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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Las montañas de la locura parten de una premisa que podría aplicarse a varias de las películas de ciencia ficción/horror de hoy en día. Un grupo de científicos llega a la Antartida intentando buscar pistas sobre una antigua civilización.
La historia empieza a narrarse como un sobreviviente contando su historia, es desde el principio que sabemos que la expedición no salió precisamente bien.
Al principio de la novela se nos empieza a relatar como levantan el campamento, como se preparan para investigar y como empieza la expedición. De todas formas a medida que avanza la narración se empieza a conocer mucho más de los creadores de la antigua civilización que una vez pobló la Antartida.
Al final de la novela se vuelve un poco complicada de seguir porque pasan muchas cosas y se mezclan con datos sobre la civilización, pero de todas formas es un excelente libro recomendado a todos los que les gusten los Mitos de Cthulhu.
La historia empieza a narrarse como un sobreviviente contando su historia, es desde el principio que sabemos que la expedición no salió precisamente bien.
Al principio de la novela se nos empieza a relatar como levantan el campamento, como se preparan para investigar y como empieza la expedición. De todas formas a medida que avanza la narración se empieza a conocer mucho más de los creadores de la antigua civilización que una vez pobló la Antartida.
Al final de la novela se vuelve un poco complicada de seguir porque pasan muchas cosas y se mezclan con datos sobre la civilización, pero de todas formas es un excelente libro recomendado a todos los que les gusten los Mitos de Cthulhu.
I enjoyed the latter two stories in this collection more than mountains of madness.
I found mountains of madness to be a slow read given the narrator’s language, however I do think that it set the tone well for that particular story. The other two stories used language that was more easily digested.
Overall I found the method of all three stories to be quite enjoyable.
I found mountains of madness to be a slow read given the narrator’s language, however I do think that it set the tone well for that particular story. The other two stories used language that was more easily digested.
Overall I found the method of all three stories to be quite enjoyable.
It's been literal decades since I last read this novel, and I don't think I've ever read it in English at all. The incredible illustrations really did bring the story to life, like that film we'll probably never going to see probably would've. But man this is such a great story
Interesting idea but way too repetitive and geologically technical. I fell asleep every single time I tried to read it! I’ll probably give him one more chance, his other books have to be better than ATMOM.
The artist Roerich is mentioned 7 times in almost identical phrasing each time. It’s like a bot wrote this book for him! It’s ridiculous!
page 7-the strange and disturbing Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
page 19- like the old Asian castles clinging to steep mountains in Roerich’s paintings.
page 42 - Asian mountaintops so subtly and strangely painted by Roerich
page 42 - LITERALLY within the same paragraph as the previous quote - something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery.
page 58 - fantastic similitudes to Roerich-painted Asian hill ruins
page 60 - and thought again of the strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich.
page 155 - again reminding us of those strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
The artist Roerich is mentioned 7 times in almost identical phrasing each time. It’s like a bot wrote this book for him! It’s ridiculous!
page 7-the strange and disturbing Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
page 19- like the old Asian castles clinging to steep mountains in Roerich’s paintings.
page 42 - Asian mountaintops so subtly and strangely painted by Roerich
page 42 - LITERALLY within the same paragraph as the previous quote - something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery.
page 58 - fantastic similitudes to Roerich-painted Asian hill ruins
page 60 - and thought again of the strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich.
page 155 - again reminding us of those strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
Interesting idea but way too repetitive and geologically technical. I fell asleep every single time I tried to read it! I’ll probably give him one more chance, his other books have to be better than ATMOM.
