By Amy L. Cochran, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
In this historical novel The Terror, Dan Simmons weaves known facts, extrapolation, and Inuit beliefs into his own vividly harsh version of the fate of the lost Franklin Expedition. The book is part thrilling arctic survival fiction, part horror, part nautical adventure, and completely impossible to put down.
Back in 1845, Sir John Franklin led an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage and disappeared completely along with two ships and 128 men. Simmons uses the last known whereabouts of the ships Erebus and Terror to alternate between the present in 1847, as the men try to make it through their second icebound winter, and flashbacks that show how badly informed route decisions and cheap supplies have left the expedition stranded and low on food.
You’d think that being stuck in two wooden ships in pack ice 1200 miles from any chance of rescue would be enough to handle, but Simmons just keeps increasing the tension. After expedition leader Sir John Franklin dies, Captain Francis Crozier of the Terror must somehow get his men home in spite of encroaching scurvy, -82 degree daily temperatures, rotten canned food, and the constant fatal attacks of a terrible beast that seems to be a 14-foot polar bear impervious to bullets. Just about the time the beast appears, Lady Silence, a mysterious Inuit girl with no tongue, comes aboard. She alone can find fresh meat; unfortunately, none of the surviving men have any luck hunting during even the slightly warmer summers. A last-ditch attempt to build morale by staging a winter carnival goes horribly awry, and on top of the deadly natural conditions and animal attacks, human nature shows its ugly side and turns sailor against sailor.
Simmons does an amazing job of providing in gritty detail the nasty, smelly uncomfortable conditions on board ship and the symptoms of advanced scurvy, as well as the harsh realities of surviving for any length of time in the Arctic. In conditions almost beyond comprehension, the men fiercely struggle to stay hopeful and escape their doomed situation. And after reading this excellent historical novel, I have to say that, despite our nasty Michigan winters, we’ve got it pretty good. Compared, at least, to the plight of the men of the ships Erebus and Terror.
