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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very slow-paced, description so ambiguous and vague
I had a hard time at the beggining, because I was trying to listen to the audiobook while I read. I did this assuming the language would be too difficult to understand, given the time this was written. After I stopped doing this, I discovered the language is quite accessible. It's very discritive though. I might read this again in graphic novel form.
It really does fill you with curiosity from start to finish. You always want to know what else they saw that might be so terrible. No wonder Lovecraft is described as the father of cosmic horror.
It really does fill you with curiosity from start to finish. You always want to know what else they saw that might be so terrible. No wonder Lovecraft is described as the father of cosmic horror.
An interesting travelogue but it is not horror. We only know it is meant to be terrifying because the narrator tells us so. Multiple times. I found the writing to be at times too... much. As if, if it hadn't been Lovecraft, an editor would have stricken many passages as being self indulgent. And to that point, how many times can you fit the phrase "mountains of madness" into a novella?
That said, I did enjoy it. It hints enough to make you curious about the rest of this mythos if you aren't already familiar. I spent a good deal of time after reading looking up illustrations - it just stays with you.
That said, I did enjoy it. It hints enough to make you curious about the rest of this mythos if you aren't already familiar. I spent a good deal of time after reading looking up illustrations - it just stays with you.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
pretty good for one of the first alien horror stories
TL;DR: I wish this book had had a TL;DR... 150 pages of boring purple prose. For similar, but fantastically better, read Annihilation. 0.5/10.
Long ranting review incoming.
This short book took me forever to read. It's so bad, I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time. Most of the problems are surface level. I think there is a scary story underneath.
The sentences run on and on and on. It's massively over-verbose and repetitive. It is, to be frank, 150 pages of Lovecraft sucking his own privates at how clever he is for knowing all these long and obscure words. We spend so much time describing the exact layout of the city and other such details that add nothing to the story. Each room is older than the last, each carving is more intricate and detailed "than any we had seen so far". (But they read the history of the old ones, starting with the newest ruins telling the oldest part of the story. The oldest parts telling the newest?). Anyway the see the oldest/ most expertly carved rooms than ever before about five times. It wears on you.
Case of 'show don't tell'. For example, the protagonist tells us that the mountains are dreadful, the spires are fear inducing... but you as the reader never feel that the architecture or the natural mountains are so scary. We are just told they are. This happens a lot.
The pacing is awful. There were moments when I thought "ah here we go, master of horror here we come." only for all the tension to be swept away. Mostly for more unnecessarily detailed descriptions of the surroundings. But once, during a chase scene, the tension was squashed by how long the main character spent wondering at his own actions. "Who knows why I looked back" would have sufficed and made me super tense to know what he saw. Instead we spend pages (kindle sized pages in fairness) "wondering why I looked back". He actively kills his own tension.
Lastly at a story level, there isn't really a story... which would be fine if it's just a horror short, but it's imo it's too long to justify. There may as well be no characters for all it matters. The main "story" I suppose is the ancient and long history of the "old ones" that our protagonist has magically gleaned from the sculptures and engravings. The story that the reader is interested in is an under-done framing device for lovecraft's lore. One of the main points of tension could have been where did this ancient city come from? I mean that's strange, a city hidden inside never explored Antarctic mountains? Why is it there?! Who built it? When? Chapter 3: It was aliens 150 million years ago. Now on with the rest of the story! The aliens did some wars and made some scary creatures. For 10 chapters. Only the last couple chapters do we come back to our protagonist and get some much needed tension in this supposedly horror story, but as I said, even that tension is squashed.
For all that I think there was something there, something scary and tense. Which is just more disappointing when you think how it could have been done well. I can see similarities between this work and Annihilation. Unexplainable eerieness attached to an area. Indefinable monsters. MCs are scientists sent to explore said area and collect data. But Annihilation gives us characters to care about whether they live or die or even suffer, and knows that we will care about knowing and what will just bog the story down. And keeping the why/how area X exists a secret makes the story more interesting, in the same way the knowing exactly where the ancient city in MOM came from kills all tension.
Yeah. I didn't like this book. Don't recommend.
Long ranting review incoming.
This short book took me forever to read. It's so bad, I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time. Most of the problems are surface level. I think there is a scary story underneath.
The sentences run on and on and on. It's massively over-verbose and repetitive. It is, to be frank, 150 pages of Lovecraft sucking his own privates at how clever he is for knowing all these long and obscure words. We spend so much time describing the exact layout of the city and other such details that add nothing to the story. Each room is older than the last, each carving is more intricate and detailed "than any we had seen so far". (But they read the history of the old ones, starting with the newest ruins telling the oldest part of the story. The oldest parts telling the newest?). Anyway the see the oldest/ most expertly carved rooms than ever before about five times. It wears on you.