The artist Roerich is mentioned 7 times in almost identical phrasing each time. It’s like a bot wrote this book for him! It’s ridiculous!
page 7-the strange and disturbing Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
page 19- like the old Asian castles clinging to steep mountains in Roerich’s paintings.
page 42 - Asian mountaintops so subtly and strangely painted by Roerich
page 42 - LITERALLY within the same paragraph as the previous quote - something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery.
page 58 - fantastic similitudes to Roerich-painted Asian hill ruins
page 60 - and thought again of the strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich.
page 155 - again reminding us of those strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
The artist Roerich is mentioned 7 times in almost identical phrasing each time. It’s like a bot wrote this book for him! It’s ridiculous!
page 7-the strange and disturbing Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
page 19- like the old Asian castles clinging to steep mountains in Roerich’s paintings.
page 42 - Asian mountaintops so subtly and strangely painted by Roerich
page 42 - LITERALLY within the same paragraph as the previous quote - something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery.
page 58 - fantastic similitudes to Roerich-painted Asian hill ruins
page 60 - and thought again of the strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich.
page 155 - again reminding us of those strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich
This book is difficult for me to review. I did enjoy it. H.P. Lovecraft does a great job using real science in this science fiction tale/terror tale. This is the very first Lovecraft story I've read, so I'm not sure if the writing style he portrays in this book is the same for all of his books. That being said, his style repeatedly reminded me of a mix between Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, which can be quite boring and a bit difficult to get through at times.
I've heard of Lovecraft's tales of terror and I admit, I don't do good with "terror." This being the reason why I haven't tried reading any of his books before. But some reason I was in the mood and decided I'd try it. To my relief, but also to my disappointment, this book wasn't scary at all. There were some intense times, but none that I would classify as terror.
I am intrigued though to read more of Lovecraft's tales. I did enjoy the brilliant imagination and fantastic science he displays in this story. I do wish however that he would have cut back a bit on his explanations, and added a bit more scary scenes.
I've heard of Lovecraft's tales of terror and I admit, I don't do good with "terror." This being the reason why I haven't tried reading any of his books before. But some reason I was in the mood and decided I'd try it. To my relief, but also to my disappointment, this book wasn't scary at all. There were some intense times, but none that I would classify as terror.
I am intrigued though to read more of Lovecraft's tales. I did enjoy the brilliant imagination and fantastic science he displays in this story. I do wish however that he would have cut back a bit on his explanations, and added a bit more scary scenes.
This book is made up of one novella and three short stories. As such, I'm going to write four mini-reviews.
At the Mountains of Madness:
This novella is 110 pages long and is one of Lovecraft's longest works. Lovecraft had long been interested in Antarctic expeditions, and wanted to use the unknown nature of the continent and fill it in with imagination. He is said to have looked at a map of the time (the 1930s) and populate the blank spots with the Mountains of Madness. The novella follows a scientific expedition to the south pole, where they stumble upon an ancient city older than human life. They study the alien architecture and sculpture, and find that the lifeforms that built it (the Old Ones) still exist. Needless to say, things go awry and many people die.
One thing I loved about AMoM was that it was wonderfully atmospheric. I knew this from reading a few of his stories before, but Lovecraft wrote in a way that makes the mountains themselves seem menacing. The drawback is that this is achieved by essentially using a spooky word wordbank over and over again. Cyclopean, primal, diabolical, cryptical, and other such slightly unfamiliar spooky words were used repeatedly to the point that it was sort of silly. Rumor has it that Lovecraft would look through a dictionary and find weird words to use in his stories. This probably is less glaring in a 20-page story than a 100-page one, but at a certain point I was just thinking, "Really? Is the snow really that evil?"
Lovecraft's works interact with each other, which is really interesting. In AMoM he referred to people, places and books that featured in other stories, which gave his world a really interesting depth. Also, it made me want to read some of his other works to find out more. Good move, H.P. You're a sly one.
The Shunned House: 2 Stars
This is the story of a New England house haunted since its building. The protagonist and his crazy old uncle research it and tell the reader EXHAUSTIVELY every detail of its history. Seriously, 10 pages of a 20something page story is history that reads: "Old Whatsisname and all his servants got sick and died. Except Little Moe with the gimpy leg. He moved out and got rich on the riverboat casinos. Then he moved back in, got sick and died. Then the house was empty for a while, then new people moved in, got sick and died." For 10 pages of rich Lovecraftian prose that windbagfully evokes the evil in every baseboard and doorknob in the house.
The protagonist and Uncle Methuselah decide they need to get to the bottom of this, so they get out a military-grade flamethrower and a Token Science Weapon they had lying around and spend the night in the basement of the sinister centuries-old firetrap. Hilarity ensues.
