Take a photo of a barcode or cover
catmeme 's review for:
The King in Yellow
by Robert W. Chambers
Not that I mind reading about art students and their lovers in 19th century Paris, but I'd much rather get frissons out of reading about the unsettling effects contact with The King in Yellow has upon people.
That's what what the first four stories are about, and they are a creepy delight. "The Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign," in particular, stand out.
With the exception of "The Demoiselle d'Ys" (a conventional supernatural romance) and "The Prophets' Paradise" (an odd assortment of dreamlike vignettes), everything else is an ode to bohemian life. A deftly written ode, but tonally very different from the first four stories, giving the impression of two separate and never-finished collections being stuck together for the sake of publishing.
I'm not complaining, but I wish I'd have had a heads-up, just so I didn't torture myself through the second half with the expectation that something Yellow would show up and put a merciful end to all that endless bohemianing.*
*It's not a verb, but it should be in this instance.
That's what what the first four stories are about, and they are a creepy delight. "The Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign," in particular, stand out.
With the exception of "The Demoiselle d'Ys" (a conventional supernatural romance) and "The Prophets' Paradise" (an odd assortment of dreamlike vignettes), everything else is an ode to bohemian life. A deftly written ode, but tonally very different from the first four stories, giving the impression of two separate and never-finished collections being stuck together for the sake of publishing.
I'm not complaining, but I wish I'd have had a heads-up, just so I didn't torture myself through the second half with the expectation that something Yellow would show up and put a merciful end to all that endless bohemianing.*
*It's not a verb, but it should be in this instance.