3.81 AVERAGE

challenging dark 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

i really wanted to read smth by lovecraft because he’s one of the most prominent writers of the horror genre, and i always enjoy to read horror written before my time and seeing its connections to real life events, which i think are reflected nowhere as interestingly as they are in horror. 

however i hated every second of this. maybe it’s just this collection specifically, but everything felt so repetitive, it was offensively boring. and while i know that saying this is just beating a dead horse, the racism here is so over the top it’s actually shocking. do i go into every classic expecting at least some racism? yeah. did i know lovecraft was especially racist? also yeah. was i still shocked by just how racist lovecraft’s writing was? fuck yeah. 

so all in all his writing committed the crime of being so boring you can’t even try and overlook the racism in a “it’s a product of its time” way (not that you could do that anyway, given that even his contemporaries thought lovecraft was over the top)

i think it’s worth it to at least read the call of cthulhu just to be able to say that you’ve read this specific very iconic piece, but i truly could not in good conscience recommend lovecraft’s work to anyone.
challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Interesting ideas but the prose is really tedious, won't read Lovecraft again. The shadow over Innsmouth was my favourite, but also enjoyed The Thing On The Doorstep and The Dunwich Horror.
dark mysterious
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: N/A
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
challenging medium-paced
adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated