An edition of Ice (1967)

Ice

a novel

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  • 3.5 (6 ratings)
  • 56 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 6 Have read

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Last edited by MARC Bot
January 23, 2026 | History
An edition of Ice (1967)

Ice

a novel

  • 3.5 (6 ratings)
  • 56 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 6 Have read

"In a frozen, apocalyptic landscape, destruction abounds: great walls of ice overrun the world and secretive governments vie for control. Against this surreal, yet eerily familiar broken world, an unnamed narrator embarks on a hallucinatory quest for a strange and elusive "glass-girl" with silver hair. He crosses icy seas and frozen plains, searching ruined towns and ransacked rooms, all to free her from the grips of a tyrant known only as the warden and save her before the ice closes all around. A novel unlike any other, Ice is at once a dystopian adventure shattering the conventions of science fiction, a prescient warning of climate change and totalitarianism, a feminist exploration of violence and trauma, a Kafkaesque literary dreamscape, and a brilliant allegory for its author's struggles with addiction--all crystallized in prose as glittering as the piling snow. Acclaimed upon its publication as one of the best science fiction books of the year, Kavan's 1967 novel has built a reputation as an extraordinary and innovative work of literature, garnering acclaim from China Mieville, Patti Smith, J.G. Ballard, Anaïs Nin, and Doris Lessing, among others. With echoes of dystopian classics like Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and J.G. Ballard's High Rise, Ice is a necessary and unforgettable addition to the canon of science fiction classics."--

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
157

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Ice
Ice
1970, Doubleday
in English - 1st ed. in the U.S.A.
Cover of: Ice
Ice: a novel
1967, P. Owen, Penguin Classics
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
London

Classifications

Library of Congress
PR6009.D63I24 2017, PR6009.D63 I24 2017

The Physical Object

Pagination
157 p.
Number of pages
157

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL26898233M
ISBN 13
9780143131991
LCCN
2017018717
OCLC/WorldCat
8121914, 974672339
Amazon ID (ASIN)
B06XVV4M4M

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL11334034W

Work Description

Anna Kavan's books have established her reputation as one of the most talented and original contemporary writers - comparable in stature to Virginia Woolf, Anais Nin and Djuna Barnes.

A man's search for an elusive girl takes place against a backdrop of nuclear war resulting in total destruction by walls of ice that overrun the world. Imaginative descriptions of a terrifying dreamlike hunt combine with writing of distinction to form an unusual book. (From the book jacket, first british edition published in 1967).

Excerpts

“But she accepted the fact as she accepted all things that happened to her, expecting to be ill-treated, to be made a victim, ultimately to be destroyed, either by unknown forces or by human beings. This fate seemed always to have been waiting for her, ever since time began. Only love might have saved her from it. But she had never looked for love. Her part was to suffer; that was known and accepted. Fatality brought resignation. It was no use fighting against her fate. She knew she had been beaten before the start.”
added by Catherine Lenoble.

victim pattern

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