This is a deeply researched history of the 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition by writer and educator Buddy Levy, who has been writing about various historical adventures for over twenty years.
We’re introduced to Vihjalmur Stefansson, a self-serving and somewhat lazy “explorer” who convinces Canada to fund an elaborate exploration, and takes all the credit but doesn’t stick around for the tough parts. Luckily for him, his choice of a sea captain and ice navigator, Bob Bartlett, prevented the Arctic Expedition from being a complete and total failure.
Based on personal journals, news articles, and court records, Levy brings us up close and personal with the decisions and struggles of the leaders and each crew member on the fated ship Karluk. For history buffs and novice readers alike, this story brings it all back to colorful life.
A sincere thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is December 6, 2022.

A very good book on a part of history that is not well known, but is sure to be more important as interest in the Artic is increasing among nations. A true tale of endurance made possible with the knowledge and help of Natives.

This is simply put, a terrific read. I thank St. Martins and the author of this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Mr. Levy has crafted a very entertaining (and interspersed with gritty and true realism) story of the Karluk and all that transpired amidst this tale of heroism in the early 20th century. When you approach this work, you may wish to do as I did and create a bit of a timeline and map showing the various components and players that took part in this adventure.

Most children go through school learning at least a bit of Robert Peary, and recent popular culture has spotlighted Sir Ernest Shackleton. Personally, this was my first venture in to the intrepid explorer Robert Bartlett and this expedition. A very readable account of non-fiction that is approachable by anyone who has an interest in the exploration of the most remote places on our planet.

This is the story of the Karluk and the Canadian Arctic Expedition. In 1913, the Karluk sets out to sail to the Arctic and discover what lands and people are there. However, the ship was not up to the task. It becomes set in ice and the leader, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, leaves the ship to "search for Caribou". This leaves Captain Bartlett to look after the remaining 24 crew members, scientists and Inuit members, plus a stowaway kitten and all the sled dogs.

The book starts off with a lot of background on both Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Captain Bartlett, but it becomes clear who the real hero is. While being stuck in the ice, the ship drifting and eventually sinking, you see the friendships and bonds of the shipmates really start to grow. Then the move to the ice and everyone learning to shelter and live through winter. Captain Bartlett takes one of the Inuit hunters and decides to trek to Siberia in order to get to Alaska and ask for help, leaving the remaining members there.

There is a list in the beginning of the book or who every is and I found this very helpful. As the book was very long and not a quick read, I found myself forgetting who some of the people where and what their function was. At the end of the book, it does give details about who survived and what they went on to do before their deaths. I didn't know anything about the expeditions in the Arctic and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I will post this review 10/30/22 to the following websites:
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/889265972
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4802998360
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkVuqcPr2Bj/
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338257#n7961031
https://app.thestorygraph.com/user_reviews/kuhlreads

Empire of Ice and Stone should come with a warning label. Don’t read before bedtime unless you can stay up way too late. It may cause bad dreams. No matter how many blankets you pile on, you will feel an Arctic cold in your bones. Its a thrilling, harrowing true story of survival.

Buddy Levy’s newest book on the 1913 voyage of the Karluk has the adventure and bravery that I love about these tales of polar exploration, which also are about the hubris of mankind and the brutal vagaries of weather and climate. There are villains and men who buckle under the hardships, good men who are lost, men determined to do the impossible. And the Inuit family whose stamina and knowledge was essential to their survival.

Fame-seeking Vilhjalmur Stefansson assembled the expedition hastily and without good planning. Supplies were stowed haphazard among the ships. Within weeks, the Karluk became encased in an ice flow. Stefansson abandoned the ship under cover of going hunting for caribou, leaving the chip captain Robert Bartlett in charge.

The ship drifted westward with the ice which crushed and sank it after five months. Bartlett had planned ahead, moving necessary goods to the ice. The did not have adequate clothing and essential supplies. The men had to cross the ice to an island off the Siberian coast. They woke in the night to sudden cracks under their igloos. They had to hack paths through ice ridges. Polar bears were a constant threat. The sled dogs fatigued and supplies had to be cached along the way. Feet and hands froze and some sustained life-threatening injuries. Some of the scientific men made their own party, going off on their own, never to be seen again.

Arriving at Wrangle Island didn’t end their suffering. They had to erect shelters and they could not find enough food. The men were starving, and under duress personalities changed. Stefansson never alerted authorities of the ship’s loss, or arranged a rescue mission. Bartlett and Kataktovik had to travel across the ice to Siberia, and down the coast to find a ship to Alaska where they could arrange a rescue mission for the men. What they accomplished was amazing. They were helped by the generous Inuit and Russian traders they came across along the way.

You get to know these men intimately and suffer with them. While Stefansson left men on the Kurlak to fend for themselves, turning his attention to another expedition, it was Bartlett who worried about the crew and risked his life on an arduous trek to arrange a rescue ship to find the survivors.

This is a wonderful follow up to Levy’s last book Labyrinth of Ice about the Greeley Expedition.

