Journal Entry 1 by CrazyDutchwoman from Heemstede, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, July 03, 2011

The bestselling author of Ilium and Olympos transforms the true story of a legendary Arctic expedition into a thriller worthy of Stephen King or Patrick O'Brian.
Their captain's insane vision of a Northwest Passage has kept the crewmen of The Terror trapped in Arctic ice for two years without a thaw. But the real threat to their survival isn't the ever-shifting landscape of white, the provisions that have turned to poison before they open them, or the ship slowly buckling in the grip of the frozen ocean. The real threat is whatever is out in the frigid darkness, stalking their ship, snatching one seaman at a time or whole crews, leaving bodies mangled horribly or missing forever.

Captain Crozier takes over the expedition after the creature kills its original leader, Sir John Franklin. Drawing equally on his own strengths as a seaman and the mystical beliefs of the Eskimo woman he's rescued, Crozier sets a course on foot out of the Arctic and away from the insatiable beast. But every day the dwindling crew becomes more deranged and mutinous, until Crozier begins to fear there is no escape from an ever-more-inconceivable nightmare.

 

Journal Entry 2 by CrazyDutchwoman at Heemstede, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, July 03, 2011

Read from May 20 to June 01, 2011

My God this book took me 12 days to read and to be honest i am very conflicted.
Sometimes it was a struggle to read. Not because I do not like Dan Simmons writing but it was all so bleak and it took sooo long. Maybe I should have read my other non fiction book about this case first. Maybe it was hard to get into because I knew this was about an expedition that really happened I don't know.
What I do know is that i discovered that I prefer to have some survivors. I've read The Endurance about Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition and I loved that book. Yes some died but a lot did survive. Because I knew that nobody had survived maybe that made it so hard for me to read. I think that is it. Too sad. You get to know the characters, like Captain Crozier whom i really liked and you can only think, He is going to die too.
7,6 so will give it an 8 on bookcrosisng.