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ruth_king 's review for:

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
1.0

(1.5 stars; Audiobook)

This was ROUGH to get through. Take my review with a grain of salt as I was trying to get through this book while packing, moving, unpacking, and trying to walk dogs in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

The King in Yellow has been mentioned in a few shows and movies such as True Detective and influenced H.P. Lovecraft. Hearing those notes alone I was SOLD. I’m a cosmic horror girlie and thought this would be right up my alley. However, I genuinely could not focus while listening to this audiobook. The King is Yellow is an anthology with each chapter being a new story but all of them tie back to the King in Yellow in some form or fashion.

I LOVED the first story which is the Repairer of Reputations. It had the cosmic horror vibe I was looking for and set in a future Chicago landscape (published in 1895, but set in 1920, so future for its time) where suicide is legal in government sanctioned “lethal chambers”. Repairer of reputations gets 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately the other stories fell flat for me. Again, this could be because I was going through a lot of big changes and trying to figure out a new routine while reading this but I just found myself daydreaming about anything else while listening to this audiobook.

This feels like the Twilight Zone and I can see how for 1895 this could be a TRIP. I respect and honor that this paved the way for future horror but BY GOD AT WHAT COST lol a good portion (probably only 1-5% of the book) is spoken in French so I kind of zoned out during those portions as I can’t even begin to pretend to understand French.

I’ve payed my respects to the King in Yellow and I’m glad I read it but I will gladly put it away and move on with my life.