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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Imagine a museum walk-through of the Old Ones within the Cthulhu mythos. It is not Lovecraft's best story, but it is still a macabre, literary masterpiece.
I'm glad I finally read this book. I've been a big fan for the last couple of years of H.P. Lovecraft, and this novella was one of the milestones I knew I would get to read one day. I must admit, though, that I find The Call of Cthulhu to be a superior text because this one spends a lot of time on exposition. Sure, the contents are interesting, and they offer a great deal of information on the building blocks of the terrifying lore that Lovecraft created, but I don't think literature is the best medium for that, or even for the description of the city that Danforth and Dyer (our narrator) find while following the steps of "poor Lake" who suffers a terrible fate. It's unfortunate that we may never see this story adapted for the big screen due to poor box-office performance of similarly-themed films such as Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
Lovecraft's style is excessive in every aspect and it can be a turn-off for many readers (Jorge Luis Borges always spoke ill about Lovecraft, even though they had their fair share of similarities). If Lovecraft can use archaic spelling of a word (e.g. "shew" for "show"), he will use it. If Lovecraft can use an adjective that instead of offering precision offers vagueness or an unmeasurable scope (e.g. infinite), you bet he will use it. In fact, I bet a discourse analyst could present fair evidence that a big chuck of Lovecraft's writing is adjectives. Lovecraft is also self-referential, which makes him intimidating, but also referential to the works of others such as Edgar Allan Poe, which can be inviting. Every possible extreme available, he covers it. Is that a bad thing? I would rather call it an acquired taste.
It is necessary for Lovecraft to be like this. I like the attitude of go big or go home found in his works, because it allows for truly inspiring work, instead of something for the masses. Think of his work as what George Miller does for action movies with his Mad Max franchise. You can have the less-than-intellectual but palatable stories in the Fast and Furious movies, or you can have something groundbreaking in Mad Max: Fury Road, because it actually goes all the way with the insanity. This is Lovecraft in a nutshell, and I'm oversimplifying the magnitude and importance of his work.
I do have to make some suggestions for a more enjoyable read:
1. Read "The Call of Cthulhu" first, and any other short stories by Lovecraft you can find such as "The Colour out of Space" and "Dagon" to get into Lovecraft's excessive style.
2. Look for art on the locations of the book. I'm not a purist, and I think readings of this nature can and should be interactive to fully grasp what Lovecraft tried to present us. Deviantart helped me a lot, as well as looking at the work of painters mentioned in the actual story (Roerich, for instance).
3. Listen to ambient music inspired by Lovecraft while reading. You can easily find this in YouTube.
4. I would not discard listening to the audiobook version. That is already a stretch for me, but I think it would be very atmospheric.
5. Once you're done reading the story, check out this graphic novel adaptation: http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/At-the-Mountains-of-Madness/Full?id=116541#1
So, yeah. It's an adventure, but so far it has been worthwhile for me and for many other far-more passionate fans who have devoted themselves to this universe. There's a reason why we continue to hear about a Cthulhu mythos that produces literature, rpg games, movies, podcasts, etc. to this day. And if you every find anything creepy that derives terror from how humanity is nothing but a speck of no importance whatsoever in the vast universe that we inhabit, you're probably looking at something inspired by Lovecraft.
In Cthulhu we trust.
Lovecraft's style is excessive in every aspect and it can be a turn-off for many readers (Jorge Luis Borges always spoke ill about Lovecraft, even though they had their fair share of similarities). If Lovecraft can use archaic spelling of a word (e.g. "shew" for "show"), he will use it. If Lovecraft can use an adjective that instead of offering precision offers vagueness or an unmeasurable scope (e.g. infinite), you bet he will use it. In fact, I bet a discourse analyst could present fair evidence that a big chuck of Lovecraft's writing is adjectives. Lovecraft is also self-referential, which makes him intimidating, but also referential to the works of others such as Edgar Allan Poe, which can be inviting. Every possible extreme available, he covers it. Is that a bad thing? I would rather call it an acquired taste.
