Review: The Terror
You learn about some strange things by reading. Often we pick books up with a specific purpose in mind. “This book is about knitting. This book is about Oklahoma.” Fiction has the power to subvert those expectations in unique and precious ways. When I read the synopsis on a jacket cover, I try to blur my way through it rather than absorb any information. Like most movie trailers, they tend to give away too much, and I don’t want a third party revealing details better left discovered organically.
Which is why I try to keep these reviews in general terms. Give you just enough to stay interested.
I knew Dan Simmons from his Hyperion books. In spite of the fact that his exhaustive explanations of warp drives gave me headaches, those were easily some of the best sci-fi space operas I’ve encountered. Anyone who’s touched a Simmons book is assured of (at least) three facts: The man does his research, the man knows his literature, and the man can craft characters with the best of them. So when I discovered that he’d written a horror novel about an arctic expedition gone wrong, my interest piqued.
The Terror tells the story of captains and crew aboard the ships Terror and Erebus in the 1840′s, moored in the icy north in search of that ever-elusive Northwest Passage. The book opens with spirits low, the men ready to give in to the freezing cold, and a monster that rises from the ice to slaughter them on a semi-regular basis.
“Monster?” you say.
Simmons shoves readers into the midst of the conflict by beginning the story in the middle, and backtracking through various flashbacks regarding how each of the principal characters eventually found their way to the doomed voyage. (Sounds like the structure of Lost, if colder) Simmons’ nonlinear narrative in the face of an intensely gripping plot dragged me through all 766 pages of the trade paperback.
It’s a tragic fact that well-crafted characters become self-generating batteries of sympathy when they persevere through suffering. And be assured, these characters suffer unimaginable torments. Malnourishment, scurvy, lead poisoning, freezing, and a bloody big ice monster. And each of them stayed with me beyond the boundaries of the text. Their qualities, their shortcomings, their reactions in the face of extreme conflict. Simmons is a master at showing humanity’s potential in extreme circumstances, for better or worse.
I opened this review discussing learning. I didn’t know until I reached the Aknowledgements page that The Terror is a novel of historical fiction. These people–and to a speculative extent, their plight–existed.
I’ve heard contrary opinions about historical fiction. Is it right to probe into a once-living person’s mind, and fill in the blank spaces? Is it right to speculate on their actions, and presume to know whether they went left or right on a particular avenue? I can’t answer that question. I suppose I can only fixate on the word fiction, and hope that it’s appreciated for all that it’s worth. And believe me, in the case of The Terror, it’s worth quite a lot. If you’re willing to stretch the boundaries of experience and perseverance, read The Terror.
