The Terror: A Novel
by Dan Simmons
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dan SimmonsEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-12-10
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 784
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of The Terror: A Novel
Book Review: Another Great Simmons Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many others I cut my Simmons teeth on Hyperion (and Fall of Hyperion). Anxious to see what else Dan had up his sleeve I decided to try one of his horror novels. Amazon had this book on sale for $6.00 (for the trade paperback version) so The Terror it was. I was not disappointed!
Here we have one of the more infamous lost ship mysteries, the Franklin's Lost Expedition blended with horror, a huge mysterious bear-like mystical creature out on the ice. Captain Crozier of the HMS Terror, Captain Sir John Franklin of the Erebus and Captain Fitzjames lead the way to the sought-after Northwest Passage. If you are familiar with the real events of this expedition then you know things don't turn out so well. Both ships end up stuck on the ice for years. Making matters much worse, the food rations have been poisoned, the men start developing scurvy, it's freezing cold outside and worse yet there's an enormous creature out on the ice that could squash any man like a grape. A mysterious female Esquimaux without a tongue is on board whom they call Lady Silence. Is she a problem or a solution? The men speculate that she might be a witch, or something of that sort, but she's also the only person they know who has real arctic survival skills. There's a lot of mystery here!
I absolutely love Dan's writing and with The Terror he does not disappoint (for the most part). Some reviewers loathe his wordiness but I actually enjoy it, I have very vivid memories of this sizeable novel. I have seen a few reviewers complain about the lack of character development and I couldn't disagree more. Some reviewers complain that there are too many cardboard characters and while it is true that many characters aren't fleshed out, the important ones are developed very nicely in my opinion. There are 126 men on this expedition and by the end of the novel it seems as though you've met just about every one of them. If Dan spent the time developing every character then he would still be writing this book!
Unfortunately I can't give this one a full five stars. While I typically don't mind Dan's wordy-wordsmithing, it does become a bit excessive at the wrong time. For example, there's a scene in the book where a character attempts to escape from the creature whom has come aboard the ship. This escape in real-time would probably be no more than 5-10 minutes, however Dan spends what must be a full 25-30 pages to this event. He goes into extreme detail about every hand-hold, every foot position and every other minute detail that it actually turns what should be a white-knuckle chapter into a little bit of a tedious (if not a bit boring) read. Fortunately there are plenty of gripping moments so this isn't the norm, but it does happen.
In the end I highly recommend this book. There's the occasional rough spot but all-in-all this is a wonderful read. Oh, and the cover for the regular paperback (with the textured paper) is absolutely beautiful! Not that it affects the rating, just thought I'd throw that out there.
Buy it, read it, enjoy it.
Summary of The Terror: A Novel
"Dan Simmons writes with the salty grace and precision of Patrick O'Brian. But in piling supernatural nightmare upon historical nightmare, layering mystery upon mystery, he has produced a turbocharged vision of popular doom." -Men's JournalGreeted with excited critical praise, this extraordinary novel-inspired by the true story of two ice ships that disappeared in the Arctic Circle during an 1845 expedition-swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as "a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). THE TERROR chills readers to the core.
"Brutal, relentless, yet oddly uplifting, THE TERROR is a masterfully chilling work." -Entertainment Weekly
"In the hands of a lesser writer than Dan Simmons, THE TERROR might well have dissolved into a series of frigid days and three-dog nights. But Simmons is too good a writer to ignore the real gold in his story-its beleaguered cast." -Bookpage
"Guaranteed to have readers pulling their covers up to their noses, THE TERROR will make for a blood-freezing, bedtime read this winter-and any season thereafter." -Pages
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