The Terror

This book was flat-out fantastic. It's one of the most engaging and thrilling novels I've read in awhile. It's based on a real event, the Franklin Expedition to the find the Northwest Passage to Asia through the arctic. We don't know much about what happened to the expedition, but Dan Simmons is brilliant by filling in the details for you. And scaring you quite a bit in the process.

There are a few characters, too, that you become especially attached to because they reveal themselves in stages throughout the story. The characters become darker as the story grows due to the fact that conditions worsen in the expedition. The descriptions of the arctic and the cold and the disease and the pain are so real that you sometimes feel like putting on more clothing or getting out one more blanket. You feel for these men, not just because they were real at one point in time, but because Simmons writes them so well. It's as if you're watching them do all of this right outside your window.

This story mixes man v. nature, science fiction, mythology, European v. Native attitudes, the slow descent into the inner core of who man really is, and countless other intriguing storylines. You find yourself turning the pages quicker and quicker. And just when you thought you might have something figured out, Simmons scares you again with something out-of-the-ordinary. I can't tell you too much without giving away the story. If you enjoy a good historical fiction with sci-fi mixed in, pick it up. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and AMC has announced that they are turning the book into a TV show, ala the Walking Dead. You can read about it here (warning: SPOILERS in the article).