It is necessary for Lovecraft to be like this. I like the attitude of go big or go home found in his works, because it allows for truly inspiring work, instead of something for the masses. Think of his work as what George Miller does for action movies with his Mad Max franchise. You can have the less-than-intellectual but palatable stories in the Fast and Furious movies, or you can have something groundbreaking in Mad Max: Fury Road, because it actually goes all the way with the insanity. This is Lovecraft in a nutshell, and I'm oversimplifying the magnitude and importance of his work.
I do have to make some suggestions for a more enjoyable read:
1. Read "The Call of Cthulhu" first, and any other short stories by Lovecraft you can find such as "The Colour out of Space" and "Dagon" to get into Lovecraft's excessive style.
2. Look for art on the locations of the book. I'm not a purist, and I think readings of this nature can and should be interactive to fully grasp what Lovecraft tried to present us. Deviantart helped me a lot, as well as looking at the work of painters mentioned in the actual story (Roerich, for instance).
3. Listen to ambient music inspired by Lovecraft while reading. You can easily find this in YouTube.
4. I would not discard listening to the audiobook version. That is already a stretch for me, but I think it would be very atmospheric.
5. Once you're done reading the story, check out this graphic novel adaptation: http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/At-the-Mountains-of-Madness/Full?id=116541#1
So, yeah. It's an adventure, but so far it has been worthwhile for me and for many other far-more passionate fans who have devoted themselves to this universe. There's a reason why we continue to hear about a Cthulhu mythos that produces literature, rpg games, movies, podcasts, etc. to this day. And if you every find anything creepy that derives terror from how humanity is nothing but a speck of no importance whatsoever in the vast universe that we inhabit, you're probably looking at something inspired by Lovecraft.
In Cthulhu we trust.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My problem with the book is Lovecraft's willingness to describe the setting and history of an "alien" race rather than tell a story. It reads like an overemphasized research paper on creatures, city building, past wars and its outcomes. Then, in what feels like an afterthought, story and narrative is splintered in-between his expansive fictional research. Perhaps it is my own preference getting in the way of the story, but Lovecraft also enjoys holding back details of a plot chapter that has already unfolded to reveal later at a time which was unnecessary to do so. All in all, I admire the interesting background work Lovecraft did, I only wish more effort was placed toward story building.
This story had real potential, especially since it (very welcomely) does not have the absurdly overt racism of much of Lovecraft’s work. The writing is even a bit better than Lovecraft’s usual, with slightly less repetition of adjectives (someone really needs to limit him to one “cyclopean” per story.)
The biggest problem is the middle chapter telling the extended history of the Old Ones just makes the thing seem so goofy. The unknown and suggestion of danger make the beginning of the discovery scary, but the more detail gets put in the more silly the whole thing seems. Especially the Old Ones flapping their way through space on bat wings. Goofy.
Really can see how this inspired a lot of better stories, so credit for that. And at least it wasn’t super racist like usual.
The twist of what the explorers should really have feared was a pretty interesting idea, but wasn’t really played for the best effect.
Go read Dark Matter by Michelle Paver for better arctic horror or The Colour Out of Space for a better Lovecraft story.
The biggest problem is the middle chapter telling the extended history of the Old Ones just makes the thing seem so goofy. The unknown and suggestion of danger make the beginning of the discovery scary, but the more detail gets put in the more silly the whole thing seems. Especially the Old Ones flapping their way through space on bat wings. Goofy.
Really can see how this inspired a lot of better stories, so credit for that. And at least it wasn’t super racist like usual.
The twist of what the explorers should really have feared was a pretty interesting idea, but wasn’t really played for the best effect.
Go read Dark Matter by Michelle Paver for better arctic horror or The Colour Out of Space for a better Lovecraft story.
Holy crap, this is boring. How is this guy such a cult icon?
This is perhaps the best example of Lovecraft in his more dry tones. If you are hoping for a first person perspective, down and close to the horror you won't really find it here. This is the retellings of a crazed survivor, a prime example of Lovecraft's tendency for that trope. More of an after action report then the actual tale as it unfolds.
