Ice Breaker by Lian Tanner

The Hidden series, bk 1. Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN: 9781543314340
(Age: 8+) Recommended. 'Don't worry,' she whispered, 'I won't let 'em throw you overboard. You're not really sick, are you? This is prob'ly the worst of it already. You'll be up and skipping around by the end of the middle watch. And then it won't be just me against the rest of the ship. It'll be both of us.'
Petrel lives on the Oyster. A ship that sails through the ice. It has done this for three hundred years now and everyone has a place on the ship. But not Petrel, she is the Nothing Girl. So when she spots a stranger lying in the ice she is determined to save him. No one has ever seen a stranger before. So what is he doing all the way out here?
Fin wants nothing more than to destroy the demon that lives on the Oyster and take his place among the Devouts. He won't let anything distract him that is until he meets Petrel and starts to doubt everything he has been taught to believe.
What Petrel doesn't know and Fin is trying to find out is that the Oyster is hiding something. There are legends about this secret, the Sleeping Captain, they call it.
What happens when Brother Thrawn and the Devouts launch an attack? Will Petrel finally speak up and will Fin realise who his true friends are?
I would recommend this novel to people of any gender, above the age of eight as there is some violence and themes that may be too scary for children any younger. Ice Breaker is slightly confusing as it changes from one person's view to another although it is still interesting to read and shows that anything is possible when you use your imagination. The only thing I could pick up was the fact the Ms Tanner spelt some words differently or wrong. As it occurs quite a lot I believe it is written to suit the setting of the story.
Jazmin Humphries, Year 7