The Terror

A Novel

by Dan Simmons

Hardcover, 784 pages

English language

Published Jan. 8, 2007 by Little, Brown and Company.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-01744-2

(47 reviews)

The bestselling author of Ilium transforms the story of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition into a devastating historical adventure that will chill you to your core.The men on board Her Britannic Majesty's Ships Terror and Erebus had every expectation of triumph. They were part of Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition – as scientifically advanced an enterprise as had ever set forth – and theirs were the first steam-driven vessels to go in search of the fabled North-West Passage. But the ships have now been trapped in the Arctic ice for nearly two years. Coal and provisions are running low. Yet the real threat isn't the constantly shifting landscape of white or the flesh-numbing temperatures, dwindling supplies or the vessels being slowly crushed by the unyielding grip of the frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying. There is something out there that haunts the frigid darkness, which stalks the ships, snatching one man at a time – mutilating, devouring. A nameless thing, at once nowhere and everywhere, this terror has become the expedition's nemesis. When Franklin meets a terrible death, it falls to Captain Francis Crozier of HMS Terror to take command and lead the remaining crew on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Eskimo woman who cannot speak. She may be the key to survival – or the harbinger of their deaths. And as scurvy, starvation and madness take their toll, as the Terror on the ice become evermore bold, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape...

27 editions

Cari Fisher reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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 …

BDaggerhart reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Seemlessly crafting a fictional horror out of the true (as we know it) events of the Franklin Expedition.

5 stars

Seemlessly crafting a fictional horror out of the true (as we know it) events of the Franklin Expedition.

Maerman reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Ruined my life.

axleyjc reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Daniel P Bishop reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I read this after watching the TV series and found it really intriguing. Definitely a fun read!

Unruly Stacks reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Matt McManus reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

Sandra reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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.

mikewilson reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Daniel Andrlik reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

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.

jonathan.brodsky reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

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.

ThomD reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

bachya reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

erinmalone reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons

Review of 'The Terror' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

omg - at first I was thinking that this book was going to be boring - english expeditions looking for the north west passage. But it sucked me in and I couldn't put it down. All 784 pages of it kept me engaged. I kept peeking ahead but ended up staying up late two nights in a row to finish. Simmons spends a lot of time crafting the characters and you feel like you know them well as the book progresses. This is a very sad book yet has a sort of happy ending, at least for one character.

okenwillow reviewed Terreur by Dan Simmons

Review of 'Terreur' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Voilà du lourd, du très très lourd. Et je ne parle pas de la taille, de l’épaisseur et du poids du livre, fort imposant cela dit. Dan Simmons, que je découvre ici, nous entraîne dans une aventure des plus oppressantes, inspirée d’un fait réel, et habilement teintée de fantastique histoire de combler les zones d’ombres qui entourent l’expédition. Je suis tombée sous le charme de Simmons et de son talent de conteur. Je reste sans voix devant un tel souci du détail, je n’ose imaginer la quantité de documentations consultées par l’auteur pour reconstituer si précisément une expédition dont on sait encore peu de chose sur le déroulement de sa fatale issue. Le mode de vie des marins de l’époque est d’une précision confondante, rien ne nous est épargné, pour mieux nous immerger dans l’histoire, le contexte, la mentalité d’alors. Il nous restitue tout dans les moindres détails, la gestion des vivres, les rôles des différents marins et officiers, la (sur)vie en milieu hostile.

Les personnages cités sont nombreux, les principaux protagonistes ont réellement existé et Simmons s’est appuyé notamment sur des archives et des documents officiels. Ils sont pour la plupart très attachants et malgré leur nombre, on ne s’y perd pas. Le récit est touffu, l’atmosphère glaciale et la menace qui pèse lourdement sur des équipages du Terror et de l’Érebus contribuent à happer efficacement le lecteur. On est en effet pris dans les glaces en même temps que les deux navires, l’histoire est tellement bien menée et son suspens distillé au compte-goutte, que l’on savoure chaque chapitre. L’aspect fantastique et surnaturel est formidablement bien dosé, et n’est réellement développé que sur la fin, de manière à ne pas noyer le récit dans un mélange historico-délirant, qui aurait à mon sens, gâché l’intérêt documentaire du livre. On en apprend d’ailleurs beaucoup sur les conditions de vie et de déroulement d’une telle expédition à cette époque. Le courage, voire l’inconscience de ces hommes mal équipés pour vivre dans de telles régions est ahurissant et force l’admiration. Le sens du devoir et l’obéissance du marin envers ses supérieurs, le respect des différences de classes malgré les circonstances peuvent par contre laisser perplexe.

Un excellentissime et haletant roman d’aventures, entre le documentaire et le roman historique, le récit fantastique et le voyage initiatique. Premier coup de cœur de l’année pour moi.