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Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
3 reviews
parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Honestly, this is probably Lovecraft's best story. It proves that he could, in fact, write quality cosmic horror when he didn't fall back on bigotry. I love love love the Antarctic setting and the scientific tone of the piece, and how we basically get a tour or tasting menu of the whole weird world. I would pretty much recommend this to anyone unqualified, which I can't say about basically any other of his work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, Mental illness, and Gore
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Death
Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, and Racism
dawson64's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
slow-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
2.5
An interesting premise, and very gripping for the first couple of chapters. However, the entire horrifying aspect of the book disappears once we are greeted to a massive dump of information on the things were supposed to be afraid of. Lovecraft’s work hinges on the fear of the unknown, and this book played against itself by making the fearful things within it decidedly known.
While provoking and fascinating at first, this book became boring, drawn-out, and overwhelming to the point of neural shutdown. Simply too much information.
While provoking and fascinating at first, this book became boring, drawn-out, and overwhelming to the point of neural shutdown. Simply too much information.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Animal death
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The narration from this YouTube video is really quite good, and throughout the production there is a moody, low volume sound that seems to sigh coldly, like wind blowing through icy caves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t0Dg4qhnsk
As a novella published in 1931, this story has a lot of floral prose and references to Classical myth and literature. It is a heavily descriptive book and recounts an Antarctic exploration and the surprising things that are discovered.
Although this book is sold as a horror novella, I found its slow pace a little difficult to stick with and the preamble and circumloction doesn't hold tension well. It ambles where it feels like it ought to loom, and hints where it out to explain. Although I get the idea that leaving things to the imagination of the reader can sometimes be a lot more suspenseful and horrifying, I just don't feel like this was horrific.
I think this story could easily be used as a party game where one has to do something any time you hear a specific word (may I nominate "cyclopean" or possibly "blasphemous"?).
Readers of Lovecraft's other works may recognise a lot of call-backs. Some of the repetitive lines and the frenetic form of the story, especially near the end, bring to mind the works of Edgar Allan Poe (a similarity that does not seem lost on the author, whether it was deliberate or not).
Clearly, the lands described in the story are imaginative, but as someone raised on science fiction and anime, none of it seemed very challenging to me, and certain scenes reminded me of Antarctic parts of the anime series Neon Genesis : Evangelion. If this story inspired that anime it might explain the presence of a particular side-kick.
I'm glad this finally comes off my TBR list as it has been floating about in my cultural background for decades and I never bothered to pick it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t0Dg4qhnsk
As a novella published in 1931, this story has a lot of floral prose and references to Classical myth and literature. It is a heavily descriptive book and recounts an Antarctic exploration and the surprising things that are discovered.
Although this book is sold as a horror novella, I found its slow pace a little difficult to stick with and the preamble and circumloction doesn't hold tension well. It ambles where it feels like it ought to loom, and hints where it out to explain. Although I get the idea that leaving things to the imagination of the reader can sometimes be a lot more suspenseful and horrifying, I just don't feel like this was horrific.
I think this story could easily be used as a party game where one has to do something any time you hear a specific word (may I nominate "cyclopean" or possibly "blasphemous"?).
Readers of Lovecraft's other works may recognise a lot of call-backs. Some of the repetitive lines and the frenetic form of the story, especially near the end, bring to mind the works of Edgar Allan Poe (a similarity that does not seem lost on the author, whether it was deliberate or not).
Clearly, the lands described in the story are imaginative, but as someone raised on science fiction and anime, none of it seemed very challenging to me, and certain scenes reminded me of Antarctic parts of the anime series Neon Genesis : Evangelion. If this story inspired that anime it might explain the presence of a particular side-kick.
I'm glad this finally comes off my TBR list as it has been floating about in my cultural background for decades and I never bothered to pick it up.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Blood
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