When it comes to this book, I feel much as I did about Drood. The level of unnecessary exposition is less in this book, but not by much. Simmons really seems to have an issue where when he does historical fiction that he becomes determined to fit every detail from his research into the book, regardless if it fits the needs of the story.

There's a good story here, and brilliant description of the struggle to survive the Arctic. However, there's also about 100 pages beyond that of extraneous details.