Ice Cave by Toby J. Nichols
Ice Cave is a novella by Toby J. Nichols. It was published on January 23, 2020 by Severed Press and weighs in at 136 pages.
I’d purchased this novella a while ago, and I am so glad I finally got the chance to read it. When I first pulled it up, my intention was just to get started, to jump into the first chapter and get a feel for the story. Well, I got totally sucked in to the book. I read over half of it before I had to make myself stop so I wouldn’t be late to an appointment. I’d read The Lost Sea by Nichols, which I also reviewed and enjoyed, so I’m not shocked I had this reaction. One thing I have learned for certain, though, Nichols has my number when it comes to sci-fi adventure and creatures. I can’t get enough.
This is a story about Saxon Smith, a scientist hungry to make a name for himself. He’s also striving to prove all of the nay-sayers in his family wrong and justify going after his degree, which they find to be a waste of time. His goal on the expedition to Antarctica is to find life in the ice cave system below Mount Erebus and go from “unrecognized lab assistant to feted researcher.” He doesn’t intend to make a discovery that none of the team was expecting to find. It doesn’t help that tempers flare between the overzealous Saxon and the famous, yet cautious, lead scientist Brian Meyer. What begins as a routine exploration turns deadly, and it’s all out action and suspense as the team transitions from top of the food chain to prey.
There are some great moments in this story where the author makes you squirm. I love a book that brings some of the readers’ fears to life, even if it’s in a foreign environment. Speaking of which, I enjoyed the world Nichols created and didn’t have any issues picturing it in my mind. There were also so many great suspenseful scenes, and they really kept me turning the pages. There is a lot of action once the expedition gets moving, and it’s a thrilling ride. Nichols keeps the characters and the reader on their toes at all times, because danger is always lurking. It was interesting to watch a group of highly intelligent people crumble and fall apart in the face of adversity and wonder in the end if they’d be able to come to grips with their predicament, work together, and survive.
I’m a huge fan of creature books, and the “monsters” in Ice Cave are some of my favorites. As a student of anthropology and evolution, Nichols had me pegged with this book. If you enjoyed Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton or The Maw by Taylor Zajonc, you’ll enjoy this quick and exciting read. There are some graphic moments that readers might find disturbing involving injuries, but they are necessary and make the story that much more exhilarating.
I will mirror what a few other reviewers have said about Ice Cave. The ending was a bit quick and perhaps unsatisfying in some ways. I do, however, understand Nichols’ thinking. I’ll just say I found it to be abrupt and wish I could have had a few more pages. This isn’t a reason to overlook this fun and exciting book, though. Grab a copy! As always, I’m looking forward to checking out more works by Nichols. Their novella Survive the Past was released in September 2021, and I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy whatever creatures pop up as the characters find themselves in a different, and more dangerous, place in another time period.
***Toby J. Nichols also writes under the name TJ Nichols, where they write gay fantasy and paranormal romance.
Click here to check out my reviews of The Lost Sea by Toby J. Nichols and The Maw by Taylor Zajonc.
