with his strange physiology: he generates cold. Any extreme emotion will cause discomfort, even harm, to anyone he touches, a sort of cold version of Midas' Touch.

In essence the story explores an age-old concept: what does it mean to be human? And with that premise of course comes exploration of love in all its permutations and perversions.

The narrative voice is first person, past tense, but told in an impersonal, distant tone. While that choice of voice very much reflects Velitzyn's struggle with his inability to embrace or express any intimacy because of the cold he will generate, it also, at times, tends to alienate the reader so that development of pathos for Velitzyn and his plight becomes strained. I'm not sure how else Sidorova might have related this story as effectively. Perhaps that's in fact one of the strengths of the story, rather than a weakness, that the author has so skilfully embodied Velitzyn's ability (or disability, depending on perspective)that the entire narrative is cold, just as the protagonist is cold both physically and socially.

There is little by way of actual dialogue in the story. Instead, Sidorova has chosen to relate dialogue rather than write dialogue, which again reinforces the theme of emotional and physical cold.

Along with Velitzyn's strange ability to generate epic proportions of cold, is his longevity. While his physical appearance arrests at about the age of 50, he goes on to witness over two centuries, chasing love, chasing an answer to his physical aberrations, exploring business enterprises, artistic development of his cold ability by way of ice sculpture, and in the end abandons all enterprise simply to increase his amassed wealth by brokering deals.

Even then, thwarted still by love and the lack of any answers to what, exactly, he is, he disappears into the Arctic sunset, as it were, with the hope of regenerating the ice cap in order to arrest global warming. It's this final act which, in my opinion, is the undoing of what could have been a great literary novel. It seems almost a throw-away ending to a novel that ended up too long, too repetitive, almost as though Sidorova was searching for an ending and in the end gave up.

Still, some fascinating study of the effects of cold on humans in Siberia in the 19th century, some moments of beautiful writing, and some incisive insight into human nature. I would definitely watch for more from Sidorova.

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