"Ordeal by Ice" is the first of the three books in the "Top of the World" series. It tells of a number of early expeditions to the frozen north, starting with Henry Hudson's early 17th century voyage, which ended in tragedy and mystery. Indeed, tragedy of the most appalling kind awaited many of those who attempted to make their way through the "Icie Seas," and it is the attempt to progress against the fantastic odds of the northern winter which makes the stories Mowat has collected so compelling. This is invigorating history, of a kind which Mowat has made his own (see also "Sea of Slaughter," "People of the Deer," "The Desperate People" etc.). Not only has he done us a great service by bringing it out of its mothballs, so to speak, but he has also created a vital and highly readable saga of northern exploration that can be read for its own sake.