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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lovecraft has some cool ideas, and even some pretty good prose, but I think he really falls flat in putting that together into a story.
dark
mysterious
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
Der dekadente Gebrauch des Wortes dekadent ist alles andere als dekadent, denn wenn man sich einmal genau ansieht was dekadent bedeutet, macht es keinen Sinn, dass ich irgendetwas an diesem Buch als dekadent bezeichne. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. Dekadent. dEkAdEnT.
I didn't go into this with high expectations, I knew Lovecraft was a master at this so-called modern horror but I really couldn't make up my mind as to what that actually means.
But reading At the Mountains of Madness must have been the perfect combination of Antarctica, leaving things unspoken and letting your mind make up all the gruesome details that are not discussed.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book, as it is obviously not the typical kind of horror, which I don't particularly like.
(Plus it's set in Antarctica which is basically a big fascination of mine, tho I might want to think about travelling there for science after reading this xD)
But reading At the Mountains of Madness must have been the perfect combination of Antarctica, leaving things unspoken and letting your mind make up all the gruesome details that are not discussed.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book, as it is obviously not the typical kind of horror, which I don't particularly like.
(Plus it's set in Antarctica which is basically a big fascination of mine, tho I might want to think about travelling there for science after reading this xD)
I started reading this because I recently got one of the board games based on the series (Arkham Horror) and thought that it would be good to learn about the references.
To be honest I was expecting more.
A lot more.
I was really surprised at the lack of storyline; this could have easily have been a short story, but all the repetition padded it out to be a lot longer than it ever needed to be. And even how some of detail was obtained was a bit weak.
Just far too many little things annoyed me with this book, I kept finding reasons not to read it.
I doubt I will be reading much more Lovecraft and will stick with the games.
To be honest I was expecting more.
A lot more.
I was really surprised at the lack of storyline; this could have easily have been a short story, but all the repetition padded it out to be a lot longer than it ever needed to be. And even how some of detail was obtained was a bit weak.
Spoiler
Apparanetly, during their ONE DAY exploration of the city, they were able to not only learn about the structure/layout of the alien buildings, but they were able to decypher hundreds of statues to get a highly detailed history of the race that lived there (and of their slaves). They must be the fastest archeologists in the history of the world. I mean how the heck do they get the level of detail described (like the name of the slave race) from statues build by a race that communicates through honking noises in pipes and hypnosis (or how do you convey that they are controlling the slave race by mind control IN A STATUE for that matter!?)Just far too many little things annoyed me with this book
Spoiler
like saying that the beast was indescribable and then spending the next page describing itI doubt I will be reading much more Lovecraft and will stick with the games.
Starting out liking it. Ended up hating it and being disappointed by it. I don't think this would get published today. It is in serious need of some good editing. I lost count of the number of times he (over)uses words like: frightful, hideous, grotesque--to name but a few. This overuse and the overly melodramatic reportage style, for me, had the effect of undermining any suspense he was shooting for. Compounded by a couple of big plot continuity issues it became less believable and more tedious as it went on. Mercifully it was short.
It is a great concept for a suspense/horror story but not very well executed. Stylistically it reminded me of Conrad's Heart of Darkness--a similar idea but about human horrors--which is so much better there is no comparison. Conceptually, it is not unlike Andrew McGahan's The Rich Man's House, which is set in a close-to-Antartic environment and succeeds in being far more horror-like and is way better written. Suffice to say I won't be tackling any other H.P.Lovecraft books...
It is a great concept for a suspense/horror story but not very well executed. Stylistically it reminded me of Conrad's Heart of Darkness--a similar idea but about human horrors--which is so much better there is no comparison. Conceptually, it is not unlike Andrew McGahan's The Rich Man's House, which is set in a close-to-Antartic environment and succeeds in being far more horror-like and is way better written. Suffice to say I won't be tackling any other H.P.Lovecraft books...
I don't read horror as a genre, because my imagination is already overactive. But somehow this ended up on my Kindle, and I read it.
It was actually a pretty interesting read, more as a cultural artifact than anything else. The thing that fascinated me most was Lovecraft's implicit assumption that readers would perceive anything different as being threatening, an abomination, against nature, etc. I think we have come a long way since the 1930's in our acceptance of the "other."
Even though I didn't really buy in emotionally to the suspense and horror that Lovecraft was attempting to build, I did appreciate the bizarre artistry of his writing, and how he wove references to his (fictional) "sources" convincingly into the narrative. First class writing for its genre, no doubt, but not really my cup of tea.
It was actually a pretty interesting read, more as a cultural artifact than anything else. The thing that fascinated me most was Lovecraft's implicit assumption that readers would perceive anything different as being threatening, an abomination, against nature, etc. I think we have come a long way since the 1930's in our acceptance of the "other."
Even though I didn't really buy in emotionally to the suspense and horror that Lovecraft was attempting to build, I did appreciate the bizarre artistry of his writing, and how he wove references to his (fictional) "sources" convincingly into the narrative. First class writing for its genre, no doubt, but not really my cup of tea.
This started so well with all the geology !!!! BUT it’s like every sentence after 20% in just ended with an ellipses like fun fact lovecraft and lovecraft-inspired writers you CAN create suspense *and* give the reader more than a single solid detail every 15 pages. Also since when were these scientists extraterrestrial archeological art history experts ???