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ipanzica's review against another edition
4.0
Had some deeply unsettling parts in the book and some good tension. While it is not my favorite Machen book I did think it was good.
blatdriver's review against another edition
3.0
This was good, I liked the way all the stories combined, this book feels like a softer wordier vintage version of Clive Barker.
bookshelf_catto14's review against another edition
3.0
I had read The great god pan before. So what pulled me to this book was the style of writing which painted a rendition of the late 1800s London. This book was like a weird detective story where no one is trying to solve a case but the two main characters ( Dyson and Phillips ) come across people who are part of a dissolute conspiracy and those people, The three impostors tell their tales which are seemingly lies, as they want to con the strangers ( Dyson and Phillips ) but they are an absurd tale of mystery and wonder. Are these tales based on anything real or they are cleverly concocted to con the strangers? You just can't say. I quite like the theme of putting scientifically rational and wonderer and artistic mind together.
shane_tiernan's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this. I read around 120 pages out of the 194 but just couldn't bring myself to waste any more time on it. My wife and I were reading it together and we kept falling asleep and when we went to start up the next night we could never remember what was going on so we would back up a couple pages to try to pick up the trail again. I do think the format's interesting but the stories don't really seem linked enough to make the reader care about the characters.
Definitely some moments of wit to be found and it made me smile more than once, but not enough "horror" or "supernatural" to keep me interested.
Definitely some moments of wit to be found and it made me smile more than once, but not enough "horror" or "supernatural" to keep me interested.
kajalhalwa's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderfully eerie and unsettling. You get the sense that as one tries to solve human centred mysteries, nature itself remains a greater, beautiful mystery.
garthranzz's review
4.0
A bit slow due to age and the writing style but a good novel full of suspense and horror. Lovecraft, Poe and King can be seen throughout. Definitely recommended for genre lovers.
deanagrummons's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0