The novel by Simmons is fantasy, but it is interesting in parts. At 769 pages, it is way too long.
I paged through it, reading parts, but fantasy is not my cup of tea.
See NY Times Book Review, "Ice Men," by Terrence Rafferty, March 18, 2007.

A book that held my interest is Lady Franklin's Revenge, by Ken McGoogan. The title is an exaggeration, but this bit from the dust jacket gives an idea of what this factual book is about-

"When her husband, Sir John Franklin, disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, in a misguided attempt to discover the final link in the Northwest Passage, she orchestrated an unprecedented twelve-year search. Though she failed to rescue Franklin, she contributed more to the discovery of the North than any celebrated explorer, and turned failure into triumph by creating a legend that has survived to this day."

Too little known, Lady Franklin was the greatest woman traveler of her time. Her extensive diaries disclose much about the British Empire in the 19th century.
She circumnavigated the globe, sailed up the Nile, and covered part of the Middle East by donkey. Australia, Van Dieman's Land, South Pacific, Hawai'i, etc., etc. A fascinating, if frustrating, woman.