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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
While on vacation, two men decide to spend the night in an abandoned plantation house, ignorant of its terrifying past. Can they survive the darkness that dwells within the Blassenville house?
From the creator of Conan comes this creepy haunted house story. It tosses the usual horror formula out the window, going for quick shocks rather than building suspense. It got a little tense at times. However...
Much like H.P. Lovecraft's, I find REH's dialogue to be pretty wooden. Also, I thought some of the characters' actions and thought processes to be pretty illogical.
Since I don't want the review to be longer than the short story, that's about all I have to say. Pigeons from Hell is fun in a pulp horror sort of way but it's in no way Howard's best work. We can look to a certain Puritan adventurer and a barbarian from Cimmeria for that. Three out of five stars.
From the creator of Conan comes this creepy haunted house story. It tosses the usual horror formula out the window, going for quick shocks rather than building suspense. It got a little tense at times. However...
Much like H.P. Lovecraft's, I find REH's dialogue to be pretty wooden. Also, I thought some of the characters' actions and thought processes to be pretty illogical.
Since I don't want the review to be longer than the short story, that's about all I have to say. Pigeons from Hell is fun in a pulp horror sort of way but it's in no way Howard's best work. We can look to a certain Puritan adventurer and a barbarian from Cimmeria for that. Three out of five stars.
Joe Lansdale's updating of a Robert E. Howard short story feels as much like a Lansdale tale as it does a Howard one, and that's a good thing. The art is insane.
It's a hard question to answer in the abstract: How do you know when a story is finished?
But it's an easy question to answer in reality: Is this story finished?
But it's an easy question to answer in reality: Is this story finished?
Great story with a terrible title. Thoroughly enjoyable read!
I picked up Pigeons From Hell, because title intrigued me and I needed something easy to read as respite from Bruno Schulz's [b:Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass|359559|Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass|Bruno Schulz|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395149881s/359559.jpg|1452942], which is fascinating, but sometimes too taxing to read. Indeed writing style was quite accessible, however I'm disappointed by scarcity of pigeons (they don't really play any important part) and I really looked forward to see those flying rats as something genuinely creepy.
In it's core it's a haunted house story. It consists of 3 chapters. First one is my favorite, it introduces main characters and the dread looming in the Blassenvilles Manor. 2nd chapter is explaining roots of the situation, which wasn't very interesting to me, but that's maybe because I've never really found appealing and even though I'm always in for good revenge, they way motives for it were presented was bit repetitive (). 3rd chapter is about final resolution of the story. Frankly, I'm conflicted about it -
Overall, across all chapters the thing I liked the most is how well was panic of main character portrayed, it was very believable and organic. On the other hand character of sheriff Buckner felt at times inconsistent and not like real human being.
I noticed other reviews mentioned racism in the book. I think I should too - if you react allergically to n-word, it's not a story you should pick up. For me it was non-issue, it made the setting more authentic and added extra depth to Joan's motivations. I'd even say that white people were portrayed in much worse light that black people in this story.
verdict: not enough pigeons/5
In it's core it's a haunted house story. It consists of 3 chapters. First one is my favorite, it introduces main characters and the dread looming in the Blassenvilles Manor. 2nd chapter is explaining roots of the situation, which wasn't very interesting to me, but that's maybe because I've never really found
Spoiler
voodoo themesSpoiler
omg, I got the memo that Miss Ceila was a bitch the first time, ok?Spoiler
I like poetic justice in Miss Ceila's fate, but at the same time, I find it quite dumb that just drinking potion can turn a person into zuvembie, imho it's in contrast to other statements that make voodoo seem like difficult elaborate art.Overall, across all chapters the thing I liked the most is how well was panic of main character portrayed, it was very believable and organic. On the other hand character of sheriff Buckner felt at times inconsistent and not like real human being.
I noticed other reviews mentioned racism in the book. I think I should too - if you react allergically to n-word, it's not a story you should pick up. For me it was non-issue, it made the setting more authentic and added extra depth to Joan's motivations. I'd even say that white people were portrayed in much worse light that black people in this story.
Spoiler
Whole Blassenville clan is apparently spending eternity in hell and only coming back as pigeons, and our main characters needed to ask old black man for help (because quote: they were "up against something that takes more than white man's sense") and accidentally caused his demise by that.verdict: not enough pigeons/5
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was one of Howard's short horror stories. What a fun short read. I love some good deep south horror. If you have an hour to kill do yourself a favor and pick this one up!
A very creepy old tale. The imagery of helplessness and horror work very well, despite the story's age.
Typical Robert E, Howard fare, by which I mean excellent story-telling and in a straight-forward, no-nonsense style!
The title story of this collection is a very effective "haunted house" horror story - very creepy. Funnily enough, I was listening to the Pretenders' song, Back on the Chain Gang last night and realised that this story is most likely the source of a lyric that has always puzzled me: Got in the house like a pigeon from Hell: surely that phrase couldn't have occurred to two people independently! I'm still not sure how it relates to the rest of the song, though.
Anyway, the rest of the stories are a mixture of historical adventures, atavistic throw-backs, Cthulhu Mythos and Western horrors. He uses the motif of a modern man haunted by the memories of an ancient ancestor several times in this collection, which is probably a reflection of the time pressures he was under to create stories to meet deadlines for his magazine publisher. However, the stories themselves are sufficiently different that the reuse of this plot device can be forgiven.
I was really looking forward to reading the story that featured the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterosaur which grace the cover of my edition, but they don't make an appearance within - what a gyp!
I've got a number of other REH books which I've had shelved To Read for the last 15-20 years or so. This year may well be the year when I make some headway into them!
The title story of this collection is a very effective "haunted house" horror story - very creepy. Funnily enough, I was listening to the Pretenders' song, Back on the Chain Gang last night and realised that this story is most likely the source of a lyric that has always puzzled me: Got in the house like a pigeon from Hell: surely that phrase couldn't have occurred to two people independently! I'm still not sure how it relates to the rest of the song, though.
Anyway, the rest of the stories are a mixture of historical adventures, atavistic throw-backs, Cthulhu Mythos and Western horrors. He uses the motif of a modern man haunted by the memories of an ancient ancestor several times in this collection, which is probably a reflection of the time pressures he was under to create stories to meet deadlines for his magazine publisher. However, the stories themselves are sufficiently different that the reuse of this plot device can be forgiven.
I was really looking forward to reading the story that featured the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterosaur which grace the cover of my edition, but they don't make an appearance within - what a gyp!
I've got a number of other REH books which I've had shelved To Read for the last 15-20 years or so. This year may well be the year when I make some headway into them!