The Terror by Dan Simmons
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons — A Sweeping, Chilling Saga You’ll Never Forget
🚨 Trigger Warnings
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Cannibalism 🥩
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Gore & body mutilation 💀
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Starvation & illness 🤢
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Animal attacks (polar bear mauling) 🐻❄️
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Childbirth trauma & miscarriage ⚠️
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Alcoholism & addiction 🍷
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Death (lots and lots of death)
❄️ First Impressions
How does someone even write a book like this?? I mean, is it perfect? Nope. But is it an epic saga that makes you feel like you’ve been stranded in the Arctic for 900 pages yourself? Absolutely. It’s long, repetitive, brutal, and completely insane — yet somehow also brilliant. I finished and just sat there like, “what did I even just experience?”
This is not a quick, cozy read. This is a saga, capital S. If you can withstand the page count (and the horror), The Terror will reward you with one of the most unforgettable journeys into ice, madness, and monsters. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
📚 What Is The Terror About?
The Terror (2007) by Dan Simmons blends real history with supernatural horror. It reimagines the doomed Franklin Expedition of 1845, when two British ships — HMS Erebus and HMS Terror — sailed into the Arctic to find the Northwest Passage and never returned. In Simmons’ version, the crews face not just starvation, scurvy, mutiny, and endless ice, but also a terrifying supernatural predator hunting them from the shadows.
Oh, and did I mention AMC turned it into a TV series in 2018? 🎥 (Season one adapts this book almost directly.)
⚠️ Spoiler-Filled Plot Summary
(You’ve been warned! 🧊)
By 1847, the Franklin Expedition is in deep trouble. The ships are trapped in ice for a second year. Men are dying. Supplies are running out. And during a scouting mission, they accidentally shoot an Inuit man. His daughter, later called Lady Silence, ends up aboard Terror. Soon after, the crew discovers they are being stalked by something massive and monstrous out on the ice.
❄️ Death of Franklin
Sir John Franklin tries to rally the men with a sermon, promising a bounty for killing the beast. Instead, he becomes one of its victims — mauled to death during an ambush. Captain Francis Crozier is left in charge, struggling with guilt, dwindling supplies, and his own alcoholism.
⚓ Life on the Ships
The men’s food is rotten, coal is running out, and paranoia about Silence grows. Crozier learns the creature is breaking into the ship itself. Men vanish, turn up mutilated, or are outright devoured. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Irving discovers Silence meeting the creature, which shockingly leaves her offerings of fresh meat. (Is she controlling it? 👀)
Meanwhile, trouble brews among the men. Sailor Hickey (a chaos gremlin if there ever was one) schemes constantly, even killing Irving to hide his own secrets. He becomes more unhinged with each passing page.
🎭 Carnivale Gone Wrong
On New Year’s Eve 1847, the crew throws a festival to cheer themselves up. Instead, the monster attacks, turning the carnival into a bloodbath inferno. Crozier punishes Hickey and others with floggings, but discipline continues to crumble. Crozier himself nearly dies of alcohol withdrawal, saved only by prophetic dreams and Lady Silence’s care.
⛓️ Collapse and Mutiny
By 1848, the ships are abandoned. The men begin a desperate march south. Hickey murders Irving, orchestrates a massacre of Inuit, and finally stages a mutiny. He kidnaps Dr. Goodsir, forces cannibalism on the survivors, and declares himself “king.” Goodsir poisons himself to ensure Hickey and his cronies die without eating his body. Hickey, deluded into believing he’s a god, is ultimately ripped apart by the monster.
🐻❄️ Crozier and the Tuunbaq
Captain Crozier, left for dead, is rescued and nursed back to life by Silence. They grow close and eventually become lovers. Through visions, Crozier learns the monster — the Tuunbaq — is a spirit-beast created long ago but gone rogue. Silence belongs to a line of shamans who keep it in balance. Crozier ultimately joins her world, offering himself as one of the sixam ieua (keepers of the Tuunbaq).
🔥 The Ending
By 1851, Crozier (now called Taliriktug) lives with Silence and their children. When he discovers his old ship, HMS Terror, still trapped in the ice, he sets it ablaze to bury the horrors forever. He walks away from England, embracing his new life in the Arctic.
✨ Why This Book Stands Out
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Historical horror: It’s based on real events (the Franklin Expedition really happened!).
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Atmosphere: Simmons nails the cold, the ice, the claustrophobia. You’ll need a blanket while reading.
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Epic length: Yes, it’s LONG. Yes, it’s repetitive. But you feel the grind of survival in every page.
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The monster: The Tuunbaq is terrifying but also symbolic, blending Inuit mythology with cosmic horror.
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Crozier’s arc: From alcoholic captain to survivor, to spiritual rebirth — it’s one heck of a transformation.
📖 Final Thoughts
The Terror is not a book you casually read before bed. It’s an experience. At times it drags, at times it’s completely unhinged, but overall, it’s unforgettable. Brutal, eerie, and oddly beautiful. If you can handle the length and the grimness, this saga will stay with you long after the last page.
⭐ Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
📚 You Might Also Like:
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The North Water by Ian McGuire 🌊
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The Revenant by Michael Punke 🐻
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In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick 🚢
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Hyperion by Dan Simmons (for more Simmons brilliance)
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