Aside from the long-winded history of the house and the questionable strategy of the characters, the story was tolerable. I respect that Lovecraft took a chance in trying to make an elbow seem scary.
The Dreams of the Witch-House: 4 Stars
This might be my favorite story of this collection, just because its general weirdness. It uses theoretical mathematics as its supernatural creepy premise, and a math-superstar colonial witch who lives in the walls of a house. She has a human-faced rat that does her bidding, and the Old Ones from AMoM make a cameo!
The Statement of Randolph Carter: 3 Stars
Super short, and fairly silly. It's sort of Lovecraft parodying himself, in that much of the story is one character on the phone to another telling him how indescribably horrible and maddening a Secret Evil is. Then, in a brilliant bit of goofyness, this Secret Evil actually picks up the phone and talks to the protagonist! Awesome!
Overall, a pretty fun collection, and I would guess a decent introduction to Lovecraft. I figure I'll eventually read more, but I think I'm ready for a break.
At the Mountains of Madness:
This novella is 110 pages long and is one of Lovecraft's longest works. Lovecraft had long been interested in Antarctic expeditions, and wanted to use the unknown nature of the continent and fill it in with imagination. He is said to have looked at a map of the time (the 1930s) and populate the blank spots with the Mountains of Madness. The novella follows a scientific expedition to the south pole, where they stumble upon an ancient city older than human life. They study the alien architecture and sculpture, and find that the lifeforms that built it (the Old Ones) still exist. Needless to say, things go awry and many people die.
One thing I loved about AMoM was that it was wonderfully atmospheric. I knew this from reading a few of his stories before, but Lovecraft wrote in a way that makes the mountains themselves seem menacing. The drawback is that this is achieved by essentially using a spooky word wordbank over and over again. Cyclopean, primal, diabolical, cryptical, and other such slightly unfamiliar spooky words were used repeatedly to the point that it was sort of silly. Rumor has it that Lovecraft would look through a dictionary and find weird words to use in his stories. This probably is less glaring in a 20-page story than a 100-page one, but at a certain point I was just thinking, "Really? Is the snow really that evil?"
Lovecraft's works interact with each other, which is really interesting. In AMoM he referred to people, places and books that featured in other stories, which gave his world a really interesting depth. Also, it made me want to read some of his other works to find out more. Good move, H.P. You're a sly one.
The Shunned House: 2 Stars
This is the story of a New England house haunted since its building. The protagonist and his crazy old uncle research it and tell the reader EXHAUSTIVELY every detail of its history. Seriously, 10 pages of a 20something page story is history that reads: "Old Whatsisname and all his servants got sick and died. Except Little Moe with the gimpy leg. He moved out and got rich on the riverboat casinos. Then he moved back in, got sick and died. Then the house was empty for a while, then new people moved in, got sick and died." For 10 pages of rich Lovecraftian prose that windbagfully evokes the evil in every baseboard and doorknob in the house.
The protagonist and Uncle Methuselah decide they need to get to the bottom of this, so they get out a military-grade flamethrower and a Token Science Weapon they had lying around and spend the night in the basement of the sinister centuries-old firetrap. Hilarity ensues.
Aside from the long-winded history of the house and the questionable strategy of the characters, the story was tolerable. I respect that Lovecraft took a chance in trying to make an elbow seem scary.
The Dreams of the Witch-House: 4 Stars
This might be my favorite story of this collection, just because its general weirdness. It uses theoretical mathematics as its supernatural creepy premise, and a math-superstar colonial witch who lives in the walls of a house. She has a human-faced rat that does her bidding, and the Old Ones from AMoM make a cameo!
The Statement of Randolph Carter: 3 Stars
Super short, and fairly silly. It's sort of Lovecraft parodying himself, in that much of the story is one character on the phone to another telling him how indescribably horrible and maddening a Secret Evil is. Then, in a brilliant bit of goofyness, this Secret Evil actually picks up the phone and talks to the protagonist! Awesome!
Overall, a pretty fun collection, and I would guess a decent introduction to Lovecraft. I figure I'll eventually read more, but I think I'm ready for a break.