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The Terror
RRP: £20.00 Our Price: £17.22 (subject to change) ReviewsChilling historical thriller Review date: 2008-08-23 Rating: 10 out of 10 The Terror is based on the true story of the ill-fasted Franklin expedition to the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage. Two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, set sail to find the passage and were never seen again by white men. Graves and artefacts were found by other later explorers but the story of the hundred plus men will never be fully known. Simmons cleverly uses this true story as the base for this fantastically thrilling novel. The dark nature of the human psyche is the true monster in this tale, not the huge beast that is methodically slaughtering crew members. The decline of the human body and the human mind is brilliantly explored and proves to be more chilling than the brutal attacks of the white beast. The story is well researched and it's all too easy to imagine yourself there in the dark and the cold, wrapped in clothes that never fully dry out. The invasion of the white Europeans into the lands of the native Inuit is also introduced in this book through the use of Inuit mythology. This is a large book and the pace is somewhat glacial, if you'll pardon the pun. However, it's well worth the read. Just wrap up warm as you read. Brilliantly written - a genuine must-read. Harrowing and memorable Review date: 2008-07-23 Rating: 10 out of 10 Franklin's Lost Expedition was a lost naval voyage to the Northwest Passage in the utmost northern and then uncharted territories of Canada in which two royal navy ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus and all of their 128-strong crew vanished without a trace for many years. A £20'000 reward was offered to any explorer who found the lost expedition, and although none did, graves of three crew were found on desolate island in Baffin Bay. The graves were exhumed in 1984, and the body of John Torrington was the best preserved mummy since the Tollund Man was found in Denmark in 1950. Autopsy showed that although Torrington had died of pneumonia, lead levels were unusually high and this was also found in the other two bodies of John Hartnell and William Braine in the adjacent graves (consequentially, if looking into the empty dead eyes of a two hundred year old, frostbitten and ultimately disturbing mummy doesn't freak you out, then feel free to search for John Shaw Torrington, William Braine or John Hartnell on Google. Or, even better - don't). Since then, remains of men have been found strewn across the arctic. A skeleton was found on King William Island, and human remains were found near an abandoned lifeboat on the north shore of the same island. Eskimo accounts say that a group of white men died of starvation near the coast north of Back River in northern Canada. Analysis of some remains found knife marks on the bones which suggested that some crewmembers at least had resorted to cannibalism. Analysis of the tins of food showed that the soldering was faulty, and that lead had contaminated the food. In the end it was concluded that starvation, exacerbated by scurvy, pneumonia and lead and food poisoning had killed the entirety of the expedition. Massivefail. There you have it, the biggest single disaster in exploration history. Excellent. The book follows the story from the perspectives of the captains of the two ships, Francis Rawden Moira Crozier and James FitzJames. All of the characters in the book were real people - the research that has gone into it is phenomenal. These include Harry Peglar, who sailed with Darwin on his voyage to the Galapagos Islands, and even the main antagonist, the short and rat-faced Cornelius Hickey. Not content with writing a black novel on an utterly dark and harrowing subject, Simmons then proceeds to add a fantasy element - a terrifying thing on the pack ice which stalks and taunts as it picks off the crewmates one by one. The fantasy elements draw largely from Inuit mythology; a clever undertone throughout the whole book. Now, I'm quite the picky sort with books. The Terror is already one of my favourite novels ever. It's the first ever book I've "listened" to. The connection to real-world events makes it all the more interesting. It also makes it all the more dark and nasty. It is without doubt the bleakest book I've ever read in my life. I'll not spoil it for you but the clever way in which the book is written keeps you almost totally in the dark as to what the thing is until pretty much the end. And everyone loves suspense. I thought the ending was a bit strange. It sort of dives off into a plethora of myths and legends without warning, which although doesn't detract from the experience, will probably leave you staring blankly for a good ten minutes after you finish. Getting down to it though, I think you should read this book. It's brilliantly written - it is actually dark and nasty and very bleak while all the while being interesting and intriguing. It is harrowing. It is disturbing. It's one of the few "horror" books I've actually read and enjoyed. The characters have been meticulously researched, which only adds to the immersion. The inclusion and addition of the fantasy and mythological elements doesn't reduce the purity of the story in any way. The main "bad guy" is a really nasty piece of work. Everything works, it really is an absolute work of genius and one which has driven me to root out the rest of Dan Simmons' work. 5 stars. Spoiled by the ending Review date: 2008-06-10 Rating: 8 out of 10 Despite the tone of my heading I loved this book. I have to say one of the best I have ever read - and that's saying something from a usually exclusive crime/thriller reader. The story is engaging, and I couldn't put it down. A couple of points are actually scary. I do have to say that the ending though, was just a bit random. This took the book from the almost plausible (scary monster notwithstanding) to the downright wierd. You don't get to hear what happened to a group of survivors, after following them for 900 pages or so which was disappointing. Following the style of story through to the end would have given this book 5 stars. Still definately worth a read thoguh - i'd just skip the end as it doesn't actaully add anything! It's sooo cold!!!!! Review date: 2008-05-17 Rating: 10 out of 10 I bought this book, after hearing about it somewhere (I forget where), read the first few pages, discovered that the first chapter was written in the present tense which I hate in novels, and put it aside. A few weeks later I decided to try it again (the £7.99 I had spent on it was imploring me to do so) and I was more than pleasantly surprised, to say the least! Soon, the present tense moves into a multi-tense narrative and the story grips you like a strangler. The majesty of Dan Simmons' imagination is breathtaking. I rarely read novels, especially novels that are 1000 pages long, but this one gnaws at your soul, keeps you awake nights demanding to be read. I found myself in a meeting today, miles away, thinking about this book. It really is that good; there are multiple scenes within this book that you will remember forever. I haven't read a book for ages that had me looking at the number of pages left to read and thinking, sorrowfully, of the literary vacuum that will remain when when the unread pages have reduced to zero; this is such a book. Product Details/SpecificationsAuthors: Dan Simmons Recording label: Bantam Press Manufacturer: Bantam Press EAN: 9780593057629 Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 0593057627 Number of pages: 784 Publication date: 2007-02-01 Language: English (Original Language) Language: English (Unknown) Similar ProductsJoin Our Mailing ListJoin our newsletter and you will be informed when this site is fully operational, the you won't have to keep checking back. Enter your email address and press send |
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