Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Two irresistible subjects for me are Antarctica and fictional horror creatures. The Terror came close enough to having both of them for me. This 2007 novel by Dan Simmons takes place in the Arctic, the most northern place on earth, while Antarctica is the most southern, but "ice everywhere you look" is a tidy description for both places. Simmons' fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find the Northwest Passage from 1845-1848 has everything a boring, dry history book might skim over or even leave out--and it has the goods aplenty.   

The story starts with two HMS ships, Erebus and Terror, trapped in the ice 28 miles north-northwest of King William Island. They've been there for more than a year, their provisions are dwindling, and there's no wildlife to be hunted. But something is hunting them. Called "the terror", this indestructible monster seems to have taken the form of a colossal polar bear with a hideously long neck. Additionally, one of the parties sent out earlier encountered "Esquimaux" (Eskimos) while out on the ice. They shoot the old man, supposedly an accident, and end up bringing the young woman back to the ships with them. When they discover her tongue has been bitten off, they begin calling her "Lady Silence". 

The main character is Captain Francis Crozier, second to Sir John Franklin, who quickly becomes commander of the expedition when their leader is lost. Crozier is initially a drunk (forced into sobriety by a lingering illness) with insecurities stemming from his Irish heritage and his societally unimpressive beginnings which surely led to him being rejected as a suitor by the Captain's own niece. Crozier may or may not have psychic abilities. Other characters of note are Commander James Fitzjames, third in command, an upper-class officer in the Royal Navy. Dr. Henry D. S. Goodsir, an anatomist, considered the least of the four doctors caring for the crews, was a phenomenal character. In his unflagging humility and compassion, he gained the respect of both crews. The antagonist is most certainly Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey, who compels a desperate band of rebels to attempt mutiny. 

Before and after the dwindling crew abandons both ships, they're beset with one catastrophe after another in the form of starvation, illnesses and an unending catalog of maladies. It's discovered by Goodsir that the tinned provisions are all tainted with lead from soldering and are often putrid--the result of His Majesty's Navy taking the lowest bid to stock the ships with foodstuffs. Any help from the indigenous tribes is quickly squandered by the cannibalistic mutineer and his despairingly hungry band of insurgents. As if that isn't enough, the "Chenoo" ice monster that pursues them wherever they go seems to have a personal grudge against them. Does the Lady Silence, herself a shaman, know something about that? 

This book is absolutely not for the faint of heart. The landscape is ruthless and bleak (so well written, you'll feel the icy wind at the back of your neck, making you shiver). The themes explored arise from hopelessness, desolation, trapped and depraved conditions, where human beings are pushed right to the edge of humanity as well as sanity. With players being picked off left and right from every direction, you'll soon lose track of who you're rooting for, in some cases, because the protagonist is ripped from the story by a sudden and shocking death. The ending is unexpected and equally horrifying but I was somehow gratified by how it came back around to the beginning. (Beware spoiler below!) 

 

Crozier and Lady Silence, now lovers with children, are the only survivors of the tragedy. Their family comes upon the HMS Terror, still afloat almost 200 hundred miles south of her original "prison". After touring it, he sets it on fire and watches it burn and finally sink, lost to the ice, as the man he once was is and will now always be. 

 

Another reason this massive tome isn't for the meek is its sheer length. The hardcover is nearly 800 pages, larger than even most history books! One other thing threw me a bit--the story opened in medias res ("into the middle of things”), so chronologically, we were put in the middle of the plot instead of the beginning in these opening pages. I normally wouldn't mind that, but I entered a historical-like account in present tense, and whenever I was thrust in medias res, I felt like I was floundering and ungrounded. Luckily, most of the book wasn't written that way, but that nearly kept me from continuing both times I read this book--the first time when it initially came out as a hardcover in 2007 as well in as my recent reading. 

Additionally, Simmons has a very Stephen King-esque style of writing, in that he includes details that you either didn't want to know or would have assumed anyway if he'd just had the good manners to leave them out. Some call such information flavor. I call it bad taste. (I really don't care what color pubic hair or areolas anyone has, nor what someone's body does involuntarily while he's sleeping. Though flatulence did drive one particular plot of King's, I don't know of any other story that actually "benefits" from sensory details like this.) 

In any case, despite a cast larger than most encyclopedias, the characters in this setting, immersed in such a tense plot, are well worth the endeavor of taking on this intense reading project. Nearly twenty years after its publication, it certainly stands the test of time. 

If you're not up for this in-depth read, though, you don't have to miss The Terror's incredible story. There's a TV series that at least starts on the basis of Simmons' novel. The first season, making up 10 episodes, covers the entire novel, and pretty faithfully at that. Season 2 (and the upcoming 3) is also based on another mysterious event with a supernatural twist. Jared Harris as Crozier, Ciarán Hinds as Franklin, Tobias Menzies as Fitzjames, and Paul Ready as Goodsir were standout actors. In whatever form you choose to take in this story, just don't miss it. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

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