Definitely glad I read this before watching the show. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting,

I was honestly expecting something more along the lines of The Thing where there's just a lot more carnage and the fighting amongst the group is a lot more constant and heated, rather than being a constant looming threat in the background.

I had to put it down for a bit just because my library loan expired and it was put back on hold. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I could have just listened to the whole thing uninterrupted.

I have some complicated feelings about the portrayal of the Inuit people in this book, but yknow I'm a white man, what do I know?

The crew of the Terror are racist and this simply reflects the attitudes towards Indigenous people (and POC as a whole) of the time the book takes place, and we are very obviously supposed to think this is wrong. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, I am just not a fan of the idea that racism NEEDS to be included in fiction for the sake of realism. It's wrong to pretend it wasn't there, but it's also a little annoying that people of colour (and a lot of other different minority groups) don't get to enjoy period pieces the same way majority groups do. And multiple characters do make an effort to be decent to the Inuit characters, even if these efforts don't fully unpack the racist views like Inuit people being inherently violent savages. Again, I don't necessarily have a problem with this part. It's realistic, even today in the 21st century. It's just a little jarring to hear when I'm trying to have fun reading a horror novel.

HOWEVER,

the book (especially the last five chapters or so) play pretty heavily into the "Indian mysticism" stereotype, which I do have more of an issue with. Again, I'm a white man so maybe I'm getting defensive over something that Indigenous fans of the book (and show) don't see an issue with. Maybe Simmons did extensive research on Inuit mythology and cultural practices and simply included them in the book because he genuinely thought it was respectful. And maybe Indigenous readers don't have an issue with it. I'll definitely look into this later when I have a chance and if this is the case, I will absolutely clarify. But given the reaction from Indigenous people to other tropes in film and literature, specifically the trope that Indigenous people are magical, incredibly superstitious beings who communicate through dreams and have spirit animals, I don't know if this is a great portrayal of Inuit people and culture. But of course, I will give Simmons the benefit of the doubt as this book was written in 2007 and even if these criticisms were present, they weren't necessarily listened to or treated with much respect.

But back to the actual story.

I was having a great time when the focus was on the monster. I had a good time when we were focusing on the tragedy of these people being lost on the ice and desperate, turning to cannibalism and having to reckon with the fact that your friends left you to die because you were too much of a burden for them to save. I just don't know if I feel like these two things meshed together as well near the end as I would have liked them to. Like I said, maybe it's because I put it down pretty much at the point this shift really started to occur. Maybe it's just too long. The book is separated almost in half with a supernatural element and then a more human element (and then an epilogue of sorts). I compared it to The Thing already, but The Thing does a great job of balancing the supernatural and human elements. They play directly into each other and it's the supernatural elements that highlight the pre-existing tension among the group in the first place. I don't think The Terror utilizes this type of story telling as well as it could have.

When I write long and critical reviews like this, I feel like I always need to reiterate that I did enjoy this! The writing style was engaging. I did care about the characters, even if I hated them. The story itself was interesting and kept me hooked enough to power through a 28 hour long audiobook that I could only borrow for two weeks at a time. And I still managed to return it early! I would like to watch the show because I did enjoy the book. I would love to see how the few things I disliked could potentially be fixed, and I do think part of this is easily fixed due to it just being a little less acceptable (and honestly, a lot more cliche and boring) by today's standards.

I've scrolled through other reviews quickly before I try looking for reviews or think pieces by Indigenous readers.

I'm seeing a lot of people say they find the timeline confusing because of the amount of flashbacks. Personally, I didn't have this issue. I tend to miss details when listening to audiobooks since I usually multitask when listening, but even if I was missing something being labelled as a flashback, I never felt lost or like I was having trouble putting together a timeline of events.

I'm also seeing a lot of people talk about the way women are treated in the book, and yeah. One could chalk it up to it being accurate to the attitudes white men had towards women at the time, but I don't know. It kind of falls flat when there's barely any positive to say about women at all in this book unless they're carrying a man's child.

EDIT
So after a very quick google, it seems that Dan Simmons is horribly racist and doesn't believe in climate change. I'm not trying to say that this proves that all of the offensive things in this book are glimpses into his psyche or reflect his true thoughts. But I do think it influences the way he writes his characters, both the ones we're supposed to disagree with and the minority groups themselves. 

Specifically want to clarify the "Its complicated" answer to the character development. Josie does develop a LOT from the start of the series, but in this issue specifically there isn't much of a change just because we are at the end and we're focusing on other things. 

The art is beautiful I absolutely adore Audrey Mok's style. 

The story itself is corny. I like the idea of a band going on wacky side quests while they're touring, but I wasn't a huge fan of the dialogue. I can overlook the pacing because I'm used to graphic novel length stories and these are all MUCH shorter than that, but it does feel EXTREMELY rushed at times. 

I really hate the characterization of some of them (specifically Melody who is just. impossibly stupid and nothing else). All of the characters do feel a little flat and the development feels like someone has taken Josie's hand and consistently has to teach her kindergarten level lessons about selfishness and forgiveness. Her development just feels incredibly forced, especially since she consistently has a hard time working through these issues. Which is realistic! Progress is not linear, but it makes for a frustrating narrative, especially given the amount of pages this series has. 

Kind of breezed over the racism against indigenous people but the rest of it is good. 

A guy in my class told me he would miss the third class of the semester because he was going to take a train to PA for Groundhog Day. I laughed because I thought he was joking because who the fuck cares that much about Groundhog Day of all holidays? He then showed me a comic he did for class the semester before about a rude, alcoholic groundhog and the cult that was keeping him alive with the blood of other groundhogs. I told him I needed to read this comic immediately. I hounded him for MONTHS for him to let me read it. Every art market, I begged him to get a table so I could buy a copy and read this comic. 

After nine months, I have finally gotten my hands on a copy that he sold at Small Press Expo. 

Needless to say, it was everything I was eagerly waiting for and more. Shout out Damien (Hauntedillustration on insta) I love this comic. It was awesome. Please release a second issue.