Reviews with content warning for Death - The Terror

This is probably my most disappointing read of the year. I had somewhat high expectations for this book, since I tend to enjoy slow paced novels and am obsessed with exploration disasters and The Terror tv series. The biggest saving grace of this audiobook was the narrator, if not for him I would have definitely DNF'd this 4 hours in. The middle 10h were a painful sludge. Around the 22h mark it finally began to pick up. I had to listen to this on 2x speed. I was expecting to feel the dread of the crew intensify as the book progressed, but the repetitiveness of the dialogues and of the descriptions completely ruined the tension building for me.
Whilst I was listening to this LONG audiobook, all I kept thinking about was how good the tv show was. How good the adaptation decisions were. And how ?? Dan Simmon's decisions in writing The Terror were in comparison. I lost count of how many times the question "... why?" popped into my head.
Geniunely cannot understand how nobody edited this down to a 400 page book. There was no reason for this to be so long. Crozier's POVs were extremely repetitive and not that interesting after a while, most other POV's did not do much to advance either the plot or our understanding of the ships' or characters' dynamis. So... why??? Even some scenes where there was supposed to be tension were completely dried out due to the dragged out descriptions the author made. Also, shout out to the cringiest sex scenes and sexual descriptions I have EVER read in my life.
Dan Simmons clearly knows how to write. And he researched the hell out of the Franklin Expedition. But my biggest grip with this book comes down to the choices he made. The reviews about women's poor treatment are real. I cannot stress enough about how poorly and superficially women are portrayed. Especially Lady Silence, and all Inuit women who show up, are so grossly objectified BY THE NARRATOR. Another choice I have a massive problem with is that with SUCH A LONG BOOK how is there not ONE POV of an Inuit character, namely Lady Silence who is one of the driving forces of the plot?? Don't even get me started on the end of her arc.

Why would she f*** and basically marry + have children with an old rude white coloniser riddled with diseases after 700 pages of not indicating that she gave a damn about him??

Anyway. I can't wait to rewatch the show!

Content Warnings

inquietrotundas's review against another edition

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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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renegadegrocerycart's review against another edition

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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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cbug412's review against another edition

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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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applequinn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

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athryn's review against another edition

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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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elvenpanther's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

After finishing this novel I spent a few days trying to decide what I wanted to say about it. I enjoyed it immensely. Dan Simmons wrote it in such a detailed way that it was easy to paint a mental picture and lose yourself in the story as well as the setting. It probably helped that for a good chunk of this novel, I myself, was sitting in a blizzard (though with many more snacks, tea, warm blankets, and cats). I took my time with this one, I wanted to savor every moment with it. The pace of the book is slow, I tend to like novels that take their time and fill every moment with a wealth of detail. I know that not everyone shares this fondness, and that's fine. To each their own.
While I did enjoy the meandering pace and high detail, I'll admit that when it came to some of the authors more technical descriptions of the naval structures and ships I may have zoned out a bit. I didn't feel that it took away from the story at all, I appreciated it, it's just not a topic I am super familiar with.
The cast of characters, while mainly being men of the British Navy, was still diverse in their personalities, backgrounds, and beliefs. There where characters I truly liked, that handled the circumstance of their situation with grace, such as Lieutenant John Irving and Ice Master Thomas Blanky. Given the nature of what had befallen the crew of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, not every character could be expected to handle themselves with dignity and poise. Dan Simmons did a good job of showing both sides of the coin when it came to men's dispositions when faced with a very bleak and dangerous, life threatening event. Their were characters that I despised because their nature was so abhorrent. You would find yourself rooting for the survival of some while hoping karma caught up to others.
Crozier was a very interesting, but troubled character. It felt that his life had been spent in a struggle between who he truly was and who he tried to shape himself into as a member of the Royal British Navy. He was accomplished, but seemed looked down upon by others in his rank. He was bitter, and I couldn't blame him for it. Despite his demons he showed a loyalty to his crew that was very admirable. I feel like the ending was appropriate for him. While the last couple chapters did deviate from the style of the rest of the novel, I liked that they brought some understanding to what it was that hunted the men on the ice and why. I enjoyed that it delved into native lore and gave the novel that slightly fantastical twist.
There is so much I could say about this novel and I could go on for quite a while. I had rented a copy from my library, but the day after I finished it, I ordered a copy to keep on my shelf. I expect that this is one of those novels that I will revisit at another time or flip through when the mood strikes.

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inediblecupcake's review against another edition

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slow-paced

I read this book as part of a book club. I don't think I ever would have picked it up otherwise.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Because of all that, and some other elements I won't get into, I'm left with no idea how to rate this book, so for now, I won't.

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