Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Terror by Dan Simmons

57 reviews

issyfrp99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

There were a lot more descriptions of boobs and erections than I was expecting…like, a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

renegadegrocerycart's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

amaranth101's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

rafirth42's review against another edition

I was very invested in the plot, but the sheer amount of racism, homophobia, and misogyn turn me off from finishing the book. Especially the sexualization and slut-shaming of Esquimaux women and girls. I understand having some of those elements present for the time period yhe book is set in and character development, but in the first 300 pages of the book there was virtually no character development and I decided I didn't want to deal with those elements for another 600 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Misogyny

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

nexadon's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense slow-paced

• 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

I hope Dan Simmons never writes about indigenous people again, because he failed at every turn with their inclusion in this book. Disregarding that (if you can) The Terror is wonderfully gritty and foul, a great read for people who love it when men shit themselves to death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

inediblecupcake's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, and Cannibalism

thissydknits's review against another edition

3.0

Took me until I was halfway through to to like any of the characters, but I absolutely fell for Irving, Peglar, Bridgens, Goodsir, and Blanky. I was absolutely rooting for the Tuunbaq though. I didn’t really like how Crozier and Silence ended up together seemingly at random but I can see what the author was trying to do with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual harassment

ilmariel's review against another edition

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? No

1.0

A historical novel used as a bad excuse to air the author's sexism, homophobia and misogyny. The book is full of gratuitous descriptions objectifying women, both white and indigenous. Even the main character, who is supposed to be the one we root for, has atrocious disdain for his wife after she literally saves his life. The only 'good' gays are those who choose celibacy and repent for their 'sin'. And if you're about to tell me that 'that's just what the times were like', please first refer to the TV series based on this book to see how to include all of the above themes AND acknowledge how problematic they are. This book is a disgrace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content and Cannibalism