The Terror is a fictional tale based on the real life experience of the notoriously doomed John Franklin Expedition.These brave men journeyed hundreds of miles by sea voyage in the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, part of the British Naval fleet sent to the Arctic to force the Northwest Passage in 1845–1848, and then travelled the rest on foot into the desolate, below-freezing temperatures of the Arctic wasteland. All died or were never seen or heard from ever again.Dan Simmons imaginative story explains how and why. The Terror is a book drawn from a historical background so deep and so thoroughly well-researched that I'm quite sure I've never heard of any other writer of fiction attempting to do so at this level ever before. For those that like to pick apart every bit of a story with a goal in mind to repute the validity of the facts given, you won't find much to work with here. Set in the harshest conditions, with handfuls of men that may be hard to discern not only which side of the fence they're on, but just who is who for a ways, these characters aren't so much as enjoyable as they are absorbing. As their living conditions become more severe and their hardships grow more intense, good decision-making is made less and less often. Way below freezing temperatures, sparse food supplies, sickness, soreness, etc., would be tragic for even the most stalwart men.The Terror, providentially, is more than all this. What is it exactly? ~ This is a horror book, right? Yes. Even though it didn't have to be. Dan Simmons could have left out all the fantastical elements in his historical tale and it would've been enough to cringe to and have nightmares about and be fascinated all the same. But, he didn't stop there, thankfully. So what is The Terror exactly? Is it a man? Is it natural, man-made, myth or legend? The word Tuunbaq comes up. Is it a living creature, a guardian spirit, or an evil elder monster from eons past, or maybe something from another world? ~ Is it the Wendigo? Or possibly a Yeti? ~ ~ A Polar Bear gone mad with frenzy? ~ ~ Is it the mythical Tuunbaq, maybe? ~ I can't say. The story itself is very long, a bit heavy, hopeless, and as can only be expected, if you don't stay on it you will probably confuse a few of the officers with eachother which could result in you wanting to forget the whole thing altogether. This book cannot be compared to Simmons previous novels in any shape or form. This book is not science-fiction nor does it have the framework or set-up of a traditional horror tale either. For anyone fascinated with historical adventures and cryptid horror and for readers who crave oldschool antiquated storytelling. It takes an investment of time and patience beyond the norm that should be very rewarding if you stay with it until the end. I thought it was truly great and really enjoyed all the finer details that breached to the surface.If you are a modern reader and you only like *page-turners*, this is certainly not for you. If you have a million and one things going on at once, just say no for now. If you are into comic book type action of super-heroic proportions, not for you. If you like quick answers and are impatient in any way I suggest reading something else. If you are somebody who needs happy American-style endings to your movie, where you finally get the girl and there's a big smooch in the end with sunlight or fireworks streaming in the background, don't even touch this book for fear you might be infected by the dreadful truth of reality. There are many reasons why you should want to read this though. In this book you will share and feel the experience the crew are feeling: the cold, the despair, the loneliness, the dread and terror of the unknown, unstoppable creature, and the tragic understanding of, what inevitably feels to be, a hopeless outcome. You might feel the need to put on layers and layers of clothing, and stand so close to a fire you may be tempted to put your hands and feet right into it. You will feel like you are living this book. I believe it is Dan Simmons magnum opus. I give it 5 stars not because I'm necesarily going to return and re-read it again anytime soon but because, other than being a tad too long, it is flawless. It doesn't fall into modern traps or pitfalls of always trying to please the reader nor does it have the feeling of a Hollywood movie where you know your main characters are going to survive to the end, regardless of any other surprises. This is the real deal. Live it. Experience it. Draw from it. Then pick up some fluffy fun read you can rollercoaster through for 2 days straight to a walloping climax so you can recuperate and recover. * For fans of the book, you will be glad to know AMC is bringing it to television in the form of a tv series and if that news isn't good enough, Ridley Scott is purportedly producing it and my guess is he may even direct an episode or two.** There have been several releases of this book, even a few just recently. I prefer the standard-sized 2009 paperback release. It has a little better cover art than some of the others, having distinct yellow and white embossed lettering, and inside and on the back, a lot of cool quotes and kudo's by reviewers and other notable authors. Kind of fun to read what others have to say about this extraordinary novel. Highly recommended!!!!!
