A review by leventmolla
The Terror by Dan Simmons

2.0

Dan Simmons is a well-known Science Fiction writer with the Hugo and Nebula Award winning book Hyperion among his most famous works. "The Terror" follows the real-life journey of a group of Arctic explorers between the years 1845 to 1848. The two ships "The Terror" and "Erebus" are stuck in the Arctic region when a sudden cold spell freezes most of the open water. The captains of the two ships do their best to try everything within their imagination to set their ships free and continue their voyage to discover the "Northwest Passage" in the polar regions close to Canada, however they also have to struggle with the raids of a mysterious "thing" that comes and snatches up people and kills them by crunching them alive. A mysterious Eskimo woman whose tongue has been bitten off by an unknown creature also adds some suspense to the story.

I found the book extremely slow-moving and the only interesting bit seemed to be the parts explaining the British Navy protocols of the 19th century. When the mystery is somewhat resolved at the end of the book, you have a feeling of dissatisfaction, after reading this hefty tome. I'll probably stick to Simmons' Science Fiction books in the future.