The HMS Terror may well have been the most aptly named ship in all of history, first for its opponents in the Second American War (of 1812), then for its inhabitants when England turned its attention back to the Northwest Passage. I can't imagine that even the two prior expeditions were anything less than terrifying for the crew to overwinter in, but the final, Franklin's voyage... that was something special.

Dan Simmons created a very slow burn, here, with an enormous amount of description to help you understand everything there is to know about ship life in the era, woven in with memories of England and expeditions that don't pan out. The writing begins so prosaic but becomes more lyrical and surreal as the chapters go on. When a mythical thing starts killing people, a few at a time, and then a lot at a time, the horror just keeps ratcheting up, and really, it's the long delays between the swift killings that keep you most on edge, just like the characters. And among all the desperate human attempts to survive, the human horror still outweighs anything supernatural.

The book keeps morphing and becoming something else right up to the end. Every page is worth turning.