nexadon's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Excrement, Injury/injury detail, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Sexual content, and Racism
inediblecupcake's review against another edition
While I did have a decent enough time listening to it, there were some very uncomfortable aspects that I had to put aside to do so.
The portrayal of the native people seemed questionable at best. I understand that the sailors would have their very of the time biases and racism, but the way the natives were written to behave seemed very odd to me.
Spoiler
Having Crozier go on to marry and have children with the very young Silence made me deeply uncomfortable. That, and the way he was assimilated into the native culture the way he was felt icky.Spoiler
I'm not familiar with the culture being borrowed from here, so I'll refrain from saying more.Beyond that, the things that stood out to me were the homophobia and the way the cannibalism went down.
Spoiler
Having the evil man of the ship be one of the only queer characters, and him and his lover being the only ones to be allowed to have sex - the Good Gays don't do that on the sea - was deeply uncomfortable to me.The cannibalism being a thing that only the bad people do, while understandable as an urge to write, felt deeply unrealistic and optimistic. People do awful things when they feel they have no other options left, and making it so that only the evil queer man and his team partook in that added to the discomfort.
Spoiler
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Cannibalism, and Death
thissydknits's review
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual harassment
ilmariel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Classism, Abandonment, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Cannibalism and Sexual content
thelibrarygoat's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, and Xenophobia
The adaptation was better. In a freak happenstance, the adaptation was a lot better.cviii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Spoiler
a mythological creature Dan Simmons made up entirely for this story, which he calls a tuunbaq. This creation is very loosely based on the tupilaq. An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to telling a made up myth that explains the origins of the tuunbaq. It also feels important to point out that the tupilaq myths that inspired Dan Simmons’ tuunbaq appear to be based on Greenlandic Inuit religion, not the tupilaq as it is understood by Inuit populations in what is now the Canadian Arctic.Spoiler
tie the monster on the ice to the indigenous people in the region was entirely too predictable. Dan Simmons is not even remotely subtle with the hints that the thing stalking the men of the Franklin expedition is tied to the fictional Netsilik characters introduced in the book and that these two people, Silna/Lady Silence and her father, are able to commune with and sort of control the tuunbaq. When characters in the story begin calling Lady Silence a witch and claiming she could control the creature, I thought it was meant to be a demonstration of racism from the British sailors that would be subverted later (because it just felt too predictable that the mysterious indigenous girl with her tongue cut out was a witch who controlled the tuunbaq)Spoiler
Cornelius Hickey and Magnus Mason,Spoiler
Hickey in particular. Hickey is the novel’s human antagonist and is absurdly, almost comically evil.Spoiler
HickeySpoiler
MasonSpoiler
MasonSpoiler
HickeySpoiler
Hickey’sSpoiler
MasonSpoiler
pull off a successful mutiny later.Spoiler
HickeySpoiler
Lieutenant Irving,Spoiler
MasonSpoiler
IrvingSpoiler
IrvingSpoiler
kill IrvingSpoiler
killing him risks Hickey getting caught and then having to explain why he wanted to kill the lieutenant.Spoiler
Hickey'sSpoiler
his eventual mutinySpoiler
The mutiny comes when the situation for the crews of the Erebus and Terror is truly dire but the fact that so many characters hated Hickey made it feel strange when they suddenly decided to abandon their captain to go with him.Spoiler
HickeySpoiler
HickeySpoiler
and, like the tuunbaq,Spoiler
HickeySpoiler
(also worth noting is that Cornelius Hickey was a real person, a 24 year old young man from Ireland who was a caulker’s mate on the expedition. Unlike Captain Crozier, Sir John Franklin, and Commander Fitzjames, we know almost nothing about him. Why Dan Simmons decided to turn this real, relatively unknown man into a villain is not something I really understand and I think was a questionable decision to make when deciding on an antagonist. Any of the well known naval officers, who are remembered as heroes and have biographies and monuments and statues, would have made much better antagonists for this novel.)Spoiler
Hickey'sSpoiler
Hickey. It's Hickey, who is evil for no discernible reason, who influences the men with him to resort to cannibalism.Spoiler
who stayed with CrozierSpoiler
Hickey,Spoiler
in his splinter groupSpoiler
the eventual marriage of the almost 50 year old main character and the indigenous teenage girl,Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Death, Medical content, Grief, Addiction, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual content, Ableism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, Excrement, Vomit, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Violence
knenigans's review against another edition
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
bamf's review against another edition
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
b_lownds127's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Suicide
quillsand's review against another edition
- 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
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
Spoiler
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.
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Animal death, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Body horror, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Vomit, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, Cannibalism, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Drug use, and Racism