The Ice Orphan

The Rewilding Reports, Book 3

By: Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Sisi Aisha Johnson

This third book in a cli-fi series from a nationally-recognized anthropologist explores a frozen future where archaic species struggle to survive an apocalyptic Ice Age.

It’s been 925 summers since the Jemen introduced zyme, a bioluminescent algae, into the world’s ocean and unwittingly triggered an Ice Age that has consumed most of the planet. All but a handful of Jemen flew to the stars, but before they left, they recreated several extinct species that had thrived in the last Ice Age. After almost a thousand summers, the archaic hominins that struggle along the edges of massive glaciers are dwindling. All they have to save them is a dying quantum computer called Quancee and her student, a Denisovan man named Lynx.

When the last Jemen, Vice Admiral Jorgenson, tells Lynx he’s going to dismantle Quancee and use her parts to create a new computer, Lynx is stunned. He can’t let Jorgenson kill Quancee! Meanwhile, in the lodges of the Sealion People, a sick boy on the verge of manhood hears voices. One is an old woman who sings to him. When Jawbone goes on his first quest to find a spirit helper, the old woman finds him…

While Lynx battles to save Quancee, the quantum computer has other priorities. Before it dies, it has to save a special boy who cannot save himself.

©2022 Kathleen O'Neal Gear (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

great thought provoking book

The Ice Orphan

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear





It's interesting that this series started in ice and ends in ice. The broad scope of humanity may in itself have the same spiral. Since homo ancestors are with in our genetic makeup, its possible. The final reveal in the story brings the spiral around full circle without showing all its secrets. Jawbone, has his trials from the first book, and finds a peace he has never known since the loss of his family. Quiller and Rabbitear learn to understand family, and the obligations of their choices. The Jemen are at their last moment and Quancee is fading. Finally, Lynx learns many of the secrets of Quancee, after Arakie's passing, but finds that no matter how much he studies, or learns he will not understand all about the origins of Quantum Consciousness, and its dangers. The book is a reminder to the reader that with all our learning nature, life, and the universe is a balance, and we can not know all that achieves that balance no matter how much we study. The imagery in the book is haunting, and I found it inspiring. A great series.

The Ice Orphan.

Definitely makes a person think and consider alternate realities. Perhaps this story can continue in the near future!