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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a fairly decent collection of Lovecraft's short stories, and my edition has an ample notes section to go along with each work. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you love horror and you haven't read Lovecraft, you're missing out. Heck, if you haven't read Lovecraft you are missing out, period. These are the stories that I like to read on dreary rainy afternoons with a cup of tea and a big down comforter wrapped around me. (I wouldn't recommend reading them at night, though. Too many nightmares.) Lovecraft makes each of his stories similar and yet distinct, so one can assume they are all from the same "canon" while still being different enough to be interesting. I'm already looking for my copy of Necromonicon.
Dagon: 3/5
Lời hiệu triệu của Cthulhu: 3,5/5
Nỗi kinh hoàng tại Dunwich: 4/5
Bóng tối trùm trên Innsmouth: 4,5/5
Lời hiệu triệu của Cthulhu: 3,5/5
Nỗi kinh hoàng tại Dunwich: 4/5
Bóng tối trùm trên Innsmouth: 4,5/5
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just not for me. The prose is kind of hard to read and the "oh my god it's too horrible to fathom!" trope got kind of old pretty quickly. I can tell there's a whole world here that someone could for sure be a massive fan of, but I'm just left kind of confused after every story. I did like a couple, but I needed to google what the fuck was going on most of the time to understand them.
UPDATE: tried again, stopped reading halloween 2023
its a year later and i gave it another shot. i did get better at understanding what the fuck was going on, which was nice, but it wasn't super easy and i did need to be focusing while reading or i would start to zone out. anyway. i wanted to do a halloween challenge where i read a story a night from this collection until i finished it, in honour of spooky season. didn't end up finishing it entirely, and i don't plan to, but i'm still keeping it on my shelf because i may peruse through the stories i really liked and maybe i'll come back to it later. out of the ones i read this time around, my favourites were the statement of randolph carter, the outsider, and cool air. my least favourites were nyarlathotep and the arthur jermyn one. it took me a while in between reading attempts to understand lovecraft's style of horror. i didn't know what to expect the first time and i was still freshly back into reading, so i probably just didn't like it because i didn't understand it, which is funny to say when talking about lovecraft bc his schtick is the horror of the misunderstood. i understand cosmic horror better now, but it's still not my favourite and i still feel the same way about how the "it's too terrible to fathom!!!" gets old as hell. either way, just didn't work out this month and i doubt i'll do more than pick it up every once in a while when i feel like it or just to reread one i liked.
UPDATE: tried again, stopped reading halloween 2023
its a year later and i gave it another shot. i did get better at understanding what the fuck was going on, which was nice, but it wasn't super easy and i did need to be focusing while reading or i would start to zone out. anyway. i wanted to do a halloween challenge where i read a story a night from this collection until i finished it, in honour of spooky season. didn't end up finishing it entirely, and i don't plan to, but i'm still keeping it on my shelf because i may peruse through the stories i really liked and maybe i'll come back to it later. out of the ones i read this time around, my favourites were the statement of randolph carter, the outsider, and cool air. my least favourites were nyarlathotep and the arthur jermyn one. it took me a while in between reading attempts to understand lovecraft's style of horror. i didn't know what to expect the first time and i was still freshly back into reading, so i probably just didn't like it because i didn't understand it, which is funny to say when talking about lovecraft bc his schtick is the horror of the misunderstood. i understand cosmic horror better now, but it's still not my favourite and i still feel the same way about how the "it's too terrible to fathom!!!" gets old as hell. either way, just didn't work out this month and i doubt i'll do more than pick it up every once in a while when i feel like it or just to reread one i liked.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A