School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Spare illustrations establish the bleakness of the Antarctic wastes Shackleton faced in attempting to cross the continent. Bertozzi dutifully depicts the drudgery, close scrapes, and brutal conditions the crew endured, despite never reaching their goal. Shackleton is legendary for keeping his 27 crew members alive for over two years, and Bertozzi reveals how difficult that was. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Translating historical accounts into the graphic novel format can be an iffy proposal, often reducing the subject to illustrated factual regurgitation, but Bertozzi (Lewis and Clark) compellingly brings readers along for Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1915 conquest of the South Pole, just in time for the centennial anniversary of the expedition. After two failed previous attempts to reach the pole, Shackleton and a stalwart crew braved unimaginable desolation, an eight-month stretch with their icebreaker at a standstill, the ship sinking when crushed by tons of thawing ice, and the subsequent trek across 374 miles of frozen wastes. It's an epic true-life adventure, and Bertozzi's storytelling will keep readers riveted as he illustrates the expedition's day-to-day travails in b&w panels as sparse as the stark expanses Shackleton and crew crossed. That bleakness is offset by Bertozzi's depiction of the tenacity, camaraderie, and humor of the men, and it's that spotlighting of the crew's unwavering humanity in the face of icy doom that sets this book apart. A must-read for history buffs and fans of cinema-quality visual storytelling alike. Ages 12-up. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
With just a hint of artistic license, a retelling in graphic form of the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17.Keeping readers oriented with maps and dates that heighten the drama (if it were possible), Bertozzi introduces Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic career with glimpses of early ventures in 1901 and 1907. He then provides a captioned portrait gallery of each member of the expedition, including the dogs, before going on to retrace in detail the course and fate of the ship Endurance, which was trapped in ice and eventually crushed. The exhausting, monthslong trek over rough ice and treacherous waters to reach a rescue point takes up most of the book. The author places figures drawn with a fine pen within small but easily legible panels, and he uses a color scheme of black, white and a midtone gray that effectively captures the Antarctic's alien, implacable harshness. His tale is infused, though, with both humor ("My posterior is chafed thoroughly from cleaning with ice," complains an expedition member, pulling up his trousers) and a strong sense of the stiff-upper-lip camaraderie that, along with Shackleton's outstanding leadership, kept the expedition together and led, against all odds, to the survival of its every (human) member.A top-shelf rendition of one of the greatest survival stories to come out of the Age of Exploration. (source list) (Graphic historical fiction. 10-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Earnest Shackleton made several attempts to reach the South Pole in his career as an explorer, but he never managed to see it. Bertozzi's latest, much in the same spirit of his well-received Lewis & Clark (2011), covers one such expedition, during which Shackleton and his crew spent almost two years in and out of ice packs, drifting in lifeboats, and desperately trying to find a way back to civilization. For all the peril, though, the slightly obsessive (but never foolhardy) Shackleton comes across as an exceptional leader, maintaining a positive, enterprising attitude and never losing his probably life-saving spirit of camaraderie. Bertozzi eschews all narrative explanation, relying solely on dialogue among the crew and the detailed black-and-white panels to tell the story. The snow- and ice-bound journey is the perfect match for Bertozzi's minimal style vast stretches of white become gasp-worthy, desolate vistas. The result is stark but effective, and it only serves to underscore the tense drama of the harrowing journey beset by seemingly endless obstacles. Perfect for fans of real-life adventure stories.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2010 Booklist