The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan

The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan is a thought provoking novel about a man frozen in ice that wakes up a century later. The world has completely changed, but many things have still remained the same. Can society accept him as he is, or just treat him like a science experiment?

Book Description

“Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team make a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. Remarkably, the frozen man is brought back to the lab and successfully reanimated. As the man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was—is—a judge, Jeremiah Rice, and the last thing he remembers is falling overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906.
 
Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Kate and Jeremiah grow closer. But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah’s new life is slipping away...and all too soon, Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she has come to love.” – The Curiosity

My Thoughts

Although there is a love story in this novel, it is also a very satirical look at our times. I really enjoyed reading this story because it is so unique, and incredibly well written. The characters, plot, and overall story is excellent.

This novel is told from the perspective of many different characters. While that does a good job of getting to know the story from different points of view, it didn’t help me to really connect with the characters as much as I would have liked. Sometimes the multiple point of views works, and sometimes it falls flat. This novel’s use of it fell somewhere in the middle for me.

I liked the mesh of real science and science fiction in the novel in regards to the reanimation plot. It makes for a good story, and something similar could very well happen for real in the future. The author’s use of religious protests against it, is also a very real concern with the science behind it as well.

This is a book that I definitely recommend. It is a good read for fans of science fiction, love stories, and anyone who likes to push the boundaries a little bit.

* Thank you to the publisher of The Curiosity, William Morrow, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.