Book info

• Title Surviving Antarctica
• Author Andrea White
• Year 2005
• Genre Science Fiction

The wind and snow blow so hard, you can't see your hand in front of your face. Your heating fuel is nearly gone, and so is your food. How do you survive? Five fourteen–year–olds face this desperate situation on a deadly journey in Antarctica. It is 2083. They are contes–tants on a reality TV show, Antarctic Survivor, which is set up to re–create Robert F. Scott's 1912 doomed attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. But in 2083 reality TV is not just an act. Contestants literally relive – or die during – the simulations of events. Robert Scott and his team were experienced explorers and scientists, but their attempt to reach the Pole proved fatal. What chance does the Antarctic Survivor team have?

Thoughts

Interesting story this one. It’s very much in the same genre as The Hunger Games, as in a dystopian future sees children subjected to horrible manipulated gameshows that could end up in their death, with the reward being a marginally better lifestyle than what they have at the moment.

It’s not original in that sense, but it did feel like a new take on the genre - kids forced to recreate Scott’s mission to get to the South Pole, and all the dangers that come with it.

The peril was clear from the outset, and although you have to suspend your disbelief that anyone could allow this situation to unfold, once you get to know the kids involved, you start really rooting for them to do well. It’s also fun to see both sides of the drama, and what happens when outside intervenes in the games themselves.

Rating: 3 / 5