The Terror (novel)

"The Terror" is the name of a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons. [cite web | title=The Terror | last= | first= | work=fantasticfiction | url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/dan-simmons/terror.htm | date= | accessdate=2007-07-19 ] The novel is a fictionalized account of Franklin's lost expedition of HMS "Erebus" and HMS "Terror" under Captain Sir John Franklin to the Arctic to force the Northwest Passage in 1845 - 1848. In the novel, while Franklin and his crew are plagued by starvation and scurvy and forced to contend with mutiny and cannibalism, they are stalked across the bleak Arctic landscape by a supernatural monster that methodically kills and devours members of the crew. [cite web | title=The Terror by Dan Simmons | last=Gregory | first=Gwen | work=Bookends | url=http://library.coloradocollege.edu/bookends/archives/2007/04/the_terror_by_d.html | date=2007-04-24 | accessdate=2007-07-19 ]

The characters featured in "The Terror" are almost all actual members of Franklin's crew, whose unexplained disappearance has warranted a great deal of speculation. The main characters in the novel include Sir John Franklin, commander of the expedition and captain of "Erebus", Captain Francis Crozier, captain of "Terror", and Captain James Fitzjames.

In the last chapters of the book, Dan Simmons explores the Inuit mythology.

References

*cite book | title=The Terror | last=Simmons | first=Dan | authorlink=Dan Simmons | publisher=Little, Brown | location= | edition=1st ed. | date=2007 | id=ISBN 0316017442

Footnotes