Reviews

The Return Of The Sorcerer: The Best Of Clark Ashton Smith by Clark Ashton Smith

mymidnightheart's review

4.0

pgs. 29-48 The City of Singing Flame #2
pgs. 75-93 The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis #1
pgs. 94-107 The Double Shadow #4
pgs. 148-165 The Hunters from Beyond #6
pgs. 209-238 The Dark Eidolon #5
pgs. 239-261 The Seven Geases #8
pgs. 262-284 The Holiness of Azédarac #7
pgs. 285-296 The Beast of Averoigne #3

adamjcalhoun's review

2.0

A collection of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, one of the more important authors to appear in Weird Stories back in the day. Similar(ish) to HP Lovecraft and the later Jack Vance, his writing ranges from decent to meh, and his stories don't manage the pull of Lovecraft. One or two stories in here are worth it, the rest can be skipped unless you're a big Smith fan.

msrichardsreads89's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

theliteraryapothecary's review

3.0

 I don't often read short stories or horror and so this book is something totally different than anything I'd ever pick up. There were stories that I really enjoyed and stories that went completely over my head. Some I learned through discussion that I laughed during which I should've been scared out of my mind ... overall I enjoyed this read and glad I picked it up but probably won't reread it. 

reading_monkey's review

5.0

A must for any fan of cosmic horror! A contemporary of HPL and REH, Smith has the same florid, creepy style. Well worth the read!

pussreboots's review

4.0

I like the short form of science fiction and fantasy.

jgerman's review

4.0

I can't believe I missed out on CAS years ago when I discovered Lovecraft, or earlier when I was reading Howard. Some of the stories are only ok, but some are phenomenal. I had to keep stopping to highlight passages to use as descriptions in RPGs.

For some reason Gene Wolfe's intro caught my eye as well. I feel like I should give The Book of the New Sun another chance.

jameseckman's review

3.0

Smith is one of the pulp fiction kings of the '30s, his dark fantasies are especially evocative of decadent cultures and primeval worlds and his horror stories are a cut above average. He uses purple prose as well as that strange, polysyllabic convention for names that was popular in this period. He helped create the shared mythos that Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Conan, etc...) used as well as other writers that followed on afterwards. I'm not sure if this is the best collection, I think [b:A Rendezvous in Averoigne|102095|A Rendezvous in Averoigne|Clark Ashton Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1324490030s/102095.jpg|98435] is better, but I haven't reread it in a while.

If you enjoyed this, you may like other classic pulp authors like [a:Talbot Mundy|92626|Talbot Mundy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1250179694p2/92626.jpg] or [a:Abraham Grace Merritt|16022666|Abraham Grace Merritt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1483095695p2/16022666.jpg].