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A review by foolishpsychopomp
The Terror by Dan Simmons
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Just go watch the amc series <3
I read this book in 4 consecutive days. Those are 4 days I am never going to get back and a part of me will always regret putting myself through that. The only saving grace was the fact I borrowed this book from the library and didn't actually spend any money on this flaming garbage. It would be easier to say the (very few) things I liked about this book rather than that which I didn't, but for the sake of an accurate review I can't not talk about it.
Firstly I have to acknowledge how drenched in racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism this book is. And the "time period accurate" reason really only goes so far for me. There is such an over abundance in it's use of derogatory language that it feels less like period accurate views and more like Dimmons is just excited to use slurs. Also it's not just "character is racist because well of course they would be" but also the fact he is writing characters into racist/homophobic/etc tropes that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Now I'm not someone who will shy away from a longer book but just because your book can be over 500 pages doesn't mean that it should be. I don't know what happened during the editing stage, whether the editor just did a poor job or Dimmons just ignored any suggestions, but The Terror could of really used a few more passes before being published. The amount of times things are stated, then restated, and stated again in a level of nauseating detail just isn't always necessary (and you're lucky if this isn't happening all in a single chapter). There were times I could swear that Dimmons just copied and pasted a couple of paragraphs and hoped no one would notice.
Another major issue for me were it's characters because if being a slog wasn't bad enough, I could barely bring myself to care about anyone in this book. Not a single character has any depth deeper then a bone dry parking lot. Most of them do not matter in slightest, you could probably swap a bunch of names around and nothing would change. For anyone who as more than 4 lines of dialogue they can be firmly split into two groups; those who are the most insufferable characters in the world (Crozier, Hickey), and those who are tolerable but honestly nothing special (Goodsir, Fitzjames, Peglar). The sole exception to this is Blanky who somehow manages to be the only character I actually liked. Which considering the sheer number of characters is kind of sad.
Other dreadful parts of The Terror: many things happen for seemly no reason or with no consequence, told non-chronologically but only sometimes and for unintelligible reasons, very cringey sex scenes, Irving's music boner, Dimmons being unable to write an emotional scene if his life depended on it, whatever the fuck was going on in the last like 5-10 chapters
I read this book in 4 consecutive days. Those are 4 days I am never going to get back and a part of me will always regret putting myself through that. The only saving grace was the fact I borrowed this book from the library and didn't actually spend any money on this flaming garbage. It would be easier to say the (very few) things I liked about this book rather than that which I didn't, but for the sake of an accurate review I can't not talk about it.
Firstly I have to acknowledge how drenched in racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism this book is. And the "time period accurate" reason really only goes so far for me. There is such an over abundance in it's use of derogatory language that it feels less like period accurate views and more like Dimmons is just excited to use slurs. Also it's not just "character is racist because well of course they would be" but also the fact he is writing characters into racist/homophobic/etc tropes that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Now I'm not someone who will shy away from a longer book but just because your book can be over 500 pages doesn't mean that it should be. I don't know what happened during the editing stage, whether the editor just did a poor job or Dimmons just ignored any suggestions, but The Terror could of really used a few more passes before being published. The amount of times things are stated, then restated, and stated again in a level of nauseating detail just isn't always necessary (and you're lucky if this isn't happening all in a single chapter). There were times I could swear that Dimmons just copied and pasted a couple of paragraphs and hoped no one would notice.
Another major issue for me were it's characters because if being a slog wasn't bad enough, I could barely bring myself to care about anyone in this book. Not a single character has any depth deeper then a bone dry parking lot. Most of them do not matter in slightest, you could probably swap a bunch of names around and nothing would change. For anyone who as more than 4 lines of dialogue they can be firmly split into two groups; those who are the most insufferable characters in the world (Crozier, Hickey), and those who are tolerable but honestly nothing special (Goodsir, Fitzjames, Peglar). The sole exception to this is Blanky who somehow manages to be the only character I actually liked. Which considering the sheer number of characters is kind of sad.
Other dreadful parts of The Terror: many things happen for seemly no reason or with no consequence, told non-chronologically but only sometimes and for unintelligible reasons, very cringey sex scenes, Irving's music boner, Dimmons being unable to write an emotional scene if his life depended on it, whatever the fuck was going on in the last like 5-10 chapters