Reviews with content warning for Vomit - The Terror

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The Terror by Dan Simmons

25 reviews

emkawe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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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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bookmunchr's review

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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

4.5

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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anjalirenee's review

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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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