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The Terror
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
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Publisher's summary
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness.
Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths.
But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape. The Terror swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as "a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). With a haunting and constantly surprising story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.
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From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all-time classic. An airliner crashes in the polar ice cap. In temperatures 40 degrees below zero, six men and four women survive. But for the members of a remote scientific research station who rescue them, there are some sinister questions to answer – the first one being, who shot the pilot before the crash?
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Suspense thriller from 1959
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A swashbuckling triumph of storytelling, Flint and Silver provides a thrilling ride back to the rich and wondrous world of Long John Silver and his fiendish nemesis Joseph Flint in this prequel to the beloved classic Treasure Island.
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where are the other two books in the series??
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By: John Drake
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The Sea Wolf
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Jack London worshiped strong and virtuous heroes, and his stories give great weight to the inevitable triumph of good over evil. His telling of the adventures of Humphrey van Weydon in The Sea Wolf is in keeping with this theme of moral man. His powerful and gripping saga of van Weydon's capture by a seal-hunting ship and the ensuing tangles with its dreaded captain, Wolf Larsen, makes this a classic American tale of peril and victory.
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I won the lottery!
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Ejnar Mikkelsen was devoted to Arctic exploration. In 1910 he decided to search for the diaries of the ill-fated Mylius-Erichsen expedition, which had set out to prove that Robert Peary’s outline of the East Greenland coast was a myth, erroneous and presumably self-serving. Iver Iversen was a mechanic who joined Mikkelsen in Iceland when the expedition’s boat needed repair.
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FABULOUS.
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The crime of the century begins without a hitch. On July 5th, 2070, as it's about to be launched, the starship Alabama is hijacked - by her captain and crew. In defiance of the repressive government of The United Republic of Earth, they replace her handpicked passengers with political dissidents and their families. These become Earth's first pioneers in the exploration of space...
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Poorly read
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Better narrator needed
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The best book I've had
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In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle was an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire. Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalists, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine.
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Not much about Darwinia.
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The Iron Duke
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After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession. But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England.
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Great for Some but Not for Everyone
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Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
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Author of the beloved Redwall series, Brian Jacques is one of the most popular fantasy authors in the world, with over 40 million books in print. This New York Times best seller will impress listeners with its original twist on the legend of the ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman.
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Great story, bad production value.
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In a daring foray, under the very nose of the French Mediterranean fleet, Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage is to sail his tiny cutter close in to the Italian shore and rescue a party of stranded aristocrats from Napoleon's fast-advancing army.
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Engaging
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Idk who needs to see this, but TRIGGER WARNING
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What listeners say about The Terror
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- EAK
- 01-26-07
Great Story - better if unabridged
I have read several books by Dan Simmons - all of them great. When I saw "The Terror" at the bookstore, I immediately checked to see if it was available on Audible. It was, but I was disappointed to see that it was abridged. Nevertheless, I purchased it and thoroughly enjoyed Simon Vances reading of this intriguing fictional account of what happened to "The Terror" and her sister ship the "The Erebus". I gave four stars instead of five, only because it was abridged. I hope Audible provides more titles by Dan Simmons.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Sage
- 07-12-16
Awesome Book
Super creepy and intricate. Can be hard to follow at times with all the different characters and nautical terms. That said it was very well written and the plot is in my experience is wonderfully original. Absolutely loved it!
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- Solyaris
- 01-12-17
Great as always from Dan Simmons!
Easy to listen to the eloquent, yet terrifying, narrator. Visions of the ice all around made me shiver in 75degree weather! I still can't believe this one man narrated this entire classic book! All the characters voices were distinct and had their own voice..the narrator need not even indicate who was speaking! Great book bookended by fantastic narration!
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- Kloust
- 10-27-24
I want to like this...
I loved the historical accuracy, but the graphic sexual scenes ruined it for me. Most of the time, it felt like they were random and added nothing to the story.
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- Arne Saknussmm
- 09-26-11
A gripping story
An unusual audiobook, a well-spun suspense tale that "grows" on the listener, with the heightening despair provoked on a crew of a ship trapped by a frozen sea, mysterious murders, hints of supernatural phenomena, glimpses on eskimo culture and religious beliefs, dark settings, desolate surroundings, the fight for survival, violence, ethical choices, the discovery of soul-sharing love by a hardened seaman, unexpected ecological and spiritual insights, all in the 1800s...
Plus, a good reader to bring it to life...
What else can a listener wish for?
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- Douglas Cutillo
- 07-23-16
Incredible
Absolutely amazing. Loved this book. Simon Vance could make curious George sound like Shakespeare. This book could be read by a 7 year old and still be captivating. The ending suggests a possibility of hope for us all from the English curse.
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Overall
- T. Mcpherson
- 12-21-08
Worth a credit to listen to...
This was a decent book. The narrator has talent and does a very good job. The story is well formed and the characters are interesting. It is definitely worth a credit. I didn't give it 5 stars because it is abridged. The process of abridgement serves one purpose, and that is to lessen the quality of the book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- coreybeth
- 05-27-13
Excellent story - unexpected pleasure
I was surprised. I really wish this was unabridged though. It seemed as if the story "skipped". Characters were interesting, a few unexpected and the ending was a nice summary/explanation of the "monster".
Group of explorers stuck in the Arctic, something is killing them one by one, not only the "monster" but the elements & nature itself were the bad guys. I found myself totally wrapped up in the story.
I don't like books that drag out the beginning or "reveal" of the bad guy but this one was completely opposite and I wish they would have had a little more of a build up to the chaos and mayhem.
narrator was very good.
The ending was a nice twist and it wrapped the story up brilliantly.
Overall well worth the credit - just wish is wasn't abridged!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 05-30-12
No one narrates better than Simon Vance
Dan Simmons' writing is masterful--a modern Dickens. Simon Vance is, as always, flawless. A dynamite combination. Very enjoyable.
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- Kelly Howard
- 01-02-16
slithers fr/ historical accuracy to deep weirdness
I've read nearly all the books written about John Franklin's final, fatal (& idiotic) expedition, and so, clearly, has Simmons. The title of the book could be seen as merely derived from the name of one of Franklin's two ships; Erebus & Terror...but it gets to meaning a great deal more.
The beginning of "The Terror" segues from staying close to historical facts about the ludicrously overloaded, overpopulated expedition --with the addition of a fictional character, the Inuit woman "Lady Silence", who seems deeply mysterious at first...then gets more mysterious & a whoooole lot weirder. As does the plot. Simmons follows, as faithfully as can be known, the tragic trajectory of Franklin's doomed men. The farther he gets into historically unknown territory, the deeper he gets into just plain mystical/bizarre/darn near alien territory, as when (for instant) the reason for Lady Silence's silence is revealed. It's not just because she's shy & doesn't speak English.
There may be some who can't deal with a book which begins so grounded in fact about a true polar exploration and then veers so far into mystical territory. I really can't go into plot details partly because I don't want to do any spoiling, partly because it's darned near impossible to describe without just inserting great chunks of the book.
There is certainly terror ongoing throughout the factual and the imaginative parts, and by the end pretty much only the possibly other-worldly mind of Dan Simmons could've produced the deeply unsettling strangeness...but it's a seriously unique & creative strangeness. If you can let your mind wide open & let it wash over you, it's a heckuva ride.
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