The Terror: A Novel
by Dan Simmons
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Book Reviews of The Terror: A Novel
Book Review: A ship, a monster, and a man.
Summary: 5 Stars
Take a famous arctic expedition, add a Thing on the Ice, and sprinkle liberally with Victorian bravado , and voila! You have a first-rate tale that manages to be historical fiction, exploration narrative, and horror with equal ease. Simmons did his homework - he knows the Franklin Expedition well enough to speculate and embellish on what might have happened in the three years HMS Terror and HMS Erebus spent searching for the Northwest Passage (read: trapped in an ice floe).
Even if you (think you) know how the story ends, Simmons still has you rooting for the characters - especially the salty but capable Captain Crozier and the sympathetically non-nautical ship's surgeon, Dr. Goodsir. The Thing on the Ice is a terror itself, but the growing dread comes just as much from the terrible Arctic itself- the cold, the constant pressure of the ice - as well as the encroaching health effects of scurvy and what was very likely lead poisoning. The Terror is a riveting tale, and one that could easily have been tedious or predictable in the hands of a less capable author. Simmons is clearly a thoughtful and meticulous writer, and he brings both energy and pathos to this re-imagining of the doomed Expedition.
Book Review: Remarkable
Summary: 5 Stars
REMARKABLE. This book stands alone as a beautifully written, elegant, time-specific, and well researched to the utmost detail work of literature that yet manages to captivate and spellbind, integrating a harsh arctic reality with moments of magic.
To the author's credit, he somehow manages to use just the right amount of magic - enough to pique the interest of the reader, but not enough to detract from the serious character study which is the real showstopper.
I think I was most impressed, however, with Mr. Simmon's range of writing. He is best known for pure science fiction, as in his best-known work Hyperion, which is 100% scifi. After reading the Terror, I honestly could find virtually no similarity in the writing between the Terror and Hyperion, which I consider a high compliment, as both styles were excellent in their own unique ways. I would have expected The Terror to have been written by a historical fiction expert author with a special lifelong interest in the subject. I was very impressed to see Dan Simmons pull this off flawlessly, considering his very different previous writings in scifi.
Book Review: Excellent book from Dan Simmons
Summary: 5 Stars
Dan Simmons is a writer who has a unique talent. He writes well across many genres; science fiction, horror, thriller, and historical fiction. His book 'The Terror' is a bleak and lengthy telling of the lost 1845 Franklin Expedition which left England to find the Northwest Passage through the arctic waters north of Canada. Well grounded in the real people and real events, Dan Simmons makes plausable fiction, and characters that you come to care about. Not so much of a horror book as advertised though. The beast that stalks the crew makes few appearances and briefly at that. The real story is the agonizing struggle for survival and sanity as the lost crew deals with being entrapped in polar ice for years. Poisoned rations complicate this and many succumb. As food runs out, some of the crew turn to canabalism. Oh, it's bleak alright, but a good story of the perseverance of man. I won't give away the ending, but you will come away feeling you've read a good book.
In my opinion, 'The Terror' is a worthwhile read, and I look forward to more historical fiction from the very talented Mr. Simmons.
Book Review: Very much worth the read
Summary: 4 Stars
I usually stick to sci-fi and traditional action adventure but I read the back of this historical thriller and started reading it. But by the first few pages, I was hooked. The premise, a failed arctic mission to search for the elusive North-West passage entwined with a horror story, was very interesting. Yes, I do believe the author could have trimmed off some pages (which is why it receives 4 stars instead 5), but it's pacing actually kept my up at night. I didn't want to stop; sometimes I didn't, losing sleep night after night till the end. I liked it so much, I'm actually rereading it, just to find all the stuff I might have missed the first time. It can get ponderous at times (over 900 pages), but the characterization and story telling was spot on, making me really care about the good guys and booing the bad. This was a very good book. As good as "The Alienist" by Carr, even better at some points. If this is the kind of fiction being written about historical events out there, I will definitely have to try more.Book Review: Sadistic on many levels
Summary: 2 Stars
This book starts out as a good historical novel but soon drags the reader over one pressure ridge after another of disturbing monotony. When something finally happens the author seems to spend an indecent amount of ink describing in gruesome detail the various modes of violent death he inflicts on his doomed characters - while stretching the credibility factor to the breaking point.
I guess when writing a story with an ending everyone knows, it's understandable that the writer might be compelled to take some liberties and add some flourishes. This writer has chosen to devise a menagerie of sadistic and cruel ways for these poor sods to die, with long, pointless chapters in between. That pretty much sums up the novel.
The mysterious creature adds nothing to the narrative and is explained away in the final pages as the manifestation of some sort of Eskimo spiritual dribble.
Franklin's failed expedition becomes the best metaphor I can think of for this novel.