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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Excellent book. However, it does fall off a bit both logically and artistically with the conclusion of the fourth story. The first four alone are enough to make you want to read it. Unfortunately, the rest do not hold up as much, though you will enjoy them as well since they're brilliantly written and interesting in their own regard.
Similar to many others my interest in this book was evoked by the HBO show True Detective. Chambers' short story collection was mentioned in different context on various sites as a key toward a better understanding of the TV show.
To get this out of the way first, if a better understanding of the Yellow King in the TV show is your motivation for reading it, save yourself the trouble. There are endless resources such as this that will do a better job at it.
Do read the King in Yellow if you want to know why it is considered a masterpiece in horror literature and can be seen as a blue print for successful mystery novels to this very day (and is giving one a good understanding of how True Detective is set-up):
The first 4 stories in Chambers collection are loosely connected via the mysterious play called the King in Yellow which is believed to drive the reader insane. Chambers only hints toward the book/play, never shedding any substantial light on it's content, it's only a dark, controlling, and mysterious force in the background: the key ingredient for any mystery story. The moment you dare to unravel the mystery, you'll inevitably put an end to the tale. Consequently, Chambers knows better than to do so, instead he adds to the mystery. Particularly well done (and readily copied by the popular TV show) is the first story "The Repairer of Reputations". It is left to the reader to decide whether the entire story is just taking place in the protagonist mind after being driven to madness by reading the King in Yellow or whether it's situated in a fictional timeline and the story-concept as a whole is reminiscent Ambrose Bierce's An Inhabitant of Carcosa. The collections transitions with an intriguing ghost story and with prose collection, including my personal favorite The Jester into the final 4 stories situated in Paris. While the final 4 stories are generally lighter in tone than the first, they still reflect and echo many of themes touched upon in the first 4 stories.
.
To get this out of the way first, if a better understanding of the Yellow King in the TV show is your motivation for reading it, save yourself the trouble. There are endless resources such as this that will do a better job at it.
Do read the King in Yellow if you want to know why it is considered a masterpiece in horror literature and can be seen as a blue print for successful mystery novels to this very day (and is giving one a good understanding of how True Detective is set-up):
Spoiler
The first 4 stories in Chambers collection are loosely connected via the mysterious play called the King in Yellow which is believed to drive the reader insane. Chambers only hints toward the book/play, never shedding any substantial light on it's content, it's only a dark, controlling, and mysterious force in the background: the key ingredient for any mystery story. The moment you dare to unravel the mystery, you'll inevitably put an end to the tale. Consequently, Chambers knows better than to do so, instead he adds to the mystery. Particularly well done (and readily copied by the popular TV show) is the first story "The Repairer of Reputations". It is left to the reader to decide whether the entire story is just taking place in the protagonist mind after being driven to madness by reading the King in Yellow or whether it's situated in a fictional timeline and the story-concept as a whole is reminiscent Ambrose Bierce's An Inhabitant of Carcosa. The collections transitions with an intriguing ghost story and with prose collection, including my personal favorite The Jester into the final 4 stories situated in Paris. While the final 4 stories are generally lighter in tone than the first, they still reflect and echo many of themes touched upon in the first 4 stories.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
No
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
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:
No
I liked it, but tbh, I don't think I'm smart enough for this book.
The first half is great, upsetting, and connected by an obvious thread.
I do not understand why the second half is just about rich boys at art school. I assume I'm missing something.
It's kinda crazy to me that this is such an influence on the horror genre, and I'd never heard of it until this year.
The first half is great, upsetting, and connected by an obvious thread.
I do not understand why the second half is just about rich boys at art school. I assume I'm missing something.
It's kinda crazy to me that this is such an influence on the horror genre, and I'd never heard of it until this year.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is hard to know what to say of a book whose first few chapters are perfect weird horror and then the remaining slightly more than half is just entirely boring and pointless.
I kept reading thinking that surely the titular cursed text, perhaps the finest example of the Motif of Harmful Suggestion you could hope for in a story, would return or continue to exert its influence in some way. But it doesn’t! People just wander around Paris eating dinner and going fishing and shooting the shit! The further you go, the less plot there is, characters you’ve never heard of wandering aimlessly about for dozens of pages after the story has ended!
Apparently some editions just include the first four stories, which seems like cheating, but damn if I can work out why the rest of the book is there. But again, the first few chapters really are just perfect weird horror!
I kept reading thinking that surely the titular cursed text, perhaps the finest example of the Motif of Harmful Suggestion you could hope for in a story, would return or continue to exert its influence in some way. But it doesn’t! People just wander around Paris eating dinner and going fishing and shooting the shit! The further you go, the less plot there is, characters you’ve never heard of wandering aimlessly about for dozens of pages after the story has ended!
Apparently some editions just include the first four stories, which seems like cheating, but damn if I can work out why the rest of the book is there. But again, the first few chapters really are just perfect weird horror!
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Robert W. Chambers in a way served as the link between Poe and Lovecraft, but his seminal 1895 collection The King in Yellow has been mostly forgotten in the public memory and certainly has been overshadowed by those titans, but it remains a vital link in the development of American horror and fantasy. I.N.J. Culbard does a great job adapting the first bit of this book into comics form (and a glance at the original book shows that the adaptation is indeed quite faithful). He conveys the creepiness and oddity of the source material adeptly, with the storytelling only turning murky precisely where it should, where the reader indeed shouldn’t know exactly what’s going on. The greatest test of this adaptation comes in the final part, an adaptation of a short moody interior piece, which in the original book relies heavily on the portentous narration, which is excised here in favor of silent panel-to-panel storytelling. I can’t say that it entirely succeeds, but it does achieve something to admire on its own. Culbard’s ambition in adapting this material shows his mastery of graphic storytelling. It’s a treat to read and experience it.