In the past year or so, there are few things I have enjoyed in media more than maritime fiction and extreme cold temperatures. So Dan Simmons’ The Terror was a book practically made for me. This story fictionalizes the account of Franklin’s lost expedition, an Arctic expedition of the 1840s that got its ships stuck in the ice for several years while searching for the Northwest Passage. Except in this horror novel, the cold and hunger and disease aren’t the only things killing off the crew. Some monster is hunting them down from the ice.

Going in, I knew next to nothing about this expedition, and it took all my willpower not to Google anything while reading either, because I didn’t want to spoil myself for who would live or die or any other details. I do plan to read a nonfiction about the expedition next, and to watch the TV show adaptation. But from what I can tell, it appears to be well-researched (except for a few pet peeves which I’ll get to later).*

This is a very thick book, but I ate it up.…