17 August 2008

Dan Simmons – The Terror

Posted by Dirk under: books .

This book took me a while to finish.  This is a mountain of a book, not just because of it’s physical size (750 pages or so) but because of it’s writing.  Dan Simmons is a great writer.

The story is basically about the Franklin’s lost expedition to find the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean.   The two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, get trapped in the ice for several years.  As the men slowly run out of supplies they also have to contend with something out on the ice that is stalking and killing them.

Mutiny, polar bears, scurvy, cannibalism, this book has it all.  The story is told from many viewpoints. I liked how Simmons brought it to an end also. Sometimes I read a giant book like this and when I’m finished I’m annoyed with the end and that I wasted so much time with a narrative that the author wasn’t able to bring to a close, but that isn’t the case with The Terror.  I’m satisfied.

Dan Simmons website.

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