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J.D.'s Reviews > The Terror
The Terror
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I'm a big Dan Simmons fan, but at several points during this book, I found myself thinking, "will someone get this man an editor?"
There's a great horror tale in here. Unfortunately it's buried under layers of fat. Ironic, since lengthy descriptions of starvation and scurvy take up so much space in the book.
There's a great horror tale in here. Unfortunately it's buried under layers of fat. Ironic, since lengthy descriptions of starvation and scurvy take up so much space in the book.
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Finished Reading
April 21, 2008
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Sandi
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 15, 2008 03:07PM
NO!!!! I just picked up a copy of this on Borders' Buy One, Get One Half Off table today. I was thrilled because I love the Dan Simmons' books I've read. Maybe I'll like it better than you did. It is huge though.
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A friend of mine just recommended this book to me. I'll give it a try, and maybe skim the starvation and scurvy descriptions.
I thought the starvation, scurvy and freezing parts were the best. I thought the horror part was far less frightening than what was happening in the realistic part. I would have really liked to have seen Simmons stick with a strictly historical novel for this one because I thought he did a great job with his research and conveying what it must have been like to have been on Franklin's Lost Expedition. The monster was superfluous.
It's not supposed to be a great horror tale. It's an historical novel following the doomed Franklin expedition with Simmons drawing supernatural conclusions. Anyone picking up this book expecting a genre-piece will be disappointed, IMO.
I have to ask, though...when you pick up a novel called THE TERROR, is expecting a horror novel unreasonable?
J.d. wrote: "I have to ask, though...when you pick up a novel called THE TERROR, is expecting a horror novel unreasonable? "Well, it IS written by a writer who does horror. And it DOES have a monster. So, yeah, one would think that it's horror. However, the blurb on the back led me to believe that it was more historical fiction, which it was. I think part of the appeal of this novel for me was the fact that the traditional horror aspect, the monster, was far less horrific than the ice, the cold and the sheer effort of staying alive. I often got the impression that the men being taken by the monster were better off than the survivors. I think the point of the novel was that reality can be far more horrifying than fictional horror.
BTW, did the monster kind of remind anyone of the Shrike from Simmons' Hyperion?
Maybe it depends on what you consider horror? Scurvy and starvation sound bad enough. Still you're right, it would be very disappointing.
Exactly Stephanie. Jaws is considered a horror movie. Same sorta thing.
I also noticed that Simmons' editor was apparently MIA. The run-on sentences in the first chapter were obnoxious and distracting.
