twerkingtobeethoven's review against another edition
4.0
Imagine going through the vilest stuff, and I mean the filthiest, most disgusting gross-out fucked up shit you could think of. Right, this is even beyond that! BUT the writing is MAGNIFICENT, in that Brian McNaughton really knew what he was doing when he sat at his desk to put down the ordure going through his head. I mean, this book reads like a cross between Edgar Allan Poe's [b:The Complete Stories and Poems|23919|The Complete Stories and Poems|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327942676l/23919._SY75_.jpg|30431], Jack Vance's [b:Tales of the Dying Earth|40866|Tales of the Dying Earth|Jack Vance|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1432253533l/40866._SX50_.jpg|743153], and H.P. Lovecraft's [b:Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales|1335019|Necronomicon The Best Weird Tales|H.P. Lovecraft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526671860l/1335019._SY75_.jpg|1324548] of course...only on steroids. Oh, and Cliver Barker's [b:Coldheart Canyon|108051|Coldheart Canyon|Clive Barker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347262524l/108051._SY75_.jpg|51342] & [b:Cabal|103035|Cabal|Clive Barker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405259936l/103035._SY75_.jpg|530471] with which "The Throne of Bones" shares the same sort of atmosphere.
This book is like a jazz rendition of Cannibal Corpe's I Cum Blood.
This book is like a jazz rendition of Cannibal Corpe's I Cum Blood.
cthuwu's review against another edition
1.0
hi i read this book in like 2018 and it left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. if you want to read gore and violence, at least bother to pick someone who kills men as often as they kill women.
molok's review
2.0
DNF. I don't think I'm gonna finish this one. maybe one day I'll come back I only have a few more short stories left. So far its been more boring/gross than scary. Big disappointment Made it 73% close enough...
cxanderson's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent book that weaves a world of morbid terrors. Ghouls, necromancers, undead, and ghastly worms. Every short story being better than the last, ending in the grand finale. The final story was my favorite of all.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
3.0
Every so often there is a book that I chance upon which does not hesitate even a bit in grabbing hold of me and shoving me headlong down pathways that I never dared venture.Sure I call myself a fan of horror as a genre but am I deeply read in the genre ? Well since you put it that way...umm..no. Look at the standard props in horror that borders fantasy and there is an outpouring of certain cliches : vampires, werewolves, witches et al which are now no more scary. There was however one such denizen of the night who I had not read much about until this book : the ghoul. And now thanks to Brian McNoughton, I have had enough to last me a bloody long time. Exquisitely and garishly crafted, this set of tales is monstrous to behold !
The author of this book is a twisted literary genius. Allow me to explain : his genius for writing can be easily felt in the way he creates his fictional world and populates it with characters whose jibes at society and its dubious morals is a delight to behold. The throne of bones is one of those central stories of the book around which all the other tales revolve. The stories blend in seamlessly with one leading the way to another, well written and intricately plotted. Now we come to the twisted part and here is where McNoughton outdoes even Lovecraft for his ghouls are hideous monsters. Their lives are filled with cannibalism, necrophilia,incest and murder and the author does not spare any gory details. Every single pore of the stories spit out ghouls and they infest the stories like viruses. Some instances are greatly disturbing and the sex and gore are rather graphic but consider that these are stories about creatures which are closer to beasts than they will ever be to a human being.
The plotting and the writing skills deserve to be applauded but this is an incredibly graphic book. It will perhaps give GoT a run for its money if it ever gets made into a T.V. series (the chances for which are too remote to even contemplate !).
The author of this book is a twisted literary genius. Allow me to explain : his genius for writing can be easily felt in the way he creates his fictional world and populates it with characters whose jibes at society and its dubious morals is a delight to behold. The throne of bones is one of those central stories of the book around which all the other tales revolve. The stories blend in seamlessly with one leading the way to another, well written and intricately plotted. Now we come to the twisted part and here is where McNoughton outdoes even Lovecraft for his ghouls are hideous monsters. Their lives are filled with cannibalism, necrophilia,incest and murder and the author does not spare any gory details. Every single pore of the stories spit out ghouls and they infest the stories like viruses. Some instances are greatly disturbing and the sex and gore are rather graphic but consider that these are stories about creatures which are closer to beasts than they will ever be to a human being.
The plotting and the writing skills deserve to be applauded but this is an incredibly graphic book. It will perhaps give GoT a run for its money if it ever gets made into a T.V. series (the chances for which are too remote to even contemplate !).
spookhaus's review
The narrative is too hard to follow. The subject matter lost me. Loved the first short story, but it fell off a cliff for me.
ariskat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
kathodus's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not entirely sure why I loved this book so much, but I did. It recalls Fritz Leiber, Clark Ashton Smith, HP Lovecraft, RE Howard, Vance, etc., etc., but with a modern flair. There's horrific necrophiliac sex, there's a lot of gore, NONE of the characters are likable - it's basically a world of evil wizards, evil professors, evil innkeepers, evil mayors... basically, evil NOUNs. It's the best tribute to the early days of SFF, before horror and fantasy had their nasty breakup, that I've read.
bjswann's review against another edition
5.0
A masterwork of ultra-dark fantasy.
Throne of Bones is a collection of stories all sharing the same history and mythos. The core of the collection – the titular Throne of Bones itself – is a series of interwoven tales revolving around the figure of the ghoul. Though ghouls have haunted western literature ever since the translation of the Arabian Nights into English, appearing in the works of Beckford, Poe, and Lovecraft among others, McNaughton does more to flesh them out than perhaps any other author, exploring their strengths and weaknesses, their hungers and lusts, their peculiar powers, and even the various theories that try – and fail – to explain their existence. The result is a literary treatment of ghouls and ghoulishness so exquisitely rich that it makes other representations look pallid in comparison.
McNaughton’s development of a unique ghoul mythos is only one example of his worldbuilding skills, which are nothing less than awe-inspiring. Throne of Bones provides a cohesive vision of a world of sumptuous decadence, inexorable ignorance, and casual cruelty, where life is cheap and sinister clans of aristocrats lord it over those of less fortunate rank. In its aesthetics and mood it recalls the baroque decadence of Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique and Averoigne stories, and it is not surprising to find that CAS was a formative influence on McNaughton. Nevertheless, McNaughton’s creation is his own, as is his voice, gleefully nihilistic and full of black humor.
The stories themselves are extremely horrific, teeming with visceral and psychological terrors. This is the darkest of dark fantasy – macabre, grotesque, and devoid of any sense of tiresome generic decorum. McNaughton takes you to horrible places with no apologies given. Here we have a rancid world overflowing with necromancy, necrophilia, incest, rape, slavery, cannibalism, and a whole host of unique horrors of McNaughton’s own devising. His unfortunate characters are thrust into fates so twisted and blackly ironic they make Oedipus Rex look like The Truman Show.
McNaughton’s prose is exquisite, his dialogue witty and rich, his characters distinctive and vivid. In terms of genre, this work is almost unique, blending the gothic, the weird, the grotesque, the fantastical, and the mythical into a rich and intoxicating blend the likes of which is very seldom seen. McNaughton has taken the weird and gothic threads of his literary forebears – Beckford, HPL, CAS, REH, Machen, E. R. Eddison, etc. – and added elements of horror so graphic and gleefully obscence one is tempted to label these stories “splatter fantasy.”
It’s hardly possible to praise this work enough. It’s ingenious, pure and simple. Reading these tales, I found myself shocked that McNaughton has not become a household name in the realm of horror, nor even a particularly well-known one. Now that I have finished the book, I find myself frustrated by my inability to give it more than five stars.
Throne of Bones is a collection of stories all sharing the same history and mythos. The core of the collection – the titular Throne of Bones itself – is a series of interwoven tales revolving around the figure of the ghoul. Though ghouls have haunted western literature ever since the translation of the Arabian Nights into English, appearing in the works of Beckford, Poe, and Lovecraft among others, McNaughton does more to flesh them out than perhaps any other author, exploring their strengths and weaknesses, their hungers and lusts, their peculiar powers, and even the various theories that try – and fail – to explain their existence. The result is a literary treatment of ghouls and ghoulishness so exquisitely rich that it makes other representations look pallid in comparison.
McNaughton’s development of a unique ghoul mythos is only one example of his worldbuilding skills, which are nothing less than awe-inspiring. Throne of Bones provides a cohesive vision of a world of sumptuous decadence, inexorable ignorance, and casual cruelty, where life is cheap and sinister clans of aristocrats lord it over those of less fortunate rank. In its aesthetics and mood it recalls the baroque decadence of Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique and Averoigne stories, and it is not surprising to find that CAS was a formative influence on McNaughton. Nevertheless, McNaughton’s creation is his own, as is his voice, gleefully nihilistic and full of black humor.
The stories themselves are extremely horrific, teeming with visceral and psychological terrors. This is the darkest of dark fantasy – macabre, grotesque, and devoid of any sense of tiresome generic decorum. McNaughton takes you to horrible places with no apologies given. Here we have a rancid world overflowing with necromancy, necrophilia, incest, rape, slavery, cannibalism, and a whole host of unique horrors of McNaughton’s own devising. His unfortunate characters are thrust into fates so twisted and blackly ironic they make Oedipus Rex look like The Truman Show.
McNaughton’s prose is exquisite, his dialogue witty and rich, his characters distinctive and vivid. In terