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A review by mirificmoxie
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
3.0
3 Stars
Lovecraft is one of the premiere names in Horror writing. And The Mountains of Madness is considered by many to be one of the best Horror stories ever written. While I can see the influence that this story has had on many works, it won’t be going on my favorites list. Lovecraft’s writing style is excellent, and he builds the atmosphere and tension well. But the story does drag on a bit. And considering how long the buildup was, the ending felt anticlimactic.
Like most classic Gothic horror stories, the writing focused on building atmosphere. It’s a story of psychological suspense rather than modern day horror that tends to rely more on gore and violence.
This is the story of a scientific expedition to Antarctica that goes horribly wrong. The bleak isolation of the setting certainly helped build the atmosphere. While the scientific details certainly add credence to the setting, they also bog the story down after a while. Considering how short this story is, a big percentage of it is scientific minutia. At some point it went from a slow buildup to drawn-out drag. The slow story would have been ok if the ending hadn’t been so anticlimactic. I won’t give away what happened, but it just didn’t have enough oomph.
If you like your horror stories slow and suspenseful, prefer classics, or are a big Lovecraft fan, then you might like The Mountains of Madness. If you prefer your horror gory and fast-paced then this probably isn’t for you.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars
Lovecraft is one of the premiere names in Horror writing. And The Mountains of Madness is considered by many to be one of the best Horror stories ever written. While I can see the influence that this story has had on many works, it won’t be going on my favorites list. Lovecraft’s writing style is excellent, and he builds the atmosphere and tension well. But the story does drag on a bit. And considering how long the buildup was, the ending felt anticlimactic.
Like most classic Gothic horror stories, the writing focused on building atmosphere. It’s a story of psychological suspense rather than modern day horror that tends to rely more on gore and violence.
“I could not help feeling that they were evil things-- mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss. That seething, half-luminous cloud-background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal beyondness far more than terrestrially spatial; and gave appalling reminders of the utter remoteness, separateness, desolation, and aeon-long death of this untrodden and unfathomed austral world.”
This is the story of a scientific expedition to Antarctica that goes horribly wrong. The bleak isolation of the setting certainly helped build the atmosphere. While the scientific details certainly add credence to the setting, they also bog the story down after a while. Considering how short this story is, a big percentage of it is scientific minutia. At some point it went from a slow buildup to drawn-out drag. The slow story would have been ok if the ending hadn’t been so anticlimactic. I won’t give away what happened, but it just didn’t have enough oomph.
If you like your horror stories slow and suspenseful, prefer classics, or are a big Lovecraft fan, then you might like The Mountains of Madness. If you prefer your horror gory and fast-paced then this probably isn’t for you.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars