I picked this book up for a Book Pal read. We thought it looked exciting, and as I love historical horrors as well as cabin fever / winterscape settings, all the more reason to read it.

Sadly we had to stop 1/4 through, it was that tedious and boring. I personally stopped at page 230. This book is nearly 1,000 pages long, and nothing happened after the initial 100 pages.

The main faults, other than the crucial fact that the writer had no clear idea what the story was suppossed to be, were the filler material and flat, one dimensional characters. All the characters were unsympathetic and dull. We hardly got to understand their plight or POV as the story kept periodically moving back to a lesson in life at sea and survival.

Most of the chapters is filled with Simmons reminding you in gratuitous detail, ad nauseum, all about the daily lives of sailors on a years long sea voyage, combat, military ranks, wilderness survival, and the horrors of scurvy. Plus, how horrifying it is to have gay men on board H.M's ship - never mind the monster what is stalking and killing our heroes. Homophobia was rampant in that era, notoriously upheld strictly in the navy, but it becomes one of the main plots here. The story of the mysterious beast falls by the wayside and is nearly obliterated as the human cast are infinitely more concerned with the terror of gay sex and scurvy. You get the impression that Mr Simmons shares that idea.

Despite the random beast attacks and annoying, repetitive, useless flashback segments chronicling the heroes' various scandals that took place decades ago, Simmons keeps taking our focus back to scurvy and why we should fear it.

You wind up turning each page, anticipating another waffling bit of filler about a lesson in scurvy or mens' underclothes.

His next favourite, nearly equally abused subject is the topic of tinned food, sledges, and how many layers of clothing each man is wearing every moment we're reintroduced to him.

I've read quite a lot of and am passionate for wilderness survival books, penned by authors who have actually gone out and done it; such as Gary Paulsen and Michelle Paver. Dan Simmons' book here takes the accuracy & realism way too far by presenting it as an instructional, how-to guide book without any humour or making it a fun read. Paulsen covers the realism and how-to in an interesting, yet appropriate and brief way without leaving you lost. He does not forget he is writing a story, not a boy scouts or rangers guide book, unlike Simmons.

Simmons however manages to write a deep guide that finds you skipping it at the first mention (for the 100th time, and never the last) of the ins & outs of erecting tents, heating snow into water, opening a can, and why the men should be wearing gloves or eating certain foods to avoid scurvy.

There's nearly two months I'll never get back, and it will be a long time before I want to see the mention of or hear about scurvy or erecting tents again due to the countless times Mr Simmons kept repeating it. I sincerely doubt he had employed an editor, as other evidence from poor grammar points to it too.

HMS Terror (1813-1848)
HMS Erebus (1826-1848)

First time I knew of Sir John Franklin Expedition was when I watched The Terror mini series on TV four years ago. It was a masterpiece as far as mini series goes. In case you look online, the show although with the same name has a second season with a different story, a Japanese folklore. In any case, I requested season 1 DVD set from my library for a re-watch and I can't wait!

Over the years, I completely forgot about this fascinating story. The doomed Royal Navy polar expedition seeking the Northwest Passage, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific through the Arctic until The Arctic Fury triggered my curiosity once again.

This book. THIS BOOK was published before they found the wrecks in 2016. It was so well written with compelling reference to real people incorporating that with other possibilities of what could happen to the lost expedition from the author's imagination. It took me a while to listen to this outstanding story as I was busy reading online as I go. I looked for maps, real captains/officers, photos and found many documentaries that I have yet to watch.

After their ships were stuck and frozen near  King William Island, it was a grim fight for survival by 129 men. At the beginning of each chapter the author would start with their location, latitude, longitude and a date. I found it to be very unsettling a while later after they set south on foot it was "Lat. unknown, Long. unknown"....

Without a doubt, I am adding The Terror to my favorite list! It is an epic historical fiction with a hint of supernatural creepiness not that the challenge of staying alive in extreme Arctic conditions alone weren't enough. I made a mistake and listened to it before bed, set a sleep timer for a bedtime story. BAD IDEA. Let me take that back, it was fine until it wasn't. Love it!

In May 1845, the two sailing ships Erebus and Terror, commanded by John Franklin and Francis Crozier, set sail from England in search of the Northwest Passage and never returned. They were found years later trapped in the Arctic ice. This is the true story on which Simmons has based his novel, a surreal adventure in which cold, silence, omens and horror prevail. It's a descent into madness, a radical kind of madness. The kind of madness that hides in murderers, perverts and psychopaths.
I'm not one for historical fiction, I prefer science fiction, and here the setting looks like a frozen alien planet, nature seems to defy all reassuring laws and logic. And there are strange, "alien" creatures. All this gives the story a sci-fi feel. Not to mention the incomprehensible mixture of shamanism and magic.
The story begins in 1848. The two ships have been stranded for two years between Prince of Wales Island and the Boothia Peninsula. A series of flashbacks covers these two years from the point of view of the main characters. We learn that it all began when one of the expeditions returned with two dead bodies on a sledge. One was an elderly Eskimo, accidentally wounded by the sailors, and the other was Lieutenant Gore, killed by a mysterious creature, something resembling a polar bear, but apparently not. Gore is brought back to the ship disfigured and unrecognisable, and from that moment on the nightmare begins, with the beast's attacks and the horrific episodes (including cannibalism) that follow.
The story is claustrophobic and a little heavy-handed, but some sequences of hunting and fighting on the ice are pure adrenaline and the characters are incredibly depth-driven. Like Crozier, the pragmatic but troubled captain of the Terror, tormented by alcoholism, by his past, by a lost love, by the nightmares (or perhaps visions) that have haunted him since childhood. Franklin, the ambitious commander of the expedition, whose conceit will only lead to death and depravity. Cornelius Hirst, a sexual predator of the young boys aboard the ships, always in league with the nasty giant Magnus Manson. Then there is Irving, perhaps the only one who can get close to the mystery of Lady Silence. And Lady Silence is one of the most inexplicable (and unexplained) characters in the whole novel. She is a young, mute Eskimo woman who roams free on the Terror, suffering neither cold nor hunger. Next to her is the uncanny, intelligent, evil white beast that prowls the ice hunting men.
The sexual overtones (and some almost unnecessary scenes) seem to be there to 'sell' it, but it is still a good novel, full of cinematic cunning and white adrenaline. The last 200 pages are more about the Eskimos, and then it ends dramatically, leaving you wondering what really happened on those two ships in that terrible ice trap.

3,75 Sterne

This one is a fictionalized account of Captain John Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus & HMS Terror to the Arctic, in 1845–1848, to locate the Northwest Passage.

In the novel, Franklin and his crew are plagued by starvation and illness, and forced to contend with mutiny, cannibalism and they're stalked across the Arctic landscape by a monster.

A long book, maybe not for the impatient, lots of character building, very atmospheric and the writing is just incredible.

My first Dan Simmons read and I loved it!

A good book to read in an igloo during winter lol! :O

El terror

Magnífica novela que trata sobre la expedición de sir John Franklin en 1845 que buscaba encontrar un paso por el noroeste del Ártico.

En esta misión con los barcos HSM Erebus y HSM Terror, veteranos de exploraciones en la Antártida la ruta que tomaron para encontrar el paso era zona desconocida. Se desconocía el territorio, no sabían si navegaban al borde de tierra firme o islas. Lo cierto es que fueron navegando por donde les dejaba el hielo hasta quedar atrapados en la isla del rey Guillermo al norte de Canadá por encima del círculo polar ártico.

A mediados del siglo XIX, sin posibilidad de solicitar ayuda, con unas condiciones climáticas horribles con unas temperaturas de -50 º e incluso más, la supervivencia se antojaba imposible.



La novela está basada en hechos reales, pero no todo es real aquí. Simmons coge la base y crea una historia ficticia de aventuras con elementos fantásticos. Durante años se han recopilado datos de esta expedición los cuales han servido para crear una simulación de lo que pudo ocurrir. El resto lo incorpora el autor haciendo una historia con grandes personajes que van evolucionando a medida que la supervivencia se hace más y más difícil.