Unlike a lot of his other work, this example of his writings does not contain a lot of his problematic views. Other stories are racists, sexist and xenophobic, however here none of that appeared evident.
The writing style is dry though. It takes a peculiar liking for this kind of work for other readers to appreciate it, but for me it had a lot of good building blocks. He had links to other stories in his mythos, and he definitely had a lot of details in the story itself, maybe too many for some people.
You can see though where he inspired people after him. This story could easily fit in the worlds of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and many newer horror authors.
If you like Lovecraft, or any of his inheritors (Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard, Robert Bloch, and others like August Derleth) then this is something you want to read.
Unlike a lot of his other work, this example of his writings does not contain a lot of his problematic views. Other stories are racists, sexist and xenophobic, however here none of that appeared evident.
The writing style is dry though. It takes a peculiar liking for this kind of work for other readers to appreciate it, but for me it had a lot of good building blocks. He had links to other stories in his mythos, and he definitely had a lot of details in the story itself, maybe too many for some people.
You can see though where he inspired people after him. This story could easily fit in the worlds of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and many newer horror authors.
If you like Lovecraft, or any of his inheritors (Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard, Robert Bloch, and others like August Derleth) then this is something you want to read.
I read a bunch of fantasy and horror in my teens, Lovecraft included. His particular form of paranoid, baroque, periphrastic occult horror was distinctive and interesting. Returning to this one many years later was a bit tedious. The main novella is bafflingly overlong and maddeningly paced. All three of these stories do so much telegraphing of the final act that it's a relief rather than a terrible revelation when he finally just gets on with it. I'm far more interested in Lovecraft the man at this point, though I'll probably take a run at some more of his fiction soon.
This marks my premier venture into the world of Lovecraft. I've been longing to read this for a while, and I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised; the good bits are the language, which is both varied and interesting, plus the eldritch feeling that hangs o'er the entire work. The bad things, is that this is a work that feels like reading an architect magazine crossed with Edgar Allan Poe. I'm guessing Lovecraft fans may want to crucify me for that.
Still, I read an annotated version of this book; Leslie S. Klinger has done a great job with annotating both the Sherlock Holmes tales and the "Sandman" stories, the latter by Neil Gaiman, and he continues in that vein throughout this relatively short story.
A man goes to Antarctica and finds some scary stuff. There's a synopsis for you. I shan't spoil anything for you, but I think it's safe to say that the film "Alien" and "The Thing" both have been heavily inspired by this tome.
I got tired of reading a bunch of "and the spires towards the skies from the unfathomable architecture of the Old Ones from 50 million years ago are scary" stuff, almost over and over again, so that didn't scare me; however, Lovecraft's way of weaving a gloomy, haunting atmosphere at the start of this book is admirable; he almost goes deep, headlong into describing landscapes and the recurring so much that it really hits home, when he goes into the oeuvre.
All in all, not my cup of tea, and it bored the pants off me from time to time, but it was at the very least well-written with a lot of nods to different cultures. And yes, I'd pick up the annotated-by-Leslie-S.-Klinger-version if I were you.
Still, I read an annotated version of this book; Leslie S. Klinger has done a great job with annotating both the Sherlock Holmes tales and the "Sandman" stories, the latter by Neil Gaiman, and he continues in that vein throughout this relatively short story.
A man goes to Antarctica and finds some scary stuff. There's a synopsis for you. I shan't spoil anything for you, but I think it's safe to say that the film "Alien" and "The Thing" both have been heavily inspired by this tome.
I got tired of reading a bunch of "and the spires towards the skies from the unfathomable architecture of the Old Ones from 50 million years ago are scary" stuff, almost over and over again, so that didn't scare me; however, Lovecraft's way of weaving a gloomy, haunting atmosphere at the start of this book is admirable; he almost goes deep, headlong into describing landscapes and the recurring so much that it really hits home, when he goes into the oeuvre.
All in all, not my cup of tea, and it bored the pants off me from time to time, but it was at the very least well-written with a lot of nods to different cultures. And yes, I'd pick up the annotated-by-Leslie-S.-Klinger-version if I were you.