A review by poisonenvy
The Terror by Dan Simmons

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There are times when this book was very clearly written by a Straight White Man, but I am happy I can say that the explicit descriptions of naked teenage girls stops pretty early in the book (though that doesn't stop young adult women from going around shirtless nearly every time we see them, even in -50 weather) so you can instead enjoy all the descriptions of botulism, cannibalism (though strangely not as described as I would have expected) and general gore instead.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, which I listened to on Audio (Tom Sellwood is an *excellent* narrator, by the way). Throughout the novel there were some elements I wasn't stoked on (the expedition ended horrifically enough historically that having some possibly supernatural ice monster picking them off one by one felt like overkill), but by the end of the novel I felt like everything had come together quite nicely and even the elements I hadn't been sure of fit in quite nicely. I enjoy slow paced novels for the most part, and so I felt like the slow pace really helped with the creeping sense of dread and hopelessness. It did not end at all how I had expected it too. 

Someday, hopefully, I'll be able to watch the TV show too. 🤞