Reviews

The Lurking Fear and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

secretbookcase's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

batbones's review

4.0

The Lurking Fear was what drew me into this one. I enjoyed the suspense, the accentuating sense of mystery and horror, and it's clear why Lovecraft and his fictional universe stand out as one of the pillars of the horror genre. I found it very impressive how Derleth mirrors Lovecraft's writing - it's almost uncanny, that if the book had not stated discreetly in the copyrights section the stories' respective authors, I would be surprised had I been told they were written by different people. Of course, Lovecraft tends to be rather philosophical and introspective in his own tales and this is the salient feature which distinguishes them - they seem to be less plot driven, no, to put it in another way, it's not only the incidents which seem to matter but the implications behind the phenomena, if indeed they were true (as in the tales they are very much so to the protagonists). It shows because Lovecraft seems to devote many lines of musings to these assortments. (Other than that I found it a challenge to do so without much help from a reference page.) That is why I liked them the best. Perhaps The Lurking Fear was the first story of the anthology, and that explains why I loved it most out of all of the listed, or maybe it worked the other way around (in that it was put first because its quality stands out). Either way no harm done and much enjoyment ensues. Reading it intermittently across a couple of days is recommended as one's familiarity grows with the basic 'template' of each tale, it becomes a little tiring to sit through one after another.

alyssa_watson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I liked this piece by Lovecraft. It was easy to read and easy to follow, which I have trouble with in some of Lovecraft's writings. An excellent read for my exploration into Lovecraftian mythos.

darkcoffeelover81's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hendejos's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

ktxx22's review against another edition

4.0

This was scary and had a good ending but it took a while to get going.

lordofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

glueeater's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

iam_griff's review against another edition

4.0

If you love Lovecraft like I love him, the checkout HPLHS & their Dart Adventure Radio Theatre. Their skill at transforming those suspensive stories we love into 1950’s style radio dramas.

clockworkp's review against another edition

4.0

4.5
No sé si es porque estaba sola en casa, pero esta historia cara la mitad, me dio verdadero miedo. Cualquier ruído me sobresaltaba y quería ya saber lo que pasaría. Ayudó leerlo en una compilación y no saber cuanto quedaba para terminarlo. La resulución me parece algo predecible y que no dio tanto miedo.