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Ice

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Ice

By: Jacek Dukaj, Ursula Phillips - translator
Narrated by: Mark Elstob
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*EBRD LITERATURE PRIZE FINALIST*
*LOCUS FINALIST FOR BEST TRANSLATED NOVEL 2026*

A Trans-Siberian odyssey through political, criminal, scientific, philosophical and amorous intrigues, and into an endless winter to confront something utterly alien.

14th July 1924: In a Warsaw buried under feet of snow and Russian rule, Benedykt Gieroslawski, a dissolute young Polish mathematician, is roused from his bed by two officials from the Ministry of Winter and dispatched to Siberia, on the Trans-Siberian Express, to track down his long-exiled father.

The catalyst for this frosty metamorphosis of 20th century history is the impact of the Tunguska asteroid, deep in Siberia, in 1908. From this Ground Zero, emerge the Gleissen, silent harbingers of an eternal winter that follows in their ponderous wake. As they spread across the continent, agriculture collapses and people flock to cities as they seek protection from the deadly cold. As the land freezes, so does history: the Tsar still rules Russia; the Belle Époque endures; and the First World War never happened.

But out there, on the ice, a new world is being forged. The extreme, alien cold has transmuted elements into strange new forms, a ‘black physics’ that is the catalyst for a new industrial and scientific revolution. At the heart of it lies Siberia – a ‘Wild East’, a magnet for all the political, religious and scientific fevers shaking the world at the dawn of the 20th century, the crucible where black physics, shamanic lore and the cold logic of winter combine. And Benedykt’s final destination.

Will he embrace the ice, or destroy it?©2007 Jacek Dukaj (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC First Contact Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Steampunk Russia
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Critic reviews

Intrigue and strangeness follow in a novel that's as technically brilliant as it is creative... An extraordinary book.
Mighty, relentless, unhurried, this extraordinary work by the much-garlanded Polish author is glacial – in the best way. It dazzles and grips as it carves out a new world of science, history and pure imagination.
Should anyone have a hankering for some postmodern speculative fiction that deals with weighty topics such as philosophy, imperialism and quantum physics, then they need look no further.
Ice is not just a cerebral romp. There are moments of hilarity and horror; chapters full of pathos, a moment unfurling a life of regrets. It is a gloomy, sharp, dazzling work.
An important and wildly inventive work of sci-fi
All stars
Most relevant
As with any book this size, it could do with a lot of trimming, but if you're in the market for a 50 hour audiobook, that's not going to worry you.
The narrator does do a good job with the various voices, but his delivery is so mannered it's a substantial impediment to enjoying the book. Listen to the sample or as soon as you buy, to decide whether you'll have to return it.

Great, if you get along with the narrator

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So impressed by the narrator - this is a marathon task, a vast novel with a huge array of voices and nuanced styles, and I was apprehensive - but he does a fantastic job.
Terrific dystopian steampunk tale.

Engrossing complex world.

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wonder if it wouldn't be easier to listen to it the narrator had put on a different delivery. overall it's melting pot of 19th and early 20th century folklore. and apart from some nice few fragments the overload of information and characters is absolutely boring.

terrible narrateur...

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