Mass Market Paperback, 960 pages
English language
Published Jan. 5, 2009 by Little, Brown and Co..
The men on board The HMS Terror—part of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition—are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of ice and desolation. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations and a dwindling coal supply. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in.
Poctivych 1066 gramu za nama. Horor nepatri mezi moje preferovany zanry (ani namorni tematika), jak si to vedlo? Dilo je to rozho kvalitni, lehka obava z nudy nenaplnena.
Ale? Kdo cetl od stejnyho autora Hyperion nebo Dobu mrchozroutu, vi, ze jde jit jeste o kus dal. V klidu hutnejsi cteni, ale nic zasadniho.
I haven't decided if waiting to read this book until I experienced a real life cold snap in the dead of winter was a brilliant move or a bad idea, but I'll be damned that extra bit of immersion didn't heighten my anxiety!
There's always going to be an appeal to doomed narratives where you already know the outcome, but the more bleak and sad that ending is, the more the morbid part of your mind wants to know how things got to that point. The Terror certainly doesn't disappoint here, going into superb (at times maybe too much?) detail outlining the ultimately futile attempts of this expedition's crew to survive in one of the harshest environments on earth. I'm talking descriptions of sailors unable to blink because their eyelids literally froze open, absent-mindedly touching cold metal with an ungloved hand and losing your skin as you pull away, the …
I haven't decided if waiting to read this book until I experienced a real life cold snap in the dead of winter was a brilliant move or a bad idea, but I'll be damned that extra bit of immersion didn't heighten my anxiety!
There's always going to be an appeal to doomed narratives where you already know the outcome, but the more bleak and sad that ending is, the more the morbid part of your mind wants to know how things got to that point. The Terror certainly doesn't disappoint here, going into superb (at times maybe too much?) detail outlining the ultimately futile attempts of this expedition's crew to survive in one of the harshest environments on earth. I'm talking descriptions of sailors unable to blink because their eyelids literally froze open, absent-mindedly touching cold metal with an ungloved hand and losing your skin as you pull away, the stench of wearing four layers of clothes you haven't washed in literal months, and one of the most graphic scenes of pre-industrial surgery I've read probably ever.
This is a cold book that was wonderfully atmospheric and was one of those, "the setting itself is a character" stories. To say nothing of the huge cast of sailors who are trying to place faith in their leaders to get them out of this mess until rule of law begins to break down and whispers of mutiny grow too loud. There are a ton of names to remember, but with a book this long and with as much time as you spend with them, it isn't too bad keeping track of them.
Also there's a monster. The monster was very good. Just an unstoppable, evil, and smart antagonist that caused multiple moments that had me saying, "oh Jesus Christ..." out loud. Never have I seen such a sinister force meting out punishment for the cardinal sin of checks notes "being British."
However the part that will always give me pause when recommending this to people in the future will be the ending, which kind of has a bit of a tone shift from being absolutely soul-crushingly bleak to somewhat kinda optimistic? I almost wish things had committed to being the worst possible outcome right to the very end because I was expecting it. There's also kind of a strange mysticism/variant of the "Magical Minority helps the white man" trope that I could've done without.
If nothing else, I feel like for pretty much the rest of my life whenever I experience something really cold I'm gonna be muttering to myself, "omg, this just like The Terror..."
This book was phenomenal. It's about three times as long as the books I normally read (~900 Kindle pages) so it took me awhile to finish. The multiple perspectives were done in a cohesive and easy to understand way. The monster was terrifying!!
Complaints, however: the last 10% of the book went in a weird direction. I felt like there should have been more buildup to this conclusion throughout the book, instead of just throwing in this lore and history at the end to tie it all together; it was a bit lazy. Without making spoilers, the way the information was related to the reader was also a shot out of the dark and could have been better nurtured in the story (rather than the fever dreams of withdrawal). The ending felt rushed, and there were some loose ends I wish the author had tied up. Also, I found myself …
This book was phenomenal. It's about three times as long as the books I normally read (~900 Kindle pages) so it took me awhile to finish. The multiple perspectives were done in a cohesive and easy to understand way. The monster was terrifying!!
Complaints, however: the last 10% of the book went in a weird direction. I felt like there should have been more buildup to this conclusion throughout the book, instead of just throwing in this lore and history at the end to tie it all together; it was a bit lazy. Without making spoilers, the way the information was related to the reader was also a shot out of the dark and could have been better nurtured in the story (rather than the fever dreams of withdrawal). The ending felt rushed, and there were some loose ends I wish the author had tied up. Also, I found myself skipping over some of the long sermons and lore stories.
Aside from those things, I will be buying this hardcover book for my bookshelf because it was a great historical fiction with a creepy, eerie monster and a punishing and terrifying environment.
Seemlessly crafting a fictional horror out of the true (as we know it) events of the Franklin Expedition.
Ruined my life.
Shackleton + a supernatural monster = even more misadventure and strife. I really enjoyed the details that the author layered into the story. Seemed like it took considerable research. The plot went directions that were often surprising.
I read this after watching the TV series and found it really intriguing. Definitely a fun read!
The last 10% of this harrowing novel feels nothing at all like the rest. Nothing. My first reaction was disappointment, as I'd been comfortable with the rise and flow of the words, and this last bit felt like it was written by a different author -- tacked to the end of an Arctic journey it didn't match like some belated MadLibs.
It wasn't until I started writing this review that the ending finally clicked for me: the ending is so vastly different than the rest of the book because it represents a massive perspective change for the narrator. Whether this works for a reader, I suppose, would depend on how consistent you like the tone of your narrative. I found the transition jarring, but I can now appreciate narratively why that was done.
I want to give this book 2.5 stars. I actually liked it, so I'll give it three, rather than two. I listened to the 22 hour audio book and the narrator was amazing.
This book is so long. It makes the long dredge of Frodo and Gollum seem like a summer stroll. It's also strange. Jumping between the soul crushing slog of being frozen in the ice, long and detailed flashbacks, super natural monster fights and graphic sex scenes. It's Dan Simmons though. All of his books feel like they're written by a super intelligent high school boy.
This is my first book with some detail on the themes Arctic exploration and the British navy. I enjoyed a lot of that. I really liked the Inuit mythology and how they survived on the ice. I loved Dr Goodsir and Crozier.
I think I'm glad I read it.
This is a great book. This is exactly the kind of book I love. I have a thing for man against nature, man against the limits of his own endurance. (hence my love of mountain climbing books) Plus I have a "thing" for horror fiction. (hence my love of Stephan King) And this book had both! What a bargain. The setting in the arctic, the oppressive, endless polar night, the ungodly, unrelenting cold, the wind that had real, beastly teeth... And a ship stuck, frozen, trapped for years, no rescue...brrr, spine chilling yo. The specter of death always ready to strike because the margin between life and death being so thin, but the will to survive a formidable match... was a real testament to mankind, the power of love, honor. Loved this book.
Patrick O'Brian meets Stephen King. Though far from perfect, and too long, this is the kind of intelligent page-turner I'm so often trying to find. And all the graphic scurvy descriptions made me drink a lot more orange juice while reading this.
When it comes to this book, I feel much as I did about Drood. The level of unnecessary exposition is less in this book, but not by much. Simmons really seems to have an issue where when he does historical fiction that he becomes determined to fit every detail from his research into the book, regardless if it fits the needs of the story.
There's a good story here, and brilliant description of the struggle to survive the Arctic. However, there's also about 100 pages beyond that of extraneous details.
Finally dug into this. Seems interesting if a bit of an extraordinarily long haul. For the length, there could probably be three or four books contained within.
An absolutely tremendous journey. How did these men embark upon such an endeavor with any hope of survival? It is a true testament to our endurance and willingness to take on any challenge.
What a disappointment.
After truly enjoying the mysterious, enthralling tale provided by Drood, I thought that Simmons' prior work of historical fiction would be just as alluring. Unfortunately, The Terror suffers from the same main problem that plagued Drood: the story's buildup and the shroud of mystery surrounding the main antagonist lead to extreme letdown. However, whereas the entirety of Drood's story somewhat made up for its anticlimactic ending, The Terror's story - while chilling in many ways - just isn't good enough to survive its "ending-letdown."
Simmons does a great job weaving 700+ pages worth of the horrific nature of Arctic sailing, where incessant cold, poisoned food, scurvy, and the unknown create a constant state of unease; however, this tale never seems to go anywhere. Whereas Drood made me insanely curious to find out what would happen next, The Terror left me in a constant state of "Can we …
What a disappointment.
After truly enjoying the mysterious, enthralling tale provided by Drood, I thought that Simmons' prior work of historical fiction would be just as alluring. Unfortunately, The Terror suffers from the same main problem that plagued Drood: the story's buildup and the shroud of mystery surrounding the main antagonist lead to extreme letdown. However, whereas the entirety of Drood's story somewhat made up for its anticlimactic ending, The Terror's story - while chilling in many ways - just isn't good enough to survive its "ending-letdown."
Simmons does a great job weaving 700+ pages worth of the horrific nature of Arctic sailing, where incessant cold, poisoned food, scurvy, and the unknown create a constant state of unease; however, this tale never seems to go anywhere. Whereas Drood made me insanely curious to find out what would happen next, The Terror left me in a constant state of "Can we move on, please?" There are only so many times one can endure a repetitive chapter cycle - recount who is dead and how they died, wander down a long flashback that doesn't endear me to its character, etc. - before boredom begins to set in.
I give this book 3 stars because at its core, The Terror is a fantastic set piece that manages to sustain a constant state of unease and weave in fantastic scenes (such as the carnivale, the failed bear-blind, etc.). However, at its weakest points (including the final 100 pages, which, of all possible ending scenarios, sufficiently destroyed any suspense/intrigue/excitement that had been building up), The Terror drifts along, never truly sure of where it wants to go.