In 1845, a group of about 130 men set sail from England on two steam ships with the intent of successfully finding a path through the icebound Arctic and navigating the rumored Northwest Passage. This was never to be, and every single soul on the expedition perished for various reasons. The Terror is Dan Simmons' brilliant, grueling fictional telling of everything that happened and went wrong on the journey--and things go very, very wrong in this novel. From the first page the reader is bound in unyielding ice with these men, and for the length of this epic novel we're forced to slowly watch certain doom approach, all light and hope dwindling bit by bit until you're immersed in utterly fucking freezing and horrifying gloom of the literal and existential varieties. The blank, bleak landscape. The ever-dwindling coal and food supplies. The stirrings of violent mutiny among the men. And the...man-eating ice monster?That's right, this is a full-fledged historical fiction novel...WITH A GIANT MONSTER! I found the mix of thoroughly-researched (see Simmons' list of sources in the back) historical setting and characters with an element of supernatural horror to be pitch-perfect and thoroughly awesome. It's never cheesy or silly. It's dead serious and often feels TOO real. The staggering amount of nautical detail of every kind just brought a horrible vividness to the events. I can totally see and understand people getting bored with the minutiae, but for me it was all just part and parcel of Simmons' thoroughly immersing me in this horrible world. Human beings should NOT have been fucking around up there, ever--even without an ice monster appearing from nowhere and turning men into scattered bits and pieces of gory detritus. That's what makes this book so fucking awesome--thorough, straight-faced and unrelenting commitment to this odd premise. Simmons' ever-impressive prose and plotting never hurt either.When your setting is basically a bunch of white stuff and two ships stuck in said white stuff, you're gonna have to bring out the big guns and really bring your characters to life, and Simmons repeatedly succeeded at this. You're not gonna get to know every man on the expedition front-to-back--there's way too many of them and too many dudes constantly biting it--but the ones you do know you'll remember. The POV switches every chapter, with a helpful heading letting you know which one you're about to read (and their latitude and longitude--this is not a joke) à la Martin's Ice and Fire books (best example I could think of, as literally everyone in the universe has read them). We start out with three POVs in Captain Francis Crozier, Dr. Harry Goodsir and Sir John Franklin (the commander of the expedition). Simmons adds and subtracts POVs as necessary, but those are who we start out with. It's a big cast overall, but I can honestly say that I was never bland on any of the characters that play a significant role. Some of them I loved, some I liked and some I was thoroughly grossed out and disturbed by (readers of this novel will not have a hard time guessing who that one was).As specifically to the fantastical content...it is there. If you can't get down with some heavy mythical/supernatural stuff avoid this book like the plague. I guess you could say that the brain of this book is historical but the heart is fantasy. For me, it was a perfect blend but I'm sure people will want more of one and less of the other--I'm one of the lucky ones, I'm sure. I can't state enough how intriguing I found the combination...kind of an Epic Historical Nautical Horror, if you will. How many of those books can you say you've read? And we need more, damn it! Thankfully, Simmons seems to be continuing in this weird vein with books like Drood, Black Hills and The Abominable. I can't recommend him to everyone enough. If the premise of this book sounds even REMOTELY intriguing to you, buy it or get it from the library--I can almost promise you won't be disappointed.The Terror is the kind of book that makes lazy reviewers like myself just want to spew adjectives like haunting, epic, horrifying, immersive, etc. They're all applicable, and they're all true. And despite this being in kind of an odd literary niche like I mentioned, I can see this appealing to a wide variety of people: people that read nautical history stuff Patrick O'Brian or fans of Gothic horror of the Victorian variety like Poe, Stevenson and all those weirdos or even just people who like a good, gory creature feature. I honestly cannot think of a single person I know on this site who has absolutely no chance of getting something out of this book. Yes, this is kind of hyperbolic but I'm sincere, this was a fantastic book that should be read by more people. The length and detail (I never thought I'd learn so many terms for the myriad types of FUCKING ICE) will turn some off but if you can tolerate/like those things then this is a must.
What do You think about The Terror (2007)?
September 7, 2010: I don't want to talk about it right now. It's too soon and the pain is still too fresh. I shall review on another day.September 17, 2010: It's been well over a week since my encounter with The Terror and the thought of writing a review still exhausts me, but here it goes. I have read many glowing reviews of The Terror. That is, in fact, why I bought it. I mean, check out this kick ass plot: Two British ships, the Terror and the Erebus, are frozen in the polar sea for years, waiting in vain for a summer thaw. This is, of course, based upon the doomed Franklin expedition, so we have some serious history going on here. Now, add to that a dash of the supernatural--something is out there on the ice. It terrorizes the men, seeming to materialize from nowhere. It's three times the size of a polar bear and has the vicious, bloodthirsty nature of a predator, as well as the keen intelligence of a man. It's like a giant cat toying with the two ships as if they were terrified mice in a corner. There's nowhere to go, guns don't faze the the thing the men dub "The Terror", and, now, the food supply is running out.That's some frightening shit. It's the arctic. That alone is frightening. It can drive a man insane. It's the nothingness. The whiteness. The endless-ness. Howard Moon and Vince Noir knew not to take the tundra lightly.And that's part of what ruined the book in the beginning. All I could think as I read the first few chapters was "ice floe, nowhere to go." I think that might have taken away from the tone