Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Ice Station

  • Shane Schofield, Book 1
  • By: Matthew Reilly
  • Narrated by: Sean Mangan
  • Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (538 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Ice Station cover art

Ice Station

By: Matthew Reilly
Narrated by: Sean Mangan
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.89

Buy Now for £12.89

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Contest cover art
Troll Mountain cover art
Hover Car Racer cover art
Relic cover art
Arcadian Genesis cover art
The Hunt for Atlantis cover art
The First Bird, Episode 1 cover art
Fathomless cover art
Lemuria cover art
Foreign and Domestic cover art
Deep Storm cover art
Straight Shot cover art
First to Kill cover art
Doctor Who: Classic TV Adventures Collection One cover art
The Gray Man cover art
To the Center of the Earth cover art

Summary

At a remote ice station in Antarctica, a team of U.S. scientists has made an amazing discovery. They have found something buried deep within a 100-million-year-old layer of ice. Something made of metal. Led by enigmatic Lieutenant Shane Schofield, a team of crack United States Marines is sent to the station to secure this discovery for their country. They are a tight unit, tough and fearless. They would follow their leader into hell. They just did...
©2002 Matthew Reilly (P)2002 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Some of the wildest and most sustained battles in an action thriller in a long time...non-stop action, lots of explosions--and a little bit of conspiracy." ( Chicago Tribune)

What listeners say about Ice Station

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    316
  • 4 Stars
    105
  • 3 Stars
    62
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    25
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    247
  • 4 Stars
    104
  • 3 Stars
    50
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    13
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    262
  • 4 Stars
    63
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    27
  • 1 Stars
    22

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Madly Marvellous Mayhem

Having just finished this book I'm almost lost for words about how to describe it. If you take Rambo and cross him with Bourne, partner him with a Disney child hero, stir in some Jaws and even add a twist of Lassie you'll probably get as close as any description I can give you. This book is high octane, devil may care, non-stop action and there is no pause for reality checks or attention to the principles of physics.

I tend to be pretty forgiving about authors pushing the bounds of credulity but Matthew Reilly called my flexibility and raised it by the house limit. This is not a book for those who want gritty realism or even the vaguely realistic but it's a hugely fun adventure and to be fair the author makes it fairly clear what you are getting from the outset.

Sean Mangan brings it all to life in fine style so if you want a fun, hard hitting adventure with lots of action and don't mind the author taking a lot of liberties with his story's credibility you'll find it a lot of fun. If you're a stickler for detail and accuracy then abandon hope if you enter here.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Wow

I never leave written reviews, but after listening to approximately 100 audiobooks I have to say that this is, without doubt, the worst. The narrator did the best he could with the material he had, but the story is just awful. Terrible science, riduculous extension of belief, deus ex machina aplenty, contrived plotting, etc. It feels like it was written by a teenager. There is a hovercraft action sequence that I cringed through, purely for the number of repetitions of the word 'hovercraft'. Basic writing mistakes, constant hyperbole, completely over-the-top set pieces... It makes Lee Childs Jack Reacher series look like Shakespeare.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Now where did I put that crane?

Why a crane? Because if you are going to read this book you need something seriously powerful to help you suspend your disbelief. So much so that it cost the book a couple of rating stars. There are so many staggering coincidences that a couple of times I actually laughed out loud.
Still, if you can put these (and a host of other similarly astonishing implausibilities) to one side it's an enjoyable enough piece of action escapism. It gets a bit sloppy (careless rather than schmaltzy) at the end which is unfortunate because it left me without any desire to read more by the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Innacurate but Entertaining

Well, Yes, But...
I found this a very entertaining tale of action and daring do, hence the rating, BUT it was marred in my mind by either innacurately described or totally unfeasible technology. An author can probably get away with magic in a Sci Fi or Fantasy novel but there are so many good Action stories which are plausible or well researched that Matt Riellys lack of realism was a disappointment.
Putting aside the odd grating innacuracy the story drew me in. I could have done with a map of the Ice Station to follow the action round and I was tempted at one point to pick up an Atlas and find the station and follow the escape across the Ice. I was left wanting more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love Scarecrow!

Ice Station was the second Matthew Reilly book that I ever listened to and I fell in love with the characters.
If you're looking for a great action adventure series featuring larger than life characters then Ice Station is a great introduction.

Based in and around an Antarctic research station where Shane Schofield (Scarecrow) and his team have been sent in to provide assistance after an emergency signal was received.

The book is action packed and full of twists and turns that the first-time reader doesn't see coming. I've listened to this book several times and I don't see some of them coming, even now.

Spaceships, multi-national military forces, diving bells, killer whales and more all feature in this book.

I have just finished listening again and I'm waiting patiently on book 5 in the series.

Sean Mangan's narration is perfect. His characterisations just fit so well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ice Station - nonstop action

Non stop action, edge of seat. Couldn't wait to get back to it. This is one extremely lucky guy though. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

All action adventure

Thoroughly enjoyed this audio book, albeit in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. Reminded me of The Survivalist series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, not a great production.

Excellent story. Taken from CDs which is disappointing it ruins the flow at one point.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A fantastical special ops thriller

If you could sum up Ice Station in three words, what would they be?

Fantastical (some stuff is clearly make believe but never feels over the top)
Thrilling (moves along at a good pace, never felt bored)
Intriguing (lots of twists and turns)

What other book might you compare Ice Station to, and why?

I've not read any of the others by this author.
The special ops/military aspect is less serious than an Andy McNabb or Chris Ryan book but may appeal if like me you enjoyed them but were a bit sick of back to Afghanistan.
The pacing reminds me of Dan Brown's books, but the lead character doesn't come off as so smug.

What does Sean Mangan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He does a good job with all the different accents and each character felt different.
His delivery is entertaining. Though at one point he has to read a long list of names, twice, which I expect works better in print.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nope, I did grin at the arrival of a team half way through the book and the innovative but sadly it seems fantastical weapon they brought with them.

Any additional comments?

This references events which I assume took place in the authors book Temple. I haven't read that and don't feel I was kept in the dark but now I have no plans to go back to read it. If you have a urge to read that book, read it first.
Otherwise an entertaining read and I have downloaded the next book with Scarecrow in.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best Author Ever

Rip roaring ride from start to finish. Keeps you turning pages until there's none left to turn.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful