EDIT

I have finished reading the book. It was a really awesome story. Part explorer, part espionage, part war (with all the death and destruction of course), part love story, and part solarpunk utopia. If you can get over the extremely sexist overtones (women in the book are always referred to by their beauty, and several sex scenes that emphasis women’s duty to make the man happy), then you’ll really enjoy it.

End Edit

Has anyone read this book? It’s on a reading list of mine that I’ve curated over time, and I think it would help me get into Sci-Fi a little more. I’m currently finishing up Dune at the moment and am wondering if it would be a good transition.

About

When a French expedition in Antarctica reveals ruins of a 900,000 year old civilization, scientists from all over the world flock to the site to help explore & understand. The entire planet watches via global satellite tv, mesmerized, as they uncover a chamber in which a man & a woman have been in suspended animation since, as the French title suggests, ‘the night of time’. The woman, Eléa, is awakened. Thru a translating machine she tells the story of her world, herself & her husband Paikan & how war destroyed her civilization. She also hints at an incredibly advanced knowledge her still-dormant companion possesses, knowledge that could give energy & food to all humans at no cost. But the superpowers of the world are not ready to let Eléa’s secrets spread, & show that, 900,000 years & an apocalypse later, humankind has not grown up & is ready to make the same mistakes again. First published in 1968 by Les Presses de la Cité. It was translated into English by C.L. Markham & a number of companies published The Ice People in the early 1970s.