This short story is like a mini prequel to a larger space series. The Secret Beneath The Ice was well written and serves its main purpose – a basic introduction the world of Aravinda. I think that Andrew M. Crusoe had the right idea in mind with this story. I’m just not entirely sure it totally works as intended. I just kept getting a nagging feeling that this story wasn’t originally intended to serve as a prequel when it was written. Then again that is purely my opinion in this regard.

I will say this for the story it was good and had it’s intriguing moments. However, The Secret Beneath The Ice, prequel or not felt a lot like reading a deleted scene. I’m not saying by any means that it wasn’t worth the read. First, the book was free making price point a nonissue. It’s been pretty well documented from previous posts that free is always a risk since many times it’s hard to know what to expect. In this particular case I’m still not sure how it connects to the following books. There is still something to be desired here and I think length or lack of it didn’t do the story any favors not hurt it either. It just merely felt a little incomplete is all.

Overall I think the idea was solid and well written even if it was somewhat short for a prequel. It was like taking a bite from an apple and trying to decide if you liked it enough to buy the rest to make the full pound. Personally, I have yet to decide if it was tasty enough to continue reading the full series. I think in this particular case only time will dictate where this goes among my reading list this year. Intrigue is the best way to whet an apatite.