Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Terror by Dan Simmons

8 reviews

inquietrotundas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a horrifying take on one of the most chilling and mysterious doomed voyages in history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Sexual content, Sexism, Mental illness, Infidelity, Gore, Cursing, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Cannibalism, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

renegadegrocerycart's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Finishing this book was my own journey to find the Northwest Passage.

Genuinely one of the best books I’ve ever read, but I’d never recommend it to anyone because it’s objectively horrifying. I’ve had nightmares about botulism and cannibalism for weeks. This book will stay with me forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Addiction, Excrement, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Death

athryn's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was thoroughly enjoyable. I really enjoyed the historical detail, although of course more info came out after this book was written, so some stuff is a little inaccurate, but that's perfectly fine too.

Overall a great story with a lot of twists and turns. I actually felt cold reading this. It's sometimes a bit of a bummer, but also I love seeing hubris take people, especially colonial era Brits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Gun violence

derberner's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, and Torture

jjjreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Cannibalism, Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Ableism, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent, Excrement, and Pregnancy

theleppy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Torture and Vomit

Minor: Homophobia

sheryl_marie_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The Terror is a long, slow, indulgent and infuriating read. A historical arctic expedition of 2 ships find themselves stranded with depleted stores and a mystical monster ready to pick them off violently, one by one every time they leave the ships.

The men are stubborn, fool hardy and disrespectful of the ice. They were infuriating in their inability to learn, change or adapt.

The Thing, the monster of the ice was more ominous and sinister than frightening or thrilling.

The level of detail is annoyingly obsessive and the average sentence length is the longest I've ever known.

I found this arduous but I feel triumphant for getting through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

sheryl_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

900 pages never went so fast! This is a gripping story of the horrors of polar exploration - with a ‘horror’ beast thrown in. 

The research into the Franklin expedition and 19th century sailing is obvious - it’s never boring, but the detail is meticulous.  Each chapter tells a part of the story from different perspectives, all going towards building and moving the story to its inevitable end. 

Although I knew the outcome of the expedition, I couldn’t help but hope that some of the men made it through.

This would have been a 5 star read if not for one criticism - the inclusion of the ‘magical’ indigenous peoples. I appreciate the author wanted to include the belief system of the indigenous communities the sailors meet with but I didn’t feel this was a necessary part of the story. I really hoped the supernatural elements were due to the physical and psychological toll the men were under, but this wasn’t to be. 

Overall, it’s one I’d recommend and would say you shouldn’t be intimidated by the length!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Death, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit