Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I loved this book and read it over a weekend. Couldn't put it down. Now I'm reading it again. For anyone who likes adventure stories or stories of the human spirit and the amazing way it can triumph over the odds, please read this book. Ada Blackjack, both book and woman, are an inspiration.
Rating: 
Summary: Ada Blackjack
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It took you to a different time with different mores and values, and you can see Ada as a victim of prejudice, in being a woman, and in being a native Alaskan from the young men she went to Wrangell Island with. The arrogance, spins, misinformation, responsibility avoidance, and power plays that were done after the expedition was over must be compared with politics today. History repeats itself, indeed. I would highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: I was lucky enough to sneak a peek at an advanced copy of Niven's book, Ada Blackjack, and found myself swept away by this riveting story about an Inuit woman who was the lone survivor of a grueling expedition. If you are tired of the Arctic genre, don't despair-- this transcends Arctic adventure. Although part of it is set in the Arctic, it is really the story about an amazing, extraordinary woman and her journey to survive, both in the ice and in civilization. I was a fan of Niven's first book, The Ice Master, and am even more of a fan now. Her prose is immediate, accessible, gripping, and skilled, and I love the way she weaves a story, making this reader forget he is receiving a history lesson as, all the while, he is speeding to the last page, desperate to see how it ends.
Rating:
Summary: Should be a movie!
Review: I'm finally working my way through my stack of Christmas books, and it seems I saved the best for last without knowing it. Ada Blackjack is a great read and Jennifer Niven is a born storyteller (her Ice Master was my favorite Christmas read of 2001). This is the stuff of movies-- unlikely heroes, a young mother trying to take care of her son, adventure, villains, unexpected twists and turns, the loyal folks waiting back home. The entire time I was reading I kept picturing Ada Blackjack, the film. Although I doubt it could compete with Niven's written version, I'd like to see it someday. Thanks for this inspirational story and for following up Ice Master with something (amazingly) even better.
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I'm not done reading this book yet but am already willing to give it five stars. This is a great read, and while the author doesn't get too bogged down in details it actually helps what could have been a boring book move along very nicely. I'm definetly going to check out her other books now because this is a real talent to watch.
Rating:
Summary: a worthwhile read
Review: If you like inspirational stories, this is a great one. Ada Blackjack is an amazing woman, every inch a hero, even though she is also a flawed, fallible person. That makes her even more likable and easy to identify with. I highly recommend this book to anyone craving a good story, a good adventure, or inspiration. I will think twice about complaining about the mundane daily details of my life now, after reading what Ada and her colleagues endured.
Rating:
Summary: great chronicle of a doomed Arctic expedition
Review: In 1921, notorious explorer Stefansson hires twentyish female Inuit Ada Blackjack as seamstress to four young Anglo-American males he recruited to claim the uninhabited Arctic Wrangel Island for the British Empire. The crew was under supplied as Stefansson expected them to live off the frozen tundra. They lacked any substantial sub zero weather experience though two once traveled beyond the Circle. At least the men (Crawford, Knight, Maurer, and Galle) saw this expedition as a youthful lark. The mission failed miserably and three of the team headed to Siberia, leaving Ada to tend to the dying fifth companion. Two years later, Ada is the only one to return home; nothing but rumors of white male sightings beyond the Arctic Circle was ever heard from the trio.ADA BLACKJACK is a great biography of a heroine who risks all so that her ailing son can receive proper medical care back in Nome. The book rips the dynamic leader Stefannson who remained behind in relative comfort though that might be an unfair historiography slight. His behavior is comparable to the World War I generals living in luxury in London, Paris, and Berlin while the grunts lacked shoes and breathed poison gas or presidents on campaign fundraisers while troops at war receive one MRE. Ada is a great individual whose survival is so spectacular one would think her tale is fiction. The media frenzy that follows her return brings readers back to reality as the frozen island seems warmer than the press corps. With this superb tome and the delightful ICE MASTER, Jennifer Niven is a leader of chronicling exciting and inspiring but doomed real life Arctic expeditions. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable read
Review: Like so many others I've devoured every book on polar exploration that I can get my hands on. I was a big fan of Niven's Ice Master and knew I wanted to read whatever came next from her. Then here came Ada Blackjack, the most unforgettable hero to ever walk out of the Arctic. The fact that she's a woman in a (largely) man's world, that she lacked all knowledge of polar survival, and that she was the only one to walk away from a horrific expedition (after teaching herself all the skills needed to survive) makes her compelling enough, but Niven's story of this obscure, inspiring Eskimo woman transcends the adventure genre and introduces us to a simple, real-life, unexceptional woman who became movingly, unforgettably exceptional.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating tale
Review: My daughter bought me this book and told me I had to read it. I have to admit, I usually prefer novels to nonfiction, but she assured me I would like this one. I loved it! I have just ordered Ms. Niven's first book and am planning to read that too. One of the things I loved most about this book was the author's ability to tell me the story without making it feel bogged down by the facts. This was a wonderful history book, but it didn't feel like a history lesson. Instead it read like a novel, even though I know it was completely true. Ada Blackjack is such a wonderful heroine, and the four young men who went with her to the Artic were so brave and good. I can't wait to read The Ice Master! I will recommend this book to everyone I know who appreciates great literature and a good story.
Rating:
Summary: A new fan
Review: My daughter bought me this book and told me I had to read it. I have to admit, I usually prefer novels to nonfiction, but she assured me I would like this one. I loved it! I have just ordered Ms. Niven's first book and am planning to read that too. One of the things I loved most about this book was the author's ability to tell me the story without making it feel bogged down by the facts. This was a wonderful history book, but it didn't feel like a history lesson. Instead it read like a novel, even though I know it was completely true. Ada Blackjack is such a wonderful heroine, and the four young men who went with her to the Artic were so brave and good. I can't wait to read The Ice Master! I will recommend this book to everyone I know who appreciates great literature and a good story.
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