In the heart of the icy embrace of the Arctic, the crew of HMS Terror embarks on a daring voyage destined for the annals of history. Part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, their mission to find the Northwest Passage promised glory but delivered a nightmare. As the Arctic winter refuses to relinquish its grip, the crew finds themselves trapped, the ice a relentless foe encasing their hopes in a frozen tomb. With the specter of starvation, scurvy, and madness looming, they face not just the brutal force of nature, but an unseen, malevolent entity that haunts the perpetual night, a terror that stalks them with an insatiable hunger. When leadership falls to Captain Francis Crozier following the grim demise of Sir John Franklin, the desperate struggle for survival takes a new turn. Accompanied by an enigmatic Inuit woman, whose silence holds the weight of their salvation or doom, Crozier leads his dwindling crew in a harrowing attempt to escape the ice's clutches. As the darkness of another winter approaches and the ice tightens its hold, they are forced to confront the reality that their true adversary is not just the Arctic’s deadly grasp, but the eldritch horror that seeks to extinguish their lives. In this chilling tale of survival, Dan Simmons weaves a narrative that tests the limits of human endurance against the backdrop of an indifferent, savage wilderness, where the line between myth and reality blurs, and fear reigns supreme.