The Terror by Dan Simmons Book Review

 The Terror 

By Dan Simmons (American Author)

Published Year: 2007

Page Count: 759 pages 

Medium Used: Mobile Phone, Samsung Galaxy S10

Genre : Psychological Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Horror, Twists, Ancient Gods,Shamans, Esquimaux, 2025-read. 

Rating : 4.85/5 

Brilliant! Mind Blowing!! The last 200-250 pages are so so so gripping and filled with horror that I couldn't put the book down. I was reading a couple of other big books along side this one, but as the story progressed - this is the only one I could focus on! The character development is thorough. The world building is exquisite. The pacing was medium for the first half of the book and very fast in the second half. The author, in the first half,  acquaints us with the different aspects of North/Arctic Pole and the sea travel, the effects of severe cold and nutrient deprivation on the sea men during these prolonged travels. In the second part,as  the deaths escalate, we see the true nature of the evil that is moving among them and the story behind the origin of the so called 'thing on the ice' or simply, the Terror. 

The only downside I would attribute to the book is at times, the book felt like reading non fiction. And I didn't follow many of their conjectures and arguments on which route to follow to navigate out of the place their ship is stagnated at. I Googled and found an image that described the map route of their journey and that cleared up a lot of my confusion. I wish there was a map provided along with the book which was missing or not provided with my copy. 

In the year 1846, one hundred and twenty six men taking roles of  captains, commanders, lieutenants, ice masters, sea surgeons and other sea men set out on an expedition in two steam ships - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror - to navigate through North West Passage. This expedition comes to be called the John Franklin Expedition for North West Passage - after the expedition commander, John Franklin. This expedition is expected to be finished in a period of three years and they expected to reach home by 1848/9. But they become beset with many hurdles, challenges and evils .. that after three years, out of the 126 souls that set out, only one survives and all the others perish either at their own hands or mercilessly. First off, the weather turns against them - it remains unrelenting and inclement for the most of their journey. After the first year, they reach a island and wait there for the next summer. The second and third year, they don't see summer. The weather remains cold, the atmosphere foggy and ice cold, packed and overgrown. While they are stranded, their food rations are running low, their coal reserves are falling short, men are coming down with serious cases of scurvy. They couldn't find any walruses, seals, whales, caribou, fish or any other edible animals like Arctic Fox, Polar Bear in the frozen ice. It gets so bad that some of the seamen resort to cannibalistic tendencies towards the end. As if these harrowing evils are not enough, there is a thing on the ice - a real evil, terrifying creature - that is chasing after them and playing with their sensitivities. It would steal the sea men and return them with different parts of their bodies sewed together - so it was impossible to separate the body parts and perform their burials/funeral services. The surprise and the origin of the creature, the Terror as it comes to be treated as .. opened my eyes to it. Where I have treated it with abhorrence and contempt before, after learning the lore of the Shamans of the North, I have come to regard it with reverence and veneration, even though it is a ruthless predator and man eater. 

I have always wanted to learn about shamans and their ways of living, healing and nature loving. This book has quenched my thirst in this regard. Reading this is equivalent to researching through ten books on the subject. I loved loved this one. I highly recommend it to all thriller and terror lovers out there. Also to those who like a mythological twist to the horror they are reading!