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| The Terror: A Novel | 
| Author: Dan Simmons
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $6.38
You Save: $19.61 (75%)
New (37) Collectible (10) from $6.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  222 reviews
Sales Rank: 1986
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 784
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 2.2
ISBN: 0316017442
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316017442
ASIN: 0316017442
Publication Date: January 8, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New-Has Remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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| Customer Reviews:
Pretty good. October 10, 2008
I was pretty suspicious about this book when I started to read. A horror story combined with a historical fiction/arctic exploration novel, it combines a number of elements which I typically do not really like separately, let alone together. Also, I am *not* a fan of Simmons. I disliked Carrion Comfort very much-- found it tedious and emotionally manipulative. Given all that, I didn't have high hopes for the book, despite a glowing recommendation from a friend.
In the end, I found it quite a bit better than I expected/feared. It is quite readable, and once I got used to the shifting timeframes at the beginning, the pages moved very quickly. I also have to give Simmons credit for his diligence in research and his persistence in building such a huge book. I don't really like historical fiction. I really don't like arctic explorer novels (historical or modern). I think the fact that I still enjoyed the read given all that is pretty impressive.
Simmons does a particularly good job with the characters in general. That impressed me since that was the aspect that I liked the least in the other book that I have read by him.
I do have several quarrels with the book, and these kept it (in my mind) from being a great read rather than a good read:
* Kitchen-sinkism. We really didn't need to have so many sly little references thrown in. There isn't enough meta in the text for me to really have enjoyed artifices such as the Masque of the Red Death out on the ice. It annoyed me, even though I believe that it was meant to be a sly wink.
* The monster. I kind of liked it as an unexplained embodiment of the arctic-- mindless killer that seems to only become mindful to make sure that the wrong thing happens at the very long time. The explanation towards the end of the book felt unsupported. Although some of the mythology was put in through the character of Lady Silence, I did not feel as though the book built to its conclusion about the thing. It was also an explanation that I kind of felt had been done to death, so that was at least a little bit disappointing.
* Hickey. He's just too evil as a secondary monster. Too conveniently evil, anyhow. The way that he emerges at appropriate plot points to turn things to the worse got on my nerves. An online firend compared him to Pinky & the Brain and I myself was thinking about a twisted Of Mice and Men riff. That part was kind of fun, but he was just too obvious as a plot delivery vehicle. In contrast to most of the rest of the book, whose characters were painstakingly constructed, I just never bought him.
* Women. There were really only a few of them in the novel, and I guess that it could successfully be argued that the way that Simmons portrayed them reflected the views of the time. But not quite. There's a particularly disturbing trope that sometimes pops up in popular fiction that posits the evil/frigid/grasping/bullying/manipulative civilized woman against the free-spirited/young/mystical/virginal native women that is a nasty twist on how native populations have been typically portrayed. It isn't *so* bad in this book, but it is emphasized because of how central it is to Crozier's character arc. He's had two women in his life who both seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time flashing men with their private bits-- but one did it with an intent to manipulate while the other was unashamed and sincere. It left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. (And it didn't surprise me at all to come to find that Simmons is a serious fan of Jack Vance.)
All this sounds like pretty serious criticism, and I guess that it is. But I find it worth mentioning precisely because the book was so very good. It was disappointing to me that it didn't take that left turn south into great-- at least not for me. These points start to sum up the reason why even though I enjoyed it, I was happy enough to leave it in a hotel room in Sweden when I was done reading.
Honestly, I would have given this book three stars. But I've given it four because of the size of the accomplishment and the visible research and reverence that Simmons has for the history/material.
 Fantastic story, and much of it true September 28, 2008
The basic story of two ships that set sail from England during the age of exploration to find a northwest passage is true. That neither ship was heard from again is also a part of history. As to what happened to the two crews and their ship, this story purports a possible explanation that is both fantastical and horrible.
If you enjoy this, the Hyperion series is a must-read too. Dan Simmons is a master of his craft; to keep you spellbound and ultimately to make you say WOW repeatedly.
Magnifica novela September 24, 2008
Magnifica novela de Dan Simmons donde demuestra una vez mas su gran imaginacion que le sirve para recrear los hechos de una expedicion veridica y de la cual casi nada se sabe. Debo resaltar el gran trabajo de investigacion que tuvo que hacer para escribir este libro. Una novela ampliamente recomendada para los amantes del genero de ficcion y para los admiradores de Simmons. En lo personal recomendaria leerla durante un invierno.
Greatest Gothic Novel of the New Millenium September 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dan Simmons has crafted a very inventive re-telling of the story of the failed Franklin expedition. At the same time, he has given us a masterful homage to past Gothic worthies such as Mary Shelley (think of the Arctic scenes in _Frankenstein_), Edgar Allan Poe (a la the _Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym_), and H.P. Lovecraft (shades of _At the Mountains of Madness_.)
"In the time before steamships" (to quote Melville--yes, there is quite a bit of Melville influence discernible in this book), intrepid explorers make a foray into the icy darkness of the far North. One of the ships becomes frozen in place, leaving the crew stranded with limited supplies. To make matters worse, some great dark thing (one is inevitably led to imagine a sort of abonimable snowman-type creature) is out there on the ice, hunting them and killing them one by one. The story offers the pure, good old-fashioned fun of a top-shelf horror novel. It is very atmospheric and moody but at the same time filled with gory and lurid shocks.
Why did I give this novel four stars, then, instead of five? Well, in spite of my enthusiasm for it overall, I do have one complaint: I think Dan Simmons greatly diminishes the "creep" factor when he reveals, more or less, the "beast" and explains its origin and function in detail. I think the novel would have been far more powerful had he left those details to the reader's imagination. Everyone knows that Lovecraft is weakest when he tries to describe in anatomical detail one of his critters, and most powerful when he merely suggests and evokes. Simmons should have known better than to step into the same pitfall.
All in all, though, this otherwise finely crafted and highly literate horror novel is a real pleasure to read, and well worth your time.
Historical horror August 28, 2008
Dan Simmons returns to the horror genre with one of his best novels yet, The Terror. Based in part on historical events surrounding Engalnd's quest for the Northwest Passage, a passage that they thought would ensure travelling across the North Pole via sailing ship. This passage (we know now) does not exist, but back then they thought it did and the quest for said route cost many lives.
The tale follows the trek of the sailing ships Erebus and The Terror as they set out for the Pole on an adventurous journey filled with dreams of discovery, profit and glory for themselves and England. Things take a turn for the worst as they discover they were ill prepared for the harsh weather and merciless ice. But sickness, poisoned rations and a dwindling coal supply are not the worst of it. There is a giant creature roaming the ice possessed of an intelligece and cunning beyond any normal beast. They are also joined with an enigmatic Inuit girl who seems to have a strange bond with the creature.
Dan Simmons is skillful writer and here he pulls no punches, the horror and suspense mount and on every page you read you feel transported to the vast ice of the North Pole sharing the hardships of the officers and crew of the doomed ships. The combination of historical novel and horror story works very well and makes for a very good story. The characterization is particularly good with an insight into the minds of men that would undertake such an ordeal.
Great suspense and an incredible story - highly reccomended!
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