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grayjay's review against another edition
3.0
For a novella based on a card game, this was much better than I expected. Psychologist Carolyn Fern accidentally follows her patient Josephine through her nightmares and into the Dream Worlds.
What follows is a typical Lovecraftian-Dreamworlds adventure with references to and appearances of many familiar creatures, but what made the story fresh was the centering on two women and their unusual relationship—that of a doctor and patient.
Even though it takes place in 1920s New England, the author doesn't shy away from making a place for a well-to-do woman of colour or giving Carolyn a chip on her shoulder from being a female academic in an era when many universities still wouldn't be accepting women.
What follows is a typical Lovecraftian-Dreamworlds adventure with references to and appearances of many familiar creatures, but what made the story fresh was the centering on two women and their unusual relationship—that of a doctor and patient.
Even though it takes place in 1920s New England, the author doesn't shy away from making a place for a well-to-do woman of colour or giving Carolyn a chip on her shoulder from being a female academic in an era when many universities still wouldn't be accepting women.
honorbound13's review against another edition
5.0
The book includes so many pieces of information relating to the board game it comes from, and skillfully fills in some of the gaps that exist in the lore of the game. The author does justice to Dr. Fern, and has made me love the character all the more.
mrogows's review
2.0
I've never played Arkham horror, but I love Lovecraftian Horror, so I picked this one up along with another in the series. I really enjoyed the idea of this book, but there were a number of things left to be admired.
The first was the jump in setting. The thing that I love about Lovecraftian horror is the subtle shift in the horrific setting. Making something so unbelievable almost tangible. This was a huge shift and I'm not sure I really believed.
The plot itself is also very paper thin. I know we don't have a lot of pages to really get into a dense plot, but many short stories have a more intricate and shifting plot. This plot does follow very closely to an Alice in Wonderland (in a number of different ways).
The characters are also very generic and I didn't really believe them all that much. They are full of cliches, and outside of their professions, I didn't see any real difference between any two characters. They all felt like they had the same voice.
I think all of these could have been saved had the writing style been better. I don't mean this comparison as a bring down for the source material, but it really did feel like a piece of FanFiction. One of the major draw of Lovecraftian Horror is the writing style, and this just doesn't have that same umph. This is where the story and characters could have shined through their thin veils.
In the end, this one was a bit of a let down. I'm sure in the context of the game, this book would be a much more enjoyable read, but for the most part, this one just didn't do it for me.
The first was the jump in setting. The thing that I love about Lovecraftian horror is the subtle shift in the horrific setting. Making something so unbelievable almost tangible. This was a huge shift and I'm not sure I really believed.
The plot itself is also very paper thin. I know we don't have a lot of pages to really get into a dense plot, but many short stories have a more intricate and shifting plot. This plot does follow very closely to an Alice in Wonderland (in a number of different ways).
The characters are also very generic and I didn't really believe them all that much. They are full of cliches, and outside of their professions, I didn't see any real difference between any two characters. They all felt like they had the same voice.
I think all of these could have been saved had the writing style been better. I don't mean this comparison as a bring down for the source material, but it really did feel like a piece of FanFiction. One of the major draw of Lovecraftian Horror is the writing style, and this just doesn't have that same umph. This is where the story and characters could have shined through their thin veils.
In the end, this one was a bit of a let down. I'm sure in the context of the game, this book would be a much more enjoyable read, but for the most part, this one just didn't do it for me.
hognob's review
4.0
Took me a little bit to get into, but was ultimately a short, enjoyable story set within the Cthullu mythos.
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