I received a free ARC from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased.

An absolutely engrossing survival story that reads like a novel, full of action, suspense and character development. Incredibly well-researched and well-written, never felt dry or dull or bogged down in boring facts.

I've always been interested in travels to places that most of us would never take.. Empire of Ice and Stone is a wonderful look into the 1913 journey that Vilhjalmur Stefansson and later Captain Bartlett set upon. Met with hardships as the ice flows blocked the ship, survival becomes difficult because of not enough supplies. After Stefansson leaves the ship to hunt caribou, Captain Barlett now has to lead the men so that they all have a chance at survival. Not everyone makes it.

Author Buddy Levy has written a harrowing account of the final sailing of the Karluk. The Franklin Expedition is the story that I believe more people have read about and so I am thankful to Mr. Levy for spotlighting the story of these brave people.

This book is long but every page is as interesting as the last. Wonderful read for those interested in the struggle of men in unforgiving places or for those just interested in history.

I don't often read stories of arctic expeditions, but I knew that I'd enjoyed "The Endurance" years ago, so thought I'd give this one a try. It did take me a little while to get into it because I kept expecting the expedition's leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson to get his act together. Once I gave up on that expectation, the book really started moving.

What a journey! I can only imagine what the experience might have been like in real life, and I'm not eager to experience it firsthand. But this book provides a wonderful study in leadership lessons, especially when you compare the narcissism of Stefansson to the service-based leadership of William Bartlett and his raising up of another leader to replace him.

I'm glad I decided to give this book a go. It's truly a gripping tale, and one I knew nothing about before reading it.

Thank you to Buddy Levy, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Empire of Ice and Stone
By Buddy Levy

This is a true story which could just as well be the story line of an adventure novel – or even a horror story. Indeed, such novels have been written.

Books about expeditions to the artic in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, by their very nature, are filled with trials and hardships which we would have struggle to comprehend today. Why men would choose to pit their courage and stamina – and indeed their very lives - against the harshest of landscapes is almost inconceivable. And yet they did it – some for the fame and glory, others to test their own abilities.

This is a very depressing – almost shocking – read. And yet, once it draws the reader in, it is impossible to put down.

If someone had given me this book without any explanations, I would have sworn that it was a fictional adventure thriller! The real-life story of Canadian Arctic exploration is insanely fascinating and suspenseful. In 1913, a team of explorers and scientists went to the North Pole. Everything that could go wrong went wrong and they ended up stranded in a lifeless desert with very limited resources. Many died. When the survivors were rescued, they didn’t even know the Great War had started, that’s how isolated they were. If the story is fascinating, the characters are truly compelling. And they were real people! Not just men, but also women whose contributions were vital. As Shakespeare said, some have greatness thrust upon them, Captain Bob Bartlett had to step up and lead the teams when their original leader left them “to hunt caribou” and never returned. The book follows each party as they separated, came back together and eventually I was cheering when they reunited and cringing when something bad happened. Their injuries and diseases are explained in detail, so squeamish readers may want to be careful here. Same with animal lovers. It is understandable how the explorers needed to hunt to survive but, at some point, I had to skip all those parts. The book may be a little too long for my taste, with sometimes too many details for casual readers, but other than that it is a fascinating story.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#St. Martin's Press!

The book, “Empire of Ice and Stone” was an excellent read! This expedition to the North Pole lead by Vilhjalmur Stefansson and then Captain Bob Bartlett was one of many expeditions lead by brave sailors, One Captain was self serving and ambitious and the other was more responsible, true to his men and also ambitious. The crew of the Karluk comprised of scientists and sailors who were on their way to an adventure of a lifetime, funded by the Canadian government. Some will perish and some will survive. Survival depends on the Captain Bartlett! I highly recommend this book!

historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, explorers, nonfiction*****

I was surprised at the depth of character study. I was also pleased that this was not just another Publish or Perish but exhibited real readability (even if it did lead me down a few Wiki rabbit holes). I don't know how other ethnicities react, but we are Norse and have a tendency to devour all the extreme North forays and the documented absorption into North America of earlier times.
Although the book is quite long, it is well worth the effort to dive into it at odd intervals and learn more about this particular expedition.
I requested and received an advanced review e-book copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

This was an interesting book. I feel like I spent a couple winters aboard the ships. I did think it was a bit too long and dragged in spots.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

5 Huge Stars!!

Wow! This book is phenomenal! My first polar expedition book was Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. Since reading that, I have been thoroughly hooked on arctic and antarctic nonfiction. In this one, Author Buddy Levy has pulled together a beautiful gem recounting the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913 and the tragic yet heroic voyage of the ship Karluk.

This takes place in the northern waters around Alaska and Siberia. If you are like me, you don’t want to know any more details about what happens as that is most of the fun of reading—seeing where things go. I intentionally did not look up this ship’s history nor the history of its captain, Robert Bartlett, as I wanted to experience the adventure as it unfolded.

The author did an incredible amount of research (as noted in the afterword) to prepare for this book. Much of the narrative was based on the personal journals of the men on the expedition. This was wonderful for several reasons. First, it lent one the sense of actually being there, plus I was privy to the inner thoughts of the explorers. My favorites were Mamen and McKinlay who really bared their souls. Furthermore, I got the sense that I was getting the real truth about the details of the expedition. I learned a lot, including the beauty and wonder of the arctic; the myriad of dangers of such a mission; what the nutritional needs were and how food and drink were obtained; what the everyday lives of these people were like and how that affected them physically and emotionally; the lives of the inuit people; and perhaps most impressively, the horrors of what these explorers had to go through to survive. I was also struck by how disaster and desperate situations brought out the true nature of each individual in the expedition. I am a character lover and I thought Mr. Levy did an impressive job showing us what these people were really like in this nonfictional historical treatise. I loved that this book was also a rousing adventure with many tense moments and situations that made the over 600 pages fly. Finally, I truly appreciated the author’s brilliant epilogue covering most everyone, even the ship’s cat!

Congratulations, Mr. Levy, for a magnificent read. I will continue to seek out books like this. I encourage everyone to try at least one polar expedition book as an “out-of-the-box” personal adventure. This one as well as Endurance would be good choices. Who knows? You might get hooked too! If anyone has other polar or otherwise icy recommendations for me, I’m all ears. In the meantime, I will be looking for a copy of Mr. Levy’s Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition.

I would like to thank Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Mr. Buddy Levy for an advanced review copy. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

A superbly written account of the Canadian Arctic expedition the Karluk. This is a subject I didn't know much about going in but I learned so much and was entertained in the process.
Buddy Levy does a great job at presenting the facts and history without writing dry un interesting chapters. I would suggest anyone with interest in arctic expedition, survival stories or disasters to pick this up, you won't be disappointed.

This is a fascinating story about exploring part of the world most people know very little about. It not only describes the trip but it puts it in historical context and makes the people involved come to life. Very informative but still easy to read.

In 1913, the Karluk expedition set up to explore the northwest passage. Stefansson, the expedition leader, put the trip together at the last minute, skimping on supplies. Captain Bartlett, at the helm of the ship, had extensive experience in the frozen north. When the ship became trapped in the ice, Stefansson and a small group left to go "hunting." They escaped over land back to civilization. Ignoring their expedition mates trapped, they continued without sending word about their plight. Captain Bartlett held the remaining group together, boosting their spirits and providing food and shelter. When the ship breaks up, the group hikes across the ice, splitting into multiple groups. Captain Bartlett takes off across the frozen land seeking help for those left behind.

This was a fascinating book. I could not put it down! The characters were well written and dynamic, I found myself wrapped up in their survival. Their frozen world was well described, I could picture their circumstances and the horrible odds against them. 5 out of 5 stars, highly recommended!

If you love polar exploration stories, don’t miss Empire of Ice and Stone. Seriously add this one to you tbr list! It was an in-depth, astutely researched account of what happened to the crew of the Karluk.

Polar explorer Stefansson was backed and funded by the Canadian government in 1913 to carry out an expedition to the Arctic in search of a passage and new land to be colonized. As it turned out, however, Stefansson’s flagship the Karluk, was an unsuitable ship for the arctic and his expedition preparation rushed and disorganized. As a result, the Karluk ended up in the middle of an ice block floating aimlessly in the ocean.

The book details the harrowing adventure and the tragic consequences that ensued because of Stefansson’s rush and I’ll preparedness. It also highlights the story of Captain Bartlet’s selfless leadership and heroic efforts. It is a tale of strength, greed, heroism, mutiny, perseverance and incredulity. It was a story that kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. Highly recommend!

Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #EmpireOfIceAndStone

I received an advanced copy of Empire of Ice and Stone through NetGalley in order to review. This is the second book I've read on arctic exploration and it really is a very interesting topic. The novel chronicles the sinking of the Karluk and the heroic expedition of Captain Bartlett to rescue the survivors. The book does highlight how Indigenous Peoples did assist with survival on arctic expeditions. Most of the story was focused on the daily life of the survivors, but would also follow Bartlett and Kataktovik on their rescue attempts and show where expedition leader Steffanson was during the times the rescue attempt was unfolding. I really liked the book and the author did a lot of research to try to make it as accurate as possible. The advance copy is missing photographs but the appendix notes that the final printing should have photograph inserts and a map. The story is broken up into digestable chapters which allowed me to read the book at my own pace without feeling lost.

I love tales of Arctic (and Antarctic) adventure, and this one is a doozy! It kept me enthralled throughout.

Buddy Levy has clearly researched deeply, but displays great storytelling skills. Snippets of journal entries give us a window into the characters.

The book could also be a case study in leadership for business schools. One character embodies true servant leadership, the other abandons the people he leads and focuses on his own success. And it is a testament to human endurance and cooperation. I won't forget this one for a long time.