Moscow has been hit by a wave of brutal murders. The victims are of both sexes, from different backgrounds, and of all ages, but invariably blond and blue-eyed. They are found with their breastbones smashed in, their hearts crushed. There is no sign of any motive.
Drugs, sex, and violence are the currency of daily life in Moscow. Criminal gangs and unscrupulous financial operators run the show. But in the midst of so much squalor one mysterious group is pursuing a long-meditated plan. Blond and blue-eyed, with a strange shared attraction to a chunk of interstellar ice, they are looking for their brothers and sisters, precisely 23,000 of them. Lost among the common herd of humanity, they must be awakened and set free. How? With a crude hammer fashioned out of the cosmic ice. Humans, meat machines, die under its blows. The hearts of the chosen answer by uttering their true names. For the first time they know the ecstasy of true life.
For the awakened, the future, like the past, is simple. It is ice.
The terse, clipped prose moves the story along at a fast pace. The first part of Ice follows three characters through their lives as they are awakened and after the awakening has taken place. They are plucked from all walks of life and economic backgrounds. Not only do we get to witness first hand the at times brutal awakenings but we also get a nice cross section of Russian life. The second part of the novel threats us to a lengthy first person account of how one member of this group was awakened. The Nazi’s took her from her village as a young teenager. Upon arrival in Germany she was kept aside at a camp because of her physical features then awakened. Her heart proves to be older then her body and she quickly become part of the upper echelon of the secret group. Her personal history will act as a history lesson of the group for not only us but also the three recently awakened characters from the first part. We will learn about its origins and its relationship with the Tunguska event, its methods and its ultimate goals.
From the moment we witness the first awakening in the opening moments, and especially as we learn more about them, we are forced to wonder if they are a menacing group or are they our superiors. Will their success be a benevolent act for a humanity that was never supposed to be? Will the destruction of the world, as we know it be a mercy killing for a patient that has been dead for a long time, even if they just didn’t know it? Will the final act be one of selfless love or ultimate selfishness? These are not easy questions to ask and no clear answers are provided.
It’s also interesting to note that Sorokin basically deconstructs the whole notion of a Utopian existence and the work of a group towards it. He presents their deeds with a stone cold sobriety never shying away from the fact that even IF they are right they are still bashing innocent people in the chest with hammers, most of who don’t survive the process. It doesn’t take much to wonder at the sheer number of bodies that they have left in their wake.
This is a highly original and imaginative story operating on many levels that uses basic Gnostic principles as its foundation. It’s a dense and complex story that deserves to be read by the widest audience possible and especially by those readers who pretend to lay claim to books of the imagination. If you want to not only challenge yourself but also read something that is unlike anything else out there then track down Ice.
Due to the fact that it’s a first time translation for an author there is only a limited amount of information about this book. Which leads to my only real problem with the book. Right in the middle of everything it just ends. Its not a bad ending but it just leaves you hanging. I’ve done a small amount of research and it seems that there is a prequel and sequel to Ice. If so then I hope that they too will be translated.
I originally reviewed Ice by Vladimir Sorokin on April 15, 2007.
