Iceberg by Jennifer A. Nielsen: A Book Review

Iceberg

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

Genre: Children, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure

Publisher: Scholastic

Release Date: March 7, 2023

Pages: 317

Source: My State Public Library

Synopsis: As disaster looms on the horizon, a young stowaway onboard the Titanic will need all her courage and wits to stay alive. A thrilling tale from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen!

Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone from her home in England aboard the celebrated ship Titanic. Following the untimely death of her father, Hazel’s mother is sending her to the US to work in a factory, so that she might send money back home to help her family make ends meet.

But Hazel harbors a secret dream: She wants to be a journalist, and she just knows that if she can write and sell a story about the Titanic’s maiden voyage, she could earn enough money to support her family and not have to go to a sweatshop. When Hazel discovers that mother didn’t send her with enough money for a ticket, she decides she must stow away onboard the storied ship.

With the help of a porter named Charlie and a sweet first-class passenger named Sylvia, Hazel explores the opulent ship in secret, but a haunting mystery quickly finds her. The danger only intensifies when calamity strikes, and readers will be caught up in the terror and suspense alongside Hazel as she fights to save her friends and herself.

Bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen weaves an extraordinary tapestry of survival and disaster in this magnificent thriller.

My Review: Hazel Rothbury is a stopwatch on the Titanic. She also dreams of becoming a journalist when she reaches America and uses Titanic as her big story. While looking for stories to tell on the Titanic, Hazel uncovers details about a heist. Hazel seeks to solve the mystery of the heist. As soon as she solves it, the iceberg hits the Titanic. Could Hazel manage to survive the disaster?

I wanted to like Hazel, but I found that I could not connect with her. She sounded like a modern-day woman who knew about the fate of the Titanic. This would have made sense if it was a time-travel story, but it wasn’t. I don’t think a child would have been aware of future events. Thus, Hazel seemed like an unconvincing character. She was also very reckless and made many poor decisions. I have to admit that I like her friends better. They seemed more likable. They were kind, clever, honest, and loyal. I wished that the story was told from their perspectives rather than Hazel. Therefore, Hazel made for a very frustrating character.

Overall, this novel is about friendship, choices, and survival. All of the characters were well-developed except for Hazel. I did like the setting of the Titanic and the details surrounding the disaster of the Titanic. However, it would have made more sense if Iceberg was a time-travel story. This made the plot very unbelievable. The story was also very slow though it was very fast-paced towards the end. I also like how it ended. Thus, Iceberg had potential to be a powerful and emotional novel. However, it was not executed well because of the nonsensical plot. Nevertheless, I recommend this novel for fans of Luck of the Titanic, Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, and Maiden Voyage!

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Here is the official book trailer for Iceberg:

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein: A Book Review

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer Author: Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Religion, Mythology Publisher: Harper Perennial Release Date: 1983 Pages: 256 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: With the long-awaited publication of this book, we have for the first time in any modern literary form one of the most vital and important of ancient myths—that of Inanna, the world’s first goddess of recorded history and the beloved deity of the ancient Sumerians. The stories and hymns of Inanna (known to the Semites as Ishtar) are inscribed on clay tablets which date back to 2,000 B.C. Over the past forty years, these cuneiform tablets have gradually been restored and deciphered by a small group of international scholars. In this groundbreaking book, Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent living expert on Sumer, and Diane Wolkstein, a gifted storyteller and folklorist, have retranslated, order...

Guest Post: The Ladies-in-Waiting: Lady Isabel Baynton by Alexandra Walsh

Today's guest writer is Alexandra Walsh. She is the author of The Catherine Howard Conspiracy , which is a historical thriller surrounding the infamous Tudor queen. In this guest post, Mrs. Walsh discusses the life of Catherine's lady-in-waiting, Isabel Baynton. This post will be sure to fascinate fans of Tudor era. If you enjoy her post, please pick up a copy of The Catherine Howard Conspiracy ! Thank you, Mrs. Walsh! The Ladies-in-Waiting – Lady Isabel Baynton by Alexandra Walsh One of the most enjoyable things about writing an historical novel is discovering the tiny details that make the period real on the page. While I was researching The Catherine Howard Conspiracy , I spent a great deal of time hunting out the life stories of the women who surrounded the young queen in order to create a group of realistic friends and confidants. There are some well-known names linked with Catherine and her downfall: Lady Jane Boleyn,...

Guest Post by Aleksey Linetskiy: The Women Behind the Klondike Story

Today's guest writer is Aleksey Linetskiy. He is the co-author of Finch and Hawk: The Klondike Letters , which is a unique yearly subscription in which the reader reads a story by mail. In this guest post, he introduces us to a few historical women of the Klondike era. Some of these women are Alice Freeman, Flora Shaw, and Helen Dare. Thank you, Mr. Linetskiy! The Women Behind the Klondike Story Before we began writing Finch and Hawk: The Klondike Letters , my partner, Alona Umansky, and I spent a great deal of time researching the Klondike Gold Rush. We were interested in finding the stories of people who maybe didn’t become rich and famous but still went through the experience of a great stampede. As we were reading the newspapers of the time and firsthand accounts, it became very clear to us that we wanted to tell at least part of the story through the women’s eyes. There were so many incredible women who underto...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Search This Blog