• Writer: Michelle Paver
• Publisher: Orion Books
• Publishing year: 2016
• Number of pages: 228
• ISBN: 978-1409163343
• My rating: 3,5/5

https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/contributor/michelle-paver/

Synopsis:

The Himalayas, 1935.

Kangchenjunga. The sacred mountain. Biggest killer of them all.

Five Englishmen set out to conquer it. But courage can only take them so far. And the higher they climb, the darker it gets.

Review:

This is an atmospheric gothic dark creepy novel about not knowing what you see is real or not, in a setting where you loose your mind easier than anywhere else. A combination of John Carpenter’s The Thing with Into thin air (the failed expedition on Mount Everest that was made into a movie called Everest)

Claustrophobic and very thrilling… but at the same time there’s not much more going on than climbing and staying at base camp (which makes this book somewhat repetitive)

Superstition and belief in gods and demons makes for a very unsettling vibe during the book. And all this is fortified by stories from failed expeditions, especially the one they are trying to beat… the Lyell expedition, that had five casualties…

And then there’s the human factor that plays a huge part in the novel, where pride and the twist between two brothers in a setting where one looses his mind this easy can only lead to disaster and chaos. When one can no longer rely on their own senses, where the cold and darkness plays tricks on you… that’s where death lurks over every crevasse, every ledge and the mountain is unforgiving… and is it all worth it?

I loved ‘Dark Matter’ by the author better, but it’s still a wonderful book! Icy, dead air and full of dangers everywhere you set foot… beware not to fall down!