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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
An interesting mystery where most of the horror isn't in the words themselves but in the readers imagination. Also, the story shows the the worst monster isn't some fantastic imaginary creature but a man who was entrusted to take care of a little girl.
It appears that I gave this 4 stars when I read it thirty years ago. This time, I'll just give it the side-eye.
Look to the VVitch and The Limehouse Golem for other media like this.
The Great God Pan is an effective creeper and best known for being an influential piece in the horror genre. It certainly doesn't have the same impact today as it did when it was written, but it still works.
Sitting at the apex of gothic horror in the late nineteenth century and poised to direct and influence the Lovecraftian movement of horror in the following decades, The Great God Pan is an eerie, expansive, suspenseful novella chronicling a series of encounters and investigations concerning a malevolent woman who communes with the god Pan to wreak destruction upon the minds and souls of those unfortunate enough to be swept along with her.
On a technical, story construction level, The Great God Pan is impressive. Machen balances a host of characters, time periods, alternate identities, investigations, crimes, and unspeakable horrors deftly, whisking the reader along a series of vingettes, each brief section unlocking understanding to a section 2 or 3 prior. There is a clockwork precision to the way each scene builds tension and suspense, as characters veer closer and then further from the truth, and all done with a brevity that is remarkable. There is not a word wasted here. I found the horror and suspense to be enjoyable but it was the complexity of his story threads and how he fleshed them out, explaining just enough to satisfy while leaving so much unsaid but effectively understood that I was most in awe of while reading.
There is a remarkable restraint in Arthur Machen’s novella, a restraint that will likely frustrate a reader eager for a gory or gristly flavor of horror. What Machen masterfully does is wield suspense, his horror is the rarely revealed cosmic dread of beings so awful and incomprehensible that a human mind breaks at the sight of them. Accordingly we follow along in Pan’s wake, tracing his trail of destruction and death, made flesh through the hands of his femme fatale. We have a bit of classic gothic sci fi imbued into this process, the portal through which Pan enters her soul is achieved through brain surgery, an experiment to lift the veil of this world and see beyond.
The novella ends in a way satisfying and true to itself, we receive an answer that begets more questions but satisfies enough of the ones already raised, and it is overall a wonderfully constructed, tight work of proto-cosmic horror and gothic suspense, moving the reader at a brisk pace as we follow an evil so great we must avert our eyes.
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-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
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
dark
mysterious
fast-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
Uhh, I am struggling to remember this book. Anything about it. It has been way too long since I read it. Not gonna rate it for this reason. But since I finished it, it had to be at least decent. Probably a horrible translation. *shrug*
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes