Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Terror

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Terror by Dan Simmons

47 reviews

gvild's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

After watching the series on Netflix, I knew I had to read the book. I think this may have been the fastest I’ve ever read a 700+ book - I couldn’t put it down. The intensity of the impending doom with the added mystery of the thing on the ice made this novel gripping. Though a fair warning; Simmons is a stereotypical male author when it comes to writing about women.

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calamitymeat's review against another edition

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dark tense 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? Yes

3.5

Definitely glad I read this before watching the show. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting,

I was honestly expecting something more along the lines of The Thing where there's just a lot more carnage and the fighting amongst the group is a lot more constant and heated, rather than being a constant looming threat in the background.

I had to put it down for a bit just because my library loan expired and it was put back on hold. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I could have just listened to the whole thing uninterrupted.

I have some complicated feelings about the portrayal of the Inuit people in this book, but yknow I'm a white man, what do I know?

The crew of the Terror are racist and this simply reflects the attitudes towards Indigenous people (and POC as a whole) of the time the book takes place, and we are very obviously supposed to think this is wrong. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, I am just not a fan of the idea that racism NEEDS to be included in fiction for the sake of realism. It's wrong to pretend it wasn't there, but it's also a little annoying that people of colour (and a lot of other different minority groups) don't get to enjoy period pieces the same way majority groups do. And multiple characters do make an effort to be decent to the Inuit characters, even if these efforts don't fully unpack the racist views like Inuit people being inherently violent savages. Again, I don't necessarily have a problem with this part. It's realistic, even today in the 21st century. It's just a little jarring to hear when I'm trying to have fun reading a horror novel.

HOWEVER,

the book (especially the last five chapters or so) play pretty heavily into the "Indian mysticism" stereotype, which I do have more of an issue with. Again, I'm a white man so maybe I'm getting defensive over something that Indigenous fans of the book (and show) don't see an issue with. Maybe Simmons did extensive research on Inuit mythology and cultural practices and simply included them in the book because he genuinely thought it was respectful. And maybe Indigenous readers don't have an issue with it. I'll definitely look into this later when I have a chance and if this is the case, I will absolutely clarify. But given the reaction from Indigenous people to other tropes in film and literature, specifically the trope that Indigenous people are magical, incredibly superstitious beings who communicate through dreams and have spirit animals, I don't know if this is a great portrayal of Inuit people and culture. But of course, I will give Simmons the benefit of the doubt as this book was written in 2007 and even if these criticisms were present, they weren't necessarily listened to or treated with much respect.

But back to the actual story.

I was having a great time when the focus was on the monster. I had a good time when we were focusing on the tragedy of these people being lost on the ice and desperate, turning to cannibalism and having to reckon with the fact that your friends left you to die because you were too much of a burden for them to save. I just don't know if I feel like these two things meshed together as well near the end as I would have liked them to. Like I said, maybe it's because I put it down pretty much at the point this shift really started to occur. Maybe it's just too long. The book is separated almost in half with a supernatural element and then a more human element (and then an epilogue of sorts). I compared it to The Thing already, but The Thing does a great job of balancing the supernatural and human elements. They play directly into each other and it's the supernatural elements that highlight the pre-existing tension among the group in the first place. I don't think The Terror utilizes this type of story telling as well as it could have.

When I write long and critical reviews like this, I feel like I always need to reiterate that I did enjoy this! The writing style was engaging. I did care about the characters, even if I hated them. The story itself was interesting and kept me hooked enough to power through a 28 hour long audiobook that I could only borrow for two weeks at a time. And I still managed to return it early! I would like to watch the show because I did enjoy the book. I would love to see how the few things I disliked could potentially be fixed, and I do think part of this is easily fixed due to it just being a little less acceptable (and honestly, a lot more cliche and boring) by today's standards.

I've scrolled through other reviews quickly before I try looking for reviews or think pieces by Indigenous readers.

I'm seeing a lot of people say they find the timeline confusing because of the amount of flashbacks. Personally, I didn't have this issue. I tend to miss details when listening to audiobooks since I usually multitask when listening, but even if I was missing something being labelled as a flashback, I never felt lost or like I was having trouble putting together a timeline of events.

I'm also seeing a lot of people talk about the way women are treated in the book, and yeah. One could chalk it up to it being accurate to the attitudes white men had towards women at the time, but I don't know. It kind of falls flat when there's barely any positive to say about women at all in this book unless they're carrying a man's child.

EDIT
So after a very quick google, it seems that Dan Simmons is horribly racist and doesn't believe in climate change. I'm not trying to say that this proves that all of the offensive things in this book are glimpses into his psyche or reflect his true thoughts. But I do think it influences the way he writes his characters, both the ones we're supposed to disagree with and the minority groups themselves.

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spinebreakr's review against another edition

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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 😁

Content Warnings

bugaboobear's review against another edition

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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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chungledown_bim's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Watched the miniseries, gushed about it to a work colleague who said to try the book because it was even better. I didn't believe them but I'm glad I picked The Terror up anyway- what a book! The unstoppable force of colonial/capitalistic hubris vs the immovable object of the primordial inevitability of nature.

Feel like the author did well to describe the racism, homophobia, classism, toxic masculinity, sexism, & general fuckery of the time without participating in it. Usually you'd see the descriptor 'historical' & assume this means whoever wrote it is excited to drop the N word. Not so much here but all these concepts are as present as the arctic cold.

...I say that but Silence does seem to

'<a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/breasted-boobily">'breast boobily'</a> at times & end up as a trophy

.

It's long, but I was engaged the entire time, despite this not at all being the sort of thing I'm into. I really enjoyed falling into a rabbit hole by searching up the Franklin expedition & Inuit mythology afterward.

The ending

was a little disappointing. I mean, I loved reading about the process of Crozier surrendering but I wanted something to chew his face off. Get bent, British Empire, you don't belong there

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nyxlikesbook's review against another edition

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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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perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

simplyabird's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The beginning was much better than the end. I liked the vibes throughout; the visceral descriptions of the horror of the artic, of freezing limbs, the constant cold, the threat and consequences of scurvy and frostbite, and the general description of the cold and landscape itself. I loved the creature and the horror elements it added in the beginning before we learned what it was, and I loved how it was the just as much if not less dangerous to the crew as the cold and other crewmates were. There were definitely some characters that I liked and was rooting for more than others, but there were constant actions from all the characters that made me content with their ending,

as there were multiple times, like when Hodgeson killed a group of Inuit for "killing" John Irving, were I felt that their fate was completely the fault of their own actions.

There was consistent racism towards the Inuit as well as homophobia, though it was mostly due to it being a period piece that was very straightforward with the gruesome aspects of the time. The racism was never treated as correct by the narrative, though I still don't think the Inuit were handled very well overall, especially Lady Silence. However, it was very hard to tell what the point of the homophobia was. Yes, it was time accurate, but having the two human antagonists be gay and specifically described as insane, foul, or stupid, sat very wrong, considering the only other gay man were mentioned only briefly, though they were treated well. If this book wasn't so long and slow-paced, I probably would go back and read it to see if I could figure out what the author's point was. Either way, on initial read, it didn't seem outright derogatory, but it wasn't good either. I will admit that some of the research done seemed very thorough though, such as the descriptions of

how Lady Silence set up her tents and sleds.

So I can't speak to the accuracy.

Also what was the issue with the random sex scenes????? There were only 2, but it was still 2 too many, and were both oddly graphic when they did not need to be. They added nothing and just made me cringe in disgust at a scene that could've been left as a an offhand or not added at all.

It was a very slow read, and I'll admit my experience was ruined by having to return, wait for the person who had it on hold it finish it, and then start again multiple times before I could finish it because it took so long, but I still really enjoyed it up until the last 20%, which came out of no where, did not align at all with the characters, and was overall just terrible enough to make me go down from like a 4 to a 2.5.

Crozier ending up with Silence felt incredibly random, and yes, his entire thing was that he was going to survive no matter what, but he didnt do anything to earn that ending? He had zero relationship with Lady Silence outside of not letting people kill her and a few very short moments, like being startled by her in the beginning of the book, but especially compared to John Irving, he had 0 connection with her. Also, Lady Silence was already mostly a plot device with zero character, but her saving him and choosing to stay and have a family with him made 0 sense. Why did she care about him? There was a throwaway line when they went back to the Terror that "she was always waiting for him" but why????? It managed to make her even more of a plot device than she already was. Also, both of them lost all of their character at this point. Crozier lost all the gruffness and personality that made him Crozier, even calling Silence "beloved", which I guess was to show that he cared about her but I had zero reason to believe that he had softened that much. Also, even the narrative started treating Silence as a side piece, making her an admittedly capable and brave but still just a devoted wife. The narration also would refer to their children as "his children" which I felt was very indicative of what Silence and the children were valued as. I already didn't appreciate how Silence was handled throughout the book, but that was the nail in the coffin. The ending soured the entire book and honestly felt like an entirely different book. Crozier should've died at the end and all of the crew should've died and been lost to history as a monument to all of their arrogance and greed, as even with their good qualities and their attempts to do good things like save their crew, it was never enough to outdo what they'd done.

Content Warnings

waterlogged's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Very slow but never felt too slow.

Content Warnings

amy14's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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