The Curiosity, by Stephen Kiernan

Dr. Kate Philo is on a mission with a research team to find life preserved in ice, with the hopes of reanimating it.  The team hopes, if they are lucky, to find small fish, maybe even a mammal.  When the team finds a man in the ice, the research project reaches a fever pitch.  The man, Jeremiah Rice, is removed from the ice, reanimated, and thrust into a time and place he never imagined.  Kate helps Jeremiah navigate this strange new world, and finds herself deeply connected to him.

I was really enchanted by this book.  I thought the storyline was really unique and inventive.  I loved the idea of a man from another time visiting our world, and this certainly is a fresh spin on the time traveler idea.  I thought Jeremiah was a wonderful character.  My heart really broke for him, being thrust into a world without any control over his own life, knowing no one, and not even understanding the very basics of his environment.  The whole scenario calls into question the idea of man versus science, and man playing God.  With all the controversy over things like stem cell research and cloning in the past few decades, I found this to be a pertinent topic for literary exploration.

The book is not without its flaws, however.  The science behind the storyline seems flawed.  Yes, I realize a reader needs to suspend disbelief for a book like this, but the story pushes it a bit far without good solid sounding theory to back it up, in my opinion.  Also, I found Kate a bit stiff as a character.  She just did not connect with me that well.  I found myself much more interested in some of the smaller, supporting characters.  

Despite the flaws, I think the book is really well written.  It certainly captured me, and help my attention.  I think this is a great book for people who swear they hate science fiction but have never really given it a chance because they think it is all like Star Trek.  This is sci-fi for people who like emotional, romantic stories.

I received a review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.  See the rest of the tour here.

  

If you liked this review, please rate it (and others!) as helpful on my Amazon profile. My Amazon Profile