The Terror

A blistering winter voyage, complete with scurvy, starvation, and thrilling adventure, is the focus of this powerful and beautifully realized tale of exploration on the high seas. Simmons's writing is so vivid that narrator Simon Vance need only deliver the material with a clear and firm reading to capture the interest of listeners. Vance does this so well that the presentation sounds like a recorded journal entry and captivates listeners from start to finish as he plays his role with the utmost respect for Simmons's work. The result is a moving listening experience--perfectly executed--which transports listeners to the galley of the HMS Terror during its expedition through the Arctic Circle. L.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2008 Audies Finalist (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 6, 2006
Hugo-winner Simmons (Olympos
) brings the horrific trials and tribulations of arctic exploration vividly to life in this beautifully written historical, which injects a note of supernatural horror into the 1840s Franklin expedition and its doomed search for the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin, the leader of the expedition and captain of the Erebus
, is an aging fool. Francis Crozier, his second in command and captain of the Terror
, is a competent sailor, but embittered after years of seeing lesser men with better connections given preferment over him. With their two ships quickly trapped in pack ice, their voyage is a disaster from start to finish. Some men perish from disease, others from the cold, still others from botulism traced to tinned food purchased from the lowest bidder. Madness, mutiny and cannibalism follow. And then there's the monstrous creature from the ice, the thing like a polar bear but many times larger, possessed of a dark and vicious intelligence. This complex tale should find many devoted readers and add significantly to Simmons's already considerable reputation.

Trapped in Arctic pack ice while searching for the fabled Northwest Passage, the ships of the Franklin Expedition struggle to survive. In this fictional account of the real-life tragic voyage, two summer thaws never come, food and fuel run out, and starvation looms. John Lee brings us the wind in the rigging and the cracking of the hulls as the ships are squeezed beyond endurance. His tale-telling is so powerful we almost hear the "voice" of the mute Eskimo girl who has attached herself to the company. His rendering of exchanges between Eskimo hunters and crews, who have no common language yet manage to talk to each other, is amazing in its authentic sounding Inuit speech. Lee's Irish brogue and English accents are also near perfect. M.C. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 15, 2006
Though Simmons is best known for his convoluted sf novels "Hyperion, Ilium, " and "Olympos", his new work shows that he's also capable of writing a direct and compelling narrative. For the most part, it's a straightforward sea story following the difficulties of the dwindling remains of Sir John Franklin's failed 1840s mission to find the Northwest Passage. However, in addition to scurvy, frostbite, botulism, snow-blindness, and threats of mutiny, the crews of HMS "Terror" and HMS "Erebus" are harried by some enormous Thing out on the ice. The story is told from the viewpoints of several members of the ships' crews, with emphasis on "Terror" captain Francis Crozier and "Erebus" surgeon Harry Goodsir. The effects of malnutrition and climate on the men are related in grisly detail, while the predations of the Thing are often left vague. As several characters remark, the real monsters in this tale are their own shipmates and the North itself. It's clear that Simmons devoted a lot of time to researching the history of the Franklin Expedition. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/15/06.]Karl G. Siewert, Hardesty Regional Lib., Tulsa

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2006
The prolific and versatile Simmons turns to historical fiction in this fine narrative of the lost Franklin expedition of the 1840s, in which nearly 200 men sailed in search of the Northwest Passage aboard two converted naval vessels, " Erebus" and " Terror." They seemingly sailed off the face of the earth, until remains of the longest survivors among them were discovered many years later. Simmons makes the " Terror"(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)