Case of 'show don't tell'. For example, the protagonist tells us that the mountains are dreadful, the spires are fear inducing... but you as the reader never feel that the architecture or the natural mountains are so scary. We are just told they are. This happens a lot.
The pacing is awful. There were moments when I thought "ah here we go, master of horror here we come." only for all the tension to be swept away. Mostly for more unnecessarily detailed descriptions of the surroundings. But once, during a chase scene, the tension was squashed by how long the main character spent wondering at his own actions. "Who knows why I looked back" would have sufficed and made me super tense to know what he saw. Instead we spend pages (kindle sized pages in fairness) "wondering why I looked back". He actively kills his own tension.
Lastly at a story level, there isn't really a story... which would be fine if it's just a horror short, but it's imo it's too long to justify. There may as well be no characters for all it matters. The main "story" I suppose is the ancient and long history of the "old ones" that our protagonist has magically gleaned from the sculptures and engravings. The story that the reader is interested in is an under-done framing device for lovecraft's lore. One of the main points of tension could have been where did this ancient city come from? I mean that's strange, a city hidden inside never explored Antarctic mountains? Why is it there?! Who built it? When? Chapter 3: It was aliens 150 million years ago. Now on with the rest of the story! The aliens did some wars and made some scary creatures. For 10 chapters. Only the last couple chapters do we come back to our protagonist and get some much needed tension in this supposedly horror story, but as I said, even that tension is squashed.
For all that I think there was something there, something scary and tense. Which is just more disappointing when you think how it could have been done well. I can see similarities between this work and Annihilation. Unexplainable eerieness attached to an area. Indefinable monsters. MCs are scientists sent to explore said area and collect data. But Annihilation gives us characters to care about whether they live or die or even suffer, and knows that we will care about knowing and what will just bog the story down. And keeping the why/how area X exists a secret makes the story more interesting, in the same way the knowing exactly where the ancient city in MOM came from kills all tension.
Yeah. I didn't like this book. Don't recommend.
adventurous
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
'At the Mountains of Madness' starts out much like any other Lovecraft, with too many protestations of truth-speaking and uttering the unutterable, but what sets it apart from other Lovecraft tales is its incredible scope. Millennia of history are decoded from stone walls and to an extent the reader is carried along on nothing more than those revelations. The actual horrors of monsters, of gruesome acts and what left the narrator's colleague gibbering are as a matter of course left unsaid.
For pure grit and world-building Lovecraft gets full marks. The turgid and monotonous drone of the narrator's prose, however, drags 'Mountains' down. Balance, Mr. Lovecraft, balance. I've been making my way through Lovecraft's works for some months now. The ups and downs of even those curated selections is enough for me to never attempt anything comprehensive.
Whenever our author rose above the chattering and smoke screens of his verbose narrators Lovecraft was innovative. I was more than willing to suspend any and all disbelief the moment the recital of the 'Elder Things' history began. I love a chronicle. Antarctica was at the time, and still is, a fascinating place for research. Dreaming of what could be under that ice and going for an entire space-borne civilization whose mishandling of their own half-forgotten technology brought about their downfall? It took vision and guts to do that instead of some raggedy sasquatch/laser cannon alien yarn, which would have netted Lovecraft a lot more money and success.
I appreciate the effort. Lovecraft worked against the greatest inertia imaginable - the boorish expectations of the readership and the strict formulae of pulp editors. He wasn't well-rewarded during his lifetime but because of the promise of stories like this his growing reputation is justified.
For pure grit and world-building Lovecraft gets full marks. The turgid and monotonous drone of the narrator's prose, however, drags 'Mountains' down. Balance, Mr. Lovecraft, balance. I've been making my way through Lovecraft's works for some months now. The ups and downs of even those curated selections is enough for me to never attempt anything comprehensive.
Whenever our author rose above the chattering and smoke screens of his verbose narrators Lovecraft was innovative. I was more than willing to suspend any and all disbelief the moment the recital of the 'Elder Things' history began. I love a chronicle. Antarctica was at the time, and still is, a fascinating place for research. Dreaming of what could be under that ice and going for an entire space-borne civilization whose mishandling of their own half-forgotten technology brought about their downfall? It took vision and guts to do that instead of some raggedy sasquatch/laser cannon alien yarn, which would have netted Lovecraft a lot more money and success.
I appreciate the effort. Lovecraft worked against the greatest inertia imaginable - the boorish expectations of the readership and the strict formulae of pulp editors. He wasn't well-rewarded during his lifetime but because of the promise of stories like this his growing reputation is justified.
Antarctica: Impossibly ancient and mysterious ruins, the tragic slaughter of a scientific team, and the gothic elements and fulsome vocabulary of the time make for a delightfully fun read. Due the passage of time since it's publication many things are oddly humorous, and the sympathy for the monster was surprising. Very enjoyable!