Reviews

The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft

hendejos's review

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? No

3.75

no_one_is_here's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

beardedbarista's review

4.0

I will say that it picked up quite a bit towards the end but boy oh boy was the first part hard to get through. I just couldnt get as motivated for the characters or the story. sadly I am a thrill seeker and the thrills didnt come until the last 15 pages or so. I am excited that the elder ones are mentioned from Mountains and I like that his stories have a creepy way of entertwining. The Great Race in the story was intriguing and I like the ideas of time travel that were represented. I only wish all of this could be expounded on more!!
Come on H.P. come back to life and write more terror. Reading the Graphic novelization next illustrated by Culbard. same guy who this the At the mountains of madness graphic. Hopefully it will engulf me more into the action of this story.

much love,
Justin

ronniefinn's review

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

First person, past tense for the entire boom. The prose is very dated, and while relevant from an educational perspective (on the subject of dread and lovecraftian horror), it likely fails to keep modern readers interested.

cesspool_princess's review

4.0

Ok so the concept of the Yithians is rly fascinating, the whole mind trading thing and also how fair they seem, allowing the captive to explore the grand halls and libraries (although they had their ulterior motives of having those ppl write the annals of their own world/ time's history). I am particularly fascinated by the Yithians ability to project into new bodies/ times en masse in order to avoid cataclysmic extinction events. Bc they are able to travel into the future and see what will happen this basically enables them to never go extinct bc they can always escape before their presaged destruction. I rly loved the descriptions of the gardens, the vast buildings, the city in its hayday, it was fascinating. Also i ofc loved the archeological dig leg of the journey which was very reminiscent of mountains of madness. The ending scene where he escapes into the desert was v fun/ tense. Overall I give this a 4.5 partially bc I don't think I was in as good of a mood but also (bc of that probably) this simply didnt grip me as much as at the mountains of madness or especially shadow over innsmouth. I recognize that some of the concepts are much cooler/ more novel (the yithian time brain transplant stuff) and that from a technical perspective this book is excellent and the scope is simply marvelous but It didnt leave as deep an impression as some of his other work. I think AtMoM did the archeological dig aspect better and on the whole I think I prefer the more intimate/ isolated feelings of Shadow over Innsmouth or the Dunwich Horror. I'm sure I'll revisit this in like 2 or 3 years and I will see it in a whole new light.

marmoonsinx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

avasimone3's review

challenging dark reflective

3.75

vermilion_turtles's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

so effective, so cool, i love what this does to the worldbuilding of the cthulhu mythos

subtexthater's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

lapingveno's review

5.0

Classic Lovecraft.

This story is just long enough to build its suspense and gives just enough detail to paint an image without boring the reader (which is sadly a touch true for some of Lovecraft's longer works).

This is a textbook example of an unreliable narrator, and clearly makes use of what I consider the essential Lovecraftian themes: Fear of the Unknown/Different, Insanity, and Humanity's Place in an Uncaring, Ancient Cosmos.

Bravo!