La parte fantástica está muy bien integrada, creo que añade la parte de leyenda y las alucinaciones que tuvieron que sufrir esta gente mientras duró su terrible calvario. La integración de los Inuit en la trama es necesaria y viene muy bien porque además algo tuvieron que ver.



Si la historia de la expedición de estos barcos ya es un caramelo para cualquier escritor para escribir una novela con buena parte del trabajo hecho, Simmons ha llenado su libro de grandes personajes como el capitán Crozier, verdadero protagonista de lo que se cuenta. El capitán John Franklin, jefe de la expedición o el también capitán James Fitzjames, sin olvidar otros más secundarios, pero importantes como el bueno de Irving, la inuit Lady Silenciosa, el médico Goodsir, el maligno Hickey o el patrón del hielo Tom Blanky que protagoniza una de las escenas de la novela en la persecución a que es sometido por los palos del barco y por el hielo. Espero que en la serie que hay sobre este libro aparezca este momento.

En resumen, una gran novela de Dan Simmons con muchas páginas para desarrollar todo lo que tenía en la cabeza sobre lo que pudo ocurrir en el hielo, no se hace larga por el número de páginas, más bien por desear que se acabe el suplicio de esta gente.

He disfrutado mucho esta travesía, aunque sufrí todo el viaje. Me he angustiado con la expedición y he llorado con sus muertos. Por lo demás, qué gran narrador es Dan Simmons y qué forma más increíble de crear personajes.

Sin embargo, considero que no es un libro para cualquiera, tiene un desarrollo lento y es bastante largo. Además, muchas de las cosas que suceden son contadas desde la perspectiva de diferentes personajes, por lo que puede volverse un tanto repetitivo.

A mí, en lo particular, no me molestó en absoluto; al contrario, disfruté mucho escuchar a cada una de las voces que van narrando la historia.

Without getting into any spoilers: this is a fictionalized account of the doomed Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage in 1845. It is about hubris, greed, strength during unspeakable adversity, and possibly redemption.

Oh, there's also a terrifying monster that they call The Thing on The Ice which is slowly killing everyone aboard the two ships.

It's Dan Simmons, so he takes his time getting into the meat of the story (my dad said that he was telling three stories when he could have told one) but I consider that to be a feature of his writing, rather than a bug.

I absolutely loved this novel. In fact, I loved it so much, I read most of it during JoCoCruiseCrazy in the beginning of 2011, because I just couldn't put it down, even though I was in the middle of the Caribbean on an amazing cruise.

This book hit oddly a little close to home. I was re-cataloguing for the military collection at a museum for several years before someone discovered that the large wooden block sitting at the edge of the collection was actually the long lost anvil block from either the Erebus or the Terror. It was placed by the military collection because it had been augmented with a variety of metal nails and other objects, including a spearpoint jammed in its top. It looks like as the survivors had set out they hauled it with them (for dubious reasons, as they were probably fairly ill by then and a large wooden block meant to elevate a heavy anvil for blacksmithing wasn’t likely to be terribly useful) and then abandoned it along the way. It was an odd feeling to find out that this mystery artefact I’d spent so much time around was actually a lost piece of the Franklin Expedition. If anyone is interested in seeing the anvil block, here is a brief look: Long Lost Anvil Block

See this review and more like it at www.bookbastion.net!
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I'm late to the party with this read, I know, but The Terror just came onto my radar when I realized that AMC was turning it into a television show. I'm a book-over-movie/tv adaptation purist. So many details end up falling to the wayside in an adaptation - for example, I've watched one episode of the show, and already spotted a major difference from the book. I knew I'd want to experience this story as Dan Simmons originally told it, so I ran out and got myself a copy.

I knew going in that this would be a book that would challenge me on a number of fronts. I enjoy horror, but historical fiction is not exactly my purview so to a mix of both is definitely something I'd not experienced before. I'm happy to report that this book far and away exceeded my expectations. This book is as dark and desolate as its setting, packed with perfect atmospheric horror at its greatest.


Inspired by real events, The Terror is a fictionalized account of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror into the artic seas in 1845-1848, to force the Northwest Passage. Dan Simmons weaves together a fictionalized possible explanation to what happened to the men aboard both these sister ships, incorporating both real and supernatural horrors that fill the story with a limitless supply of dread.


Some of the best horror is borne out of that same sense of isolation that proliferates this novel. Trapped on the artic ice, in sub-zero temperatures, with a murderous beast hot on their trail, the men of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror already had enough on their plate for me to feel disturbed by. Couple all that with failing food supplies and the gloomy prospect of what must come next when the food runs out, things get even scarier.

I spent pretty much the entire second half of the story aghast at the levels certain characters are forced to sink to. Make no mistake about it, when people say this book is dark, it is seriously dark. Just when you think things cannot get worse for these characters, they do. Horror fans in general are curtained to be delighted by it, so if you enjoy bleak and existential dread in your horror, you must give this a try.

One other aspect I really enjoyed about this was the characters. I went into this novel hoping to be impressed by the supernatural bear-demon hunting a trapped crew in the artic and came away feeling like the depth and actions of certain characters really blew that out of the water. I was more compelled by a desire to see how certain characters stories would turn out than I was in the supernatural elements by the end of the novel.


Keep in mind that there are a lot of characters here. You've got a cast of 100+ characters counting all the men on both ships, and though many cycle to the forefront of the story only to be excised by death, a few frontrunners who stick around for the long count ended up really capturing my heart. Crozier, Irving, Peglar and Bridgens in particular were three side characters that are so well developed and written that I found myself the most greatly invested in their outcomes.

The level of detail and attention paid to historical accuracy is staggering, though perhaps a little overwhelming to readers who aren't expecting it. I was never bored for a moment and was very pleasantly surprised to encounter a properly scary and well written adventure encapsulated in this horror novel.

4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads!

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Il romanzo storico si mescola perfettamente con quello dell'orrore in questo lungo racconto di Dan Simmons, da cui è stata anche tratta una serie televisiva che devo assolutamente vedere il prima possibile.
La storia della spedizione perduta di Franklin, un viaggio di esplorazione artica guidato dal Capitano Sir John Franklin, partito dall'Inghilterra nel 1845 e finito molto male con gli equipaggi delle navi HMS Erebus e HMS Terror dispersi tra i ghiacci e mai più ritrovati, è un racconto scritto molto bene, ed in alcuni punti parecchio disturbante, di disperazione, degenerazione fisica e mentale, violenza e follia, dall'atmosfera opprimente e dalla ricostruzione storica maniacalmente accurata, dove alla fine predominano l'orrore del cannibalismo e del soprannaturale.
Ho letto diversi libri di Simmons e mi sono piaciuti parecchio, ma questo è decisamente il suo Magnum Opus ed alcune scene al suo interno mi resteranno impresse nella mente decisamente a lungo, un capolavoro la cui lunghezza potrebbe spaventare ma che ogni appassionato dei due generi sopracitati dovrebbe leggere.
Ho letteralmente adorato storia e personaggi, il cui sviluppo e maturazione psicologica sono spesso stati ambigui, imprevedibili e a dir poco disturbanti. Ed alla fine ho letteralmente divorato le ultime duecento pagine, un po' come hanno fatto il Tuunbaq ed il gruppo del subdolo Cornelius Hickey, uno dei più spregevoli e spaventosi villain di tutti i tempi, ai danni degli sventurati equipaggi delle maledette navi HMS Erebus ed HMS Terror, rimanendo nel dubbio su cosa sia realmente il terribile Tuunbaq: uno spirito vendicativo esquimese, un orso polare troppo cresciuto o un mostro lovecraftiano reliquia di eoni passati.
Ma qualunque cosa esso sia una sola cosa è certa: i veri mostri siamo sempre noi.

Wow...

I absolutely loved this book.

Don't let the page length stop you from reading it! Despite its length, the story moves quickly and there's incredible tension throughout. There are a ton of characters to keep you interested (but not too many that you lose track) and who you'll want to scream at for doing the wrong thing or an incredibly awful thing. Some parts were breathtakingly tense and some parts were frightening. Don't think of this as a horror book with a monster... This is so much more. The last 200 pages were a triumph IMO...

Simply one of the best books I have ever read!

PS: The actual ship was just found this past September. SO COOL! http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/h...