This introduces a major theme of the novel – the use of genetic engineering to create a truly cold-tolerant type of human. The goal was to develop powerful beings that could withstand the cold and perform jobs that humans could not do in extreme climate. It keeps chopping to a backstory every time a new character is introduced – and those new characters seem to keep coming pretty much up until the end – which, of course, isn’t the end. We learn about Kate’s possibly stalling career and Leo’s plan to apply to acting schools against his mother’s wishes.

I enjoyed this choice, the characters feel real (but of course, it leaves lots of stuff to think about like who made decisions and how did they decide, etc) .The answer, according to Yotam, the scientist who has “raised” the creature from birth, will depend on its capacity to love. What starts with a chance meeting ends in a story of survival and the author brings in so many twists and unexpected dilemmas that provide a dilemma. But after getting off to a great start, in which a family overcomes grievous odds to make it to Antarctica by supertanker only to get caught in an offshore logjam and risk missing the aliens' deadline, the novel loses its heart and narrative sweep to stiffly written scenes and didactic commentaries. Cold People tells the story of humankind's exile to Antarctica, and the struggles to set up a society on the planet's most inhospitable continent. Next came Child 44, later made into a movie on the big screen starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace.

Most of the scientists involved fear the outcome of the experiments and consider the creatures dangerous. The concept of Cold People appealed to me as it featured topics I enjoy, including survival in a post-apocalyptic world, mysterious alien contact, the Antarctic, and establishing new societies under challenging circumstances. When the aliens arrive, Liza and Atto are forced to quickly take steps to save their own lives and those of their families.

They issue one instruction: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist… Antarctica.

Each town has to create a society from scratch and decide which values will be essential to its survival. On page 161, upon seeing Eitan, a geneticist says, “‘Invaded by aliens, we have created aliens of our own.So that even close to the end, Smith is still introducing new characters with multi-page backstories before moving back to the action.

The planet’s population is given 30 days to relocate to Antarctica, which will become a vast reservation for the remnants of the species; there they will either die out or adapt, depending on their willingness to work together.Sadly, the story is inelegantly told; all of the pivotal plot points have very little depth and the internal logical of the world simply does not hold up. A brilliantly conceived post-apocalyptic story that tackles a well-worn subject (a desperate race to save humanity) from a new and absolutely captivating angle. Shortly after Liza and Atto step foot on Antarctica we catch our breath and can’t help but feel for them of the hopelessness of their predicament.