a bit.But here are some other more text-based reasons for the seething black pit of hatred that I have for this book:a) History or supernatural, Simmons needs to pick a side because the two storylines always seemed to run parallel to one another and never quite came together. It was like, "Okay, for 100 pages, I'm going to have the men fearing for their lives as this thing attacks them. I'm going to build tension and suspense and have my readers empathetically shitting down both legs! And then I'm going to flashback for 50 pages to boring nautical talk amongst stuffy British types before the expedition and then spend 150 pages talking about Welsh Wigs and Goldner food tins and building sledges and maybe I'll even talk about buggering, but no mention whatsoever of the monster for another 50 pages!" Simmons was at his best when describing the encounters between the men and the thing on the ice, but these moments were so few and far between that I just got to the point where I didn't care anymore. b) Too much historical minutiae. The book should have been 300 pages shorter. There were entire sections that didn't add anything to the narrative. I like my history like I like my men: short and concise. c) Scurvy is some wicked bad shite. A slow death by scurvy is undoubtedly one of the worst ways to die. But do you know what's worse? A slow death by reading endless accounts of the symptoms of scurvy.d) There are no likeable characters. In fact, there is little to differentiate one man from another. If you left out the dialogue tags, it would have sounded like one man having a conversation with himself. The only character I like is Pangle, who, alas, appears in just a chapter or two of this 766 page behemoth. e) I was really pissed when I finally found out what the thing was. The main reason? THAT'S what I wanted to read more about. And it took roughly 700 pages to get to a point where I was actually interested and intrigued and it cut me off. There were some bright spots. When Simmons wrote about the thing attacking the men, leaving bait for them and taunting them, he evoked moments that were truly terrifying and suspenseful. However, there just weren't enough of them. Sure, the attempts to survive against cold, hunger, and disease should have been compelling stuff, but they made for anemic reading when pitted against a terrifying adversary without name or shape. Also, the chapter in which the men throw a carnivale and erect tents that mirror the rooms in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is admittedly brilliant. When it comes right down to it, though, The Mighty Boosh did a far superior job of capturing the terror of the arctic. When Howard admonishes Vince that "The arctic is no respecter of fashion," I still get chills. The same cannot be said of my reaction to The Terror. Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
—Amanda
This is wonderfully vivid historical fiction about the doomed Franklin expedition which departed England in 1845, intending to discover the elusive Northwest Passage. Take note of the adjective "doomed", and don't say I didn't warn you.The book's appropriate title comes from the name of one of the expedition's two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, which were fitted out for Arctic exploration: specially reinforced to withstand the ice and equipped with newfangled steam engines. They set sail with 134 men and a three-year supply of tinned food supplied by the lowest bidder.Simmons adds a supernatural touch to the novel in the form of a monstrous creature, taken from Inuit mythology, that is stalking the expedition and contributing materially to its doom. I think he could have written an equally compelling story without this element, since the unimaginable cold, frostbite, scurvy, food poisoning, starvation and plain old murder would have been quite sufficiently horrifying without it. The monster is deliciously creepy, though, and I enjoyed the supernatural bits well enough until the very end, when Simmons gets a little carried away and includes a couple of wonky chapters. Those don't detract too much, though, and I was satisfied by the ending.The writing is fantastic and the story is utterly engrossing. Many people have complained about the length of the book, but I thought the pacing was perfect and I enjoyed the wealth of historical and nautical detail. I was particularly fascinated by how long these men kept naval discipline and their humanity in the face of extraordinary hardships.
—Jamie
I could not put the book down. It's about Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find the Northwest passage in 1855. The Erebus and The Terror were the two ships sent. They got trapped in the ice in the winter of 1856-1857, and apparently never got out again. A cold summer prevented the thaw that would have freed the ships.Franklin having died, Francis Crozier, the captain of The Terror took the surviving men on a grueling 105 mile overland journey. None of the men were heard from again.These are the known facts. Skeletons were discovered later with marks of cannibalism on them. An Inuit witness spoke of the 105 mile trek, and the men who dropped and died along the way. In The Terror Dan Simmons recreates their voyage and journey, telling the story from the perspectives of several of the officers and crew. He also posits another terror on the ice, a giant polar bear, demon or god, stalking and killing the men. This was well done, and terrifying, but like so many things, the horror of this monster is dwarfed by the reality of freezing, starving, dying of botulism and scurvy, the amputations, the mutiny and final cannibalism.Simmons does an interesting job weaving Inuit myths into the story, and giving it a magical realism that I think works, but may not be necessary. It gives the story a more positive ending than it would have otherwise had, and now I want to re-read it for clues that was going to happen all along.But the true horror and terror of this story is the real physical hardships that the men endured. On Everest, people freeze to death and die, but that's nothing to the hardships endured by the early Arctic and Antarctic explorers. What they endured is both heroic and horrifying, and this book bears witness to that.It really is hard to put this book down, as the death tolls and maimings mount, as factions are carved out, as the endless arctic night takes its victims. Scurvy was a horrible way to die, and this book shows that in vivid detail.
—linnea
