Finally finished this last night. It took far longer than I anticipated. It was a quick read and when I was able to find time to actually devote to it, I would be able to knock out fifty pages or so in a sitting.
The dilemma was that I was rarely able to find that time beyond my commute and right before falling asleep.
There's really not a lot I can say about this book. There's so much there, but it seems to be written as though much of it is inconsequential. The various deaths of good men, of bad men and the like.
What I really, REALLY enjoyed was the final 60 pages where the book veers wildly in tone to present the cosmology and world creation myth of the Eskimo. It was these folklore and epic bits which really tied everything together to present an excellent ending which while unexpected fit in perfectly with what had come before. The final mystery of The Lady Silence, the Eskimo woman they had picked up on the ice was handled perfectly well.
I feel quite remiss in not having read more of his works and want to add Dan Simmons's newest, Drood, to the pile.
But not yet.
Not yet.
Showing posts with label The Terror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Terror. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
New Book: The Terror
I've been fan of Dan Simmons since I read Children of the Night back in the early 90s. I enjoyed the blend of fact and fiction to try to present a new take on the Vlad Tepes history, a discussion of Romania after the collapse of Communism and got to learn all kinds of new and exciting blood terminology.
I've gone on to read some of his other famous works like Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, and Lovedeath. He is also famously known for Hyperion and and Ilium, which I haven't read, because I tend to avoid pastiches without having read the original source material.
The Terror is the story of the failed Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in the 1840s. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters, from mutinous malcontents, to ships officers, to marines. Each of our "Main" characters have expansive backstory. The character we spend the most amount of time with (so far) is Captain Crozier of the sister ship The Terror with a wonderful blending of factual detail, fictional detail and plot to propell the story forward.
I'm about 700 pages in out of 1000 and the story is wrapping up nicely. I've heard that the book dissolves at the end, but so far, this is quite enjoyable.
I've gone on to read some of his other famous works like Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, and Lovedeath. He is also famously known for Hyperion and and Ilium, which I haven't read, because I tend to avoid pastiches without having read the original source material.
The Terror is the story of the failed Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in the 1840s. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters, from mutinous malcontents, to ships officers, to marines. Each of our "Main" characters have expansive backstory. The character we spend the most amount of time with (so far) is Captain Crozier of the sister ship The Terror with a wonderful blending of factual detail, fictional detail and plot to propell the story forward.
I'm about 700 pages in out of 1000 and the story is wrapping up nicely. I've heard that the book dissolves at the end, but so far, this is quite enjoyable.
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