Skip to main content

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:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Potiphar's Wife (The Egyptian Chronicles #1) by Mesu Andrews: A Book Review

  Potiphar’s Wife (The Egyptian Chronicles #1) Author: Mesu Andrews Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian, Biblical Fiction Publisher: WaterBrook Release Date: May 24, 2022 Pages: 453 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: One of the Bible’s most notorious women longs for a love she cannot have in this captivating novel from the award-winning author of Isaiah’s Legacy .       Before she is Potiphar’s wife, Zuleika is the daughter of a king and the wife of a prince. She rules the isle of Crete alongside her mother in the absence of their seafaring husbands. But when tragedy nearly destroys Crete, Zuleika must sacrifice her future to save the Minoan people she loves.       Zuleika’s father believes his robust trade with Egypt will ensure Pharaoh’s obligation to marry his daughter, including a bride price hefty enough to save Crete. But Pharaoh refuses and gives her instead to Potiphar, the captain...

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn: A Book Review

The Rose Code Author: Kate Quinn Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Harper Collins Release Date: 2021 Pages: 635 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: 1940, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.        Three very different women are recruited to the mysterious Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.       Vivacious debutante Osla has the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, working to translate decoded enemy secrets. Self-made Mab masters the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and the poverty of her East-End London upbringing. And shy local girl Beth is the outsider who trains as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.       1947, London.        Seven years after they first meet, on the eve of the roya...

The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich: A Book Review

  The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of the Bondwoman’s Narrative Author: Gregg Hecimovich Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography  Publisher: Ecco Release Date: 2023 Pages: 430 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A groundbreaking study of the first Black female novelist and her life as an enslaved woman, from the biographer who solved the mystery of her identity, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.       In 1857, a woman escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and fled to a farm in New York. In hiding, she worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, The Bondwoman’s Narrative, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim, but the author’s identity remained unknown. Over a decade later, Professor Gregg Hecimovich unraveled the mystery of the author’s name and, in The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, hefinally tells her story.   ...