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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
Truly enjoyed this. Expected macabre stories all throughout, but those were only the first four. The rest were mostly of the romantic vein. One story was even a series of poems, loosely held together by a theme. I was surprised, too, that I found several of them funny, especially the ones with the interplay of young American men in Paris.
If you're not a fan of True Detective, never mind. You'll be able to enjoy this for the stories, both freaky and sweet.
If you're not a fan of True Detective, never mind. You'll be able to enjoy this for the stories, both freaky and sweet.
A bizarre, strange set of tales. It starts with horror, moving into war and ending in romance. By the end of the book you are lost from where you started and yet you are somewhere. The connecting link between the initial tales is a mysterious play called 'King in Yellow' that drives any reader into madness and these are the best of the lot, leaving you with goosebumps without the usual horror tropes. Chambers invites you into a chamber that will not let go of you for a while. It gets into your skin.
I'm kind of offended that nobody told me about this before. This is probably the origin of what we think of as "Horror" in the 20th/21st century. I hear that this was a direct influence on H.P. Lovecraft, and it shows - it's a really interesting collection of interlinked stories that revolve around a sort of cursed/haunted play called "the King in Yellow." Snatches of it are presented, but the reader never truly gets to see the entire thing. What the reader IS privy to is creepy as hell.
Don't pay money for this - it's public domain, so read it at Project Gutenberg.
Don't pay money for this - it's public domain, so read it at Project Gutenberg.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a suggestion from a friend for “K” in the ABC challenge I was finishing up this month so I didn’t really know anything going into it. I really liked the format of The King In Yellow being an entity in the story, and the stories all being different but very much connected. I thought it was kind of slow to read at parts, but I liked the way the story was written so much it made up for that.
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers is a collection of loosely connected short stories. Some tales seem connected by a shared cosmic horror mythos of The King in Yellow, and others were simply romantic stories with little if any connection to the former. I read this book because two stories in it were selected by the HOWL Society book club as a reading to accompany our book of the week, The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling, which is a contemporary expansion on Chamber’s King in Yellow mythos. I enjoyed those cosmic horror stories, and was reminded of Lovecraft as mystery, madness, menace, and the supernatural seemed to weave together throughout The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, In The Court of the Dragon, and The Yellow Sign. I also enjoyed The Demoislle D’ys which had dark fairy tale vibes and reminded me a bit of Angela Carter. The remaining stories did not interest me as much. Even the stories I liked seemed to lack a certain something to completely gel. Perhaps, like Lovecraft, I felt there was too much non-supernatural content, building up to a climax with too few answers. I would give the stories I liked 4/5 and the stories I didn’t care for as much 2/5. Overall I rate this collection ⭐️⭐️⭐️
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Murder
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Cultural appropriation
2/5
Despite the title only four of the ten short stories have any relation to The King in Yellow, and what is down on many lists as a work of horror is perhaps 40% horror, and 60% god awful mush romance.
Whoever compiled this collection was clearly an idiot, or found romance in Paris to be equal parts supernatural and terrifying.
I would recommend reading the first four stories which share the intriguing concept of reading a play causing madness. Particularly disturbing and enthralling are the first and last of these, the middle two being a shade less so.
I would then recommend putting the book down for that is all there is regarding the King in Yellow in this collection. Do not waste time on the simpering second section.
Despite the title only four of the ten short stories have any relation to The King in Yellow, and what is down on many lists as a work of horror is perhaps 40% horror, and 60% god awful mush romance.
Whoever compiled this collection was clearly an idiot, or found romance in Paris to be equal parts supernatural and terrifying.
I would recommend reading the first four stories which share the intriguing concept of reading a play causing madness. Particularly disturbing and enthralling are the first and last of these, the middle two being a shade less so.
I would then recommend putting the book down for that is all there is regarding the King in Yellow in this collection. Do not waste time on the simpering second section.
I went into this thinking it was a book of horror stories, but really only the first four stories qualify, I think. The middle two actually ended up being my favorites despite not being what I was looking for (A time travel love story & a collection of bizarre poetry) but the last four stories were only mildly interesting at best.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes