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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
I read this with students in my World Literature class, for the first time. The collection does not feel complete. Chambers wanders into different themes and we lose all suspense of The King in Yellow. It wanders into romance when my students were eager for horror.
When I re-read Ambrose Bierce'sAn Inhabitant of Carcosa in February, I decided to finally revisit The King in Yellow after trying to get into it several months back and never managing to gain enough enthusiasm for it. Now the situation was completely different.
The first story, The Repairer of Reputations, is a great introduction to Chambers's universe. It starts as a sci-fi story of sorts, but then it slowly makes you question everything you've read previously. In The Mask, an unusual scientific discovery is able to turn living beings into marble. In the Court of the Dragon leans heavily towards horror with its creepy as hell organist, and The Yellow Sign (my absolute favorite) is an equally sinister story about a man who is disturbed by a worm-like churchyard watchman, who babbles about the Yellow Sign. The Street of the Four Winds has a kitty. Kitties for the win (and people who talk to their cats like they're their friends)!
The rest of the stories, although enjoyable, weren't simply even comparable to the great beginning. While not bad on their own, I'm still struggling to understand why Chambers decided to include them in the collection in the first place, instead of writing more about the yellow king and the play that has the power to drive people mad (what a fantastic concept, by the way!). There are a few connections between the first and the latter half, but they're mostly superficial, and the tone is significantly different in the stories about artists in Paris.
What comes to the mythology, it's definitely interesting enough to warrant a position in literary history. I haven't had much interest toward Lovecraft or cosmic horror in general, but the Yellow Sign (which inspired Lovecraft, by the way) is somehow very intriguing. The more you try to grab hold of it, the further it escapes from your grasp, and that mystery and lack of answers are the keys to Chambers's success.
Apparently, apart from a few names, Bierce's story has nothing in common with Chambers's stories, but the parts True Detective referenced are easy to spot. The starry sky, the mind control aspect, the ear thing with Mr. Wilde and youknowwho etc. Reading The King in Yellow doesn't necessarily help you navigate through the show, but I don't think it's supposed to. The mythology just adds to the mysteries of the show and makes the South a whole lot creepier.
I'll never look at the color yellow the same way again, that's for sure.
The first story, The Repairer of Reputations, is a great introduction to Chambers's universe. It starts as a sci-fi story of sorts, but then it slowly makes you question everything you've read previously. In The Mask, an unusual scientific discovery is able to turn living beings into marble. In the Court of the Dragon leans heavily towards horror with its creepy as hell organist, and The Yellow Sign (my absolute favorite) is an equally sinister story about a man who is disturbed by a worm-like churchyard watchman, who babbles about the Yellow Sign. The Street of the Four Winds has a kitty. Kitties for the win (and people who talk to their cats like they're their friends)!
The rest of the stories, although enjoyable, weren't simply even comparable to the great beginning. While not bad on their own, I'm still struggling to understand why Chambers decided to include them in the collection in the first place, instead of writing more about the yellow king and the play that has the power to drive people mad (what a fantastic concept, by the way!). There are a few connections between the first and the latter half, but they're mostly superficial, and the tone is significantly different in the stories about artists in Paris.
What comes to the mythology, it's definitely interesting enough to warrant a position in literary history. I haven't had much interest toward Lovecraft or cosmic horror in general, but the Yellow Sign (which inspired Lovecraft, by the way) is somehow very intriguing. The more you try to grab hold of it, the further it escapes from your grasp, and that mystery and lack of answers are the keys to Chambers's success.
Apparently, apart from a few names, Bierce's story has nothing in common with Chambers's stories, but the parts True Detective referenced are easy to spot. The starry sky, the mind control aspect, the ear thing with Mr. Wilde and youknowwho etc. Reading The King in Yellow doesn't necessarily help you navigate through the show, but I don't think it's supposed to. The mythology just adds to the mysteries of the show and makes the South a whole lot creepier.
I'll never look at the color yellow the same way again, that's for sure.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Last 4 sections/stories are very out of place with the first few and don’t involve the king in yellow at all. Those last sections are clunky romance set in France rather than cosmic horror/weird fiction.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The book is an odd collection of horror and romance stories. The first half is mostly weird horror stories, and it's easy to see how the book influenced Lovecraft and other later writers. The second half is mostly bittersweet love stories, and it's a fun time machine back to a simpler time when the average woman would seriously consider a complete stranger's marriage proposal if he were handsome, charming, and wealthy enough.
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:
No
The stories from the King in Yellow universe were on another level. I really wish there were more of them. They possessed an unparalleled eerie and mysterious atmosphere, partially achieved by leaving much unsaid—allowing readers’ imaginations to fill in the blanks. Now, I am doomed as I am irresistibly drawn to seek out more, to search for the city of Carcosa...
The other stories were fine, but they paled in comparison, hence the 4-star rating.
The other stories were fine, but they paled in comparison, hence the 4-star rating.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
"I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow."
This was unusual for sure, ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 over the course of the various stories which ranged from overtly supernatural to not at all. I think I most enjoyed the descriptions of nature and atmosphere the most.
The short stories that were actually about The King In Yellow were quite good. The rest of them varied from mildly interesting to very boring.