The Terror: A Novel

Dan Simmons

Mar 2007 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

The "masterfully chilling" novel that inspired the hit AMC series (Entertainment Weekly). 

The men on board the HMS Terror — part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage — are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations, a dwindling coal supply, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in.

“The best and most unusual historical novel I have read in years.” —Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe

Ratings and reviews

Now, i'd say that this was quite the stellar novel in numerous ways. One: rich in historical detail. Two: i admired the form in which this book is written ( memoir) Three: superb character development. In the end there are too many things to be said but i may have (and hopefully) given you all the proper basic encouragement to help you make the important decision of which book is worth your time.

Take equal parts ambition and struggle, throw in heaping helping of looming fear of the unknown as manifest through the journey, the destination, and the crew itself, sprinkle in flawless character development and pitch perfect 'supernatural' elements and you'd have a bowl full of what Simmons used to make The Terror. And yet even with all that you wouldn't come close to cooking up this novel. It is by turns brilliant and chilling. You feel the cold and the isolation, you see the face of madness and betrayal, the warmth of love, the taste of flesh, the creak of the ice, the surrounding darkness. You are engulfed in the terror. That is, only if you buy thus wonderful book. Trust me, a stranger, you won't regret it.

This is a very gritty and detailed tale of survival, taking into account the horrors of nature and humanity. However, the last 300 pages were rather slow, and the story lost some tension. I wish it spent more time focusing on the monster, considering how much time was spent on the characters' struggle for survival.

About the author

Dan Simmons is the Hugo Award-winning author of several novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Olympos and The Terror. He lives in Colorado.