Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Terror by Dan Simmons

19 reviews

spinebreakr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

The Terror was a beautiful and Grim book.
The writing is elegant and evocative, but somehow brutish and unflinching. 

I felt completely immersed in the tortured minds of the crew. If it wasn't the beast on the ice, danger lurked in the land itself, in the Food, in the wind, in the fog, even in the breast of their fellow mates. Where one obstacle was overcome, another rose in it's place. 

The pure unrelenting desolation feels like it will never end. Simmons had me feeling like I was a member of the crew, which is the highest compliment. But it is not easy to be a sailor aboard HMS Terror or Erebus. 

I highly reccommend this book to horror lovers. Read at your own risk 😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

bugaboobear's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was a delightful descent into desperation and death for 95% of the way. 

And then chapter 62 happened and the author decided he was bored with that and changed the tone and subject entirely. 

This was maybe a 4.5 star read for me up until then, but then the ending was largely out of the blue and unsatisfying in my opinion. 

Also a few things to keep in mind: 
1. There are practically no women in the story (for obvious reasons). The women who are in the story are pretty one dimensional. 

2. There is a surprising amount of religious ideology (both Christian and Inuit). Also readings from the Bible. 

3. There is a heavy amount of racism in the beginning and less as the book goes on. It is all era appropriate and makes sense for the characters but can be uncomfortable to read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nyxlikesbook's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

anjalirenee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

slow paced is an understatement please heed my warning. the pace picks up mmmmm around page 350 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). pretty good although TONS of unnecessary detail about the minutae of ice formations, ship layouts, and wayfinding. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

breilly13's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

2.5

There are some great scares here, and some really well done character moments. Overall though, this book is too long (so many things are repeated unnecessarily), every woman is written really badly (but hey, at least

the author makes it clear that Big Tits survived!

) and the ending was terrible. I don't regret reading it but it's hard to recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Incest, Excrement, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

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

cbug412's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is off the chain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

quillsand's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

as per the rules of the Kayleigh Rating System this book would usually get 5 stars for the intensity of emotion it made me feel but i felt ick giving it 5 stars because i think using Inuit lore as the basis for horror is a bittt problematic coming from a white dude and also whilst i acknowledge the huge amount of research done into Inuit cultures smth about the ending just doesn't Sit Right 

that said the other 95% of the book was disturbing as all hell and bleak as fuck. but like, in a good way. i read this whilst at a festival and i kept returning to my tent to read instead of watching  acts. the vivid descriptions of scurvy gave me trouble sleeping and i stopped readig it in public places because i couldn't control my facial expressions of horror/revulsion/despair. also i think scurvy has now replaced both pregnancy and getting my wisdom teeth taken out on my list of greatest fears, meaning it is now #2 behind moths. 

parts that really got to me included

mr blanky's escape from the tuunbaq, irving laughing and joking with the Inuit, the entire thing with peglar and bridgens, goodsir talking about scurvy and documenting his own symptoms, fitzjames' death, fucking JOPSON being left behind on his BIRTHDAY (that scene was harrowing and like. i knew it would be harrowing! i have seen the show none of this was news but oh my god. oh my. god.), goodsir's death... just goodsir in general, to be honest. hickey was also more enjoyable as a chaotic creature here than in the show.

i just think it says something that depsite having watched the show and knowing how everything plays out and already being very distrubred by the show, the book managed to somehow provoke an even stronger reaction and kept me so gripped i got through all 750 pages in under 5 days whilst being at a music festival. book ratings are based off of my connection to the book and despite all it's issues i sure did feel many things whilst reading this!!! the real terror is the slowly creeping inevitability of certain death and the fact that we know!! we know that no matter how hard these character struggle, they will all be claimed by the ice by the time the book is finished!! there's beauty in that and in the sheer humanity of how different people respond to the certainty of death in different ways. makes me a little bit insane if i think about it too much.

i do think the supernatural aspects were the weakest point for me and the last 80 pages were therefore not as strong as the rest but only because the realism of the horror was already at its peak (also the aforementioned ick about using Inuit culture as a backdrop for horror fiction but anyway) with the scurvy and the frostbite and the starvation and whatnot. 

id on't know man sometimes you just need a horrifying horrific tragedy heavily based on real events that deeply disturbs and upsets you in order to cope!!!!

i think i am going to rewatch the show now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism