{"id":7117,"date":"2026-08-24T13:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7117"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:47:21","slug":"polaris-by-marek-kaminski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7117","title":{"rendered":"Polaris by Marek Kaminski"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terror stalks the pages of this arctic ecological horror novel.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When Leandro Grass, an affluent if mysterious client, approaches Mark Steiner and Rob Granek about a trek to the North Pole, they should be delighted. As business partners and extreme guides, they have dreamed of an expedition to Antarctica for years. The cash Grass is putting down on his jaunt would set them up for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Mark has just been through a soul-wrenching separation and none of his previous goals spark the same enthusiasm they used to. Still, a job is a job, and if Grass\u2019s team is prepped and ready, Mark and Rob will guide them.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there are far more pieces moving on this particular expedition than either of them realized. Grass\u2019s two meat-headed companions seem like trouble before they even set out. Katherine Kendrick, Grass\u2019s partner in both business and pleasure, brings back too many unwelcome reminders of Mark\u2019s soulmate, Misaki. It\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that Grass has a shady goal in the trip they are taking. One that he is not above sacrificing the people around him to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Added to that, their team is not the only one making this trek with something more in mind. As they get closer to their destination, it is obvious that there is something larger than all of them, pulling strings to make sure they never reach it. Something that seems to be able to creep inside Mark and Rob\u2019s brains and turn their every fear against them.<\/p>\n

Polaris<\/em> is part psychological horror, part elemental survival, and part historical mystery. It fuses together a range of themes to create a unique action thriller. There\u2019s a surrealist feeling to the story where not everything makes sense. The focus is more on the overall emotional turmoil than the specifics.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear from the opening pages that Kami\u0144ski knows this bleak and unforgiving setting. The description of wind, shifting ice, the scent of unwashed bodies in cramped tents, all of this builds the stage for a terse and atmospheric journey. Polaris<\/em> really digs into the isolation and fear of an uninhabitable terrain.<\/p>\n

The insidious nature of the horror that Mark and Rob experience is when the story is at its most gripping. It\u2019s a slowly building seemingly eldritch being that attacks them from the inside out in such a way that they can\u2019t quite decide whether it\u2019s psychological or supernatural. The further they get from civilization, the deeper they\u2019re sucked into the grasp of whatever force is assailing them. The fact that the people these explorers are guiding are also becoming more unravelled the further they go only adds to the tension.<\/p>\n

While the setting and adventure are gripping, the narrative structure of Polaris<\/em> feels unbalanced. So much time and space is devoted to prepping for the trek to the North Pole and Mark\u2019s day-to-day life without much time left for unravelling the mystery of what the other characters\u2019 motives and goals are. Certain characters are introduced late and unpacked very little despite being integral to the main plotline, and some major mysteries are explained from one person to another over a single scene. The breadcrumbs that should have been scattered through the earlier, slower part of the story end up clogging up the finale and disrupting the carefully built tension.<\/p>\n

Polaris<\/em> is a terse, atmospheric ode to the world and every strange thing that lives within it. It\u2019s a tense, uneasy ride that doesn\u2019t quite unravel all its mysteries but is no lesser for keeping a few things to itself. The beautifully rendered, distinctive setting is reason enough to give this one a go, but the psychological and uncanny elements also pack a punch.<\/p>\n

The post Polaris by Marek Kaminski<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terror stalks the pages of this arctic ecological horror novel. When Leandro Grass, an affluent if mysterious client, approaches Mark Steiner and Rob Granek about a trek to the North Pole, they should be delighted. As business partners and extreme guides, they have dreamed of an expedition to Antarctica for years. The cash Grass is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}