A review by adrizeuza
The Terror by Dan Simmons

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

2.25

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!
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