A review by coelagirl
The Terror by Dan Simmons

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Really really excellent book- especially the audiobook version, the prefromace Tom Sellwood gives is incredible. I'm not normally a horror enjoyer but the  multiple perspectives and historical subject matter got me. There were both scenes of incredible tension (carnivale, Blanky's escape, Franklin's  death, etc.) And knawwing knowledge that everyone would die and no matter how good any plan Crozier made was.   Very emotional. Would have been 5 stars if not for the ending- just stop reading at Hickey's final chapter; you won't get all the answers but we don't have all the answers for the real life Franklin expedition either! It's fine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

The Real Life Franklin Expedition fictionalized in this book was Actually lost during its voyage in the late 1840s. This book contains the period typical misogyny and racism you might expect from victorian colonialism, as well as a book from 2007, plus men doing horrible things to survive in an inhospitable landscape they are not prepared for while being hunted by a creature behind imagination. Things get as bad you can possibly expect them to get.