What a saga, in terms of both my reading experience and the myriad of hardships these seamen had to face on this cursed expedition to find the Northwest Passage. It is humbling to read about the unknown landscape in such harsh weather conditions back in 1800s and the men who ventured forth to explore them. Are these white explorers propelled by their insatiable curiosity and chance to leave a footnote in history, or their own hubris and condescension towards the unknown? Simmons has shown us that in this crew of 100+ people on the expedition, it is a mixture of both. From the intrepid ice master Thomas Blanky and well-intentioned young lieutenant John Irving, to the resentful caulker's mate Cornelius Hickey and haughty Sir John Franklin, Simmons has breathed life into numerous historical figures on this fabled expedition, making me so attached to some of them (DR GOODSIR especially) that it pained me to come upon their inevitable ends. Alas, death comes for all eventually, but Simmons has shown that even in dire conditions, one can live with dignity even in the shadows of death.
I really enjoyed the character development arc for the flawed Captain Crozier, who ended up eschewing the British society that never accepted him in their higher ranks in favor of the God-Walking People. One thing I would love to learn more about is the ingenious Esquimaux ways of adapting in such a forbidden environment - the few passages of Lady Silence and her tribe's hunting habits and ways of communicating only clocked in at the last 10% of the book.
