I picked up this book because I enjoyed the author's Hyperion Cantos and wanted to give another work of his a shot. I really wish I hadn't. While this is a well-written and well-researched book, it's not nearly as enjoyable as the Cantos. It's an unpleasant slog though seven hundred pages of human suffering and misery, with an Eldritch Abomination thrown in for good measure. Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy set in at about the halfway mark, and it went downhill from there.
Anyone Can Die, and they frequently do in the most unpleasant ways possible — freezing to death, scurvy, poisoning, brutal murder by either fellow sailors or the titular Terror, etc. And of course, it feels like most of the more likable characters meet gruesome ends early on, leaving the vilest and most unpleasant characters to grace the final chapters. And there's a LOT more unpleasantness to be found in the book as well — blood and gore, graphic autopsy and injury scenes, vivid descriptions of horrible illnesses, and some rather squicky sex scenes. And count on every Hope Spot ending in just more tragedy and pain for all characters involved.
At one point one character, upon meeting the titular monster, just asks it "What took you so long?" I ended up echoing his sentiment, and found myself finishing the book only because once I was 400 pages in, I felt obligated to finish. And in the end, I found the Eight Deadly Words changing from "I don't care what happens to these people" to "Will the giant bear just eat everyone already?"
What a slog
I picked up this book because I enjoyed the author's Hyperion Cantos and wanted to give another work of his a shot. I really wish I hadn't. While this is a well-written and well-researched book, it's not nearly as enjoyable as the Cantos. It's an unpleasant slog though seven hundred pages of human suffering and misery, with an Eldritch Abomination thrown in for good measure. Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy set in at about the halfway mark, and it went downhill from there.
Anyone Can Die, and they frequently do in the most unpleasant ways possible — freezing to death, scurvy, poisoning, brutal murder by either fellow sailors or the titular Terror, etc. And of course, it feels like most of the more likable characters meet gruesome ends early on, leaving the vilest and most unpleasant characters to grace the final chapters. And there's a LOT more unpleasantness to be found in the book as well — blood and gore, graphic autopsy and injury scenes, vivid descriptions of horrible illnesses, and some rather squicky sex scenes. And count on every Hope Spot ending in just more tragedy and pain for all characters involved.
At one point one character, upon meeting the titular monster, just asks it "What took you so long?" I ended up echoing his sentiment, and found myself finishing the book only because once I was 400 pages in, I felt obligated to finish. And in the end, I found the Eight Deadly Words changing from "I don't care what happens to these people" to "Will the giant bear just eat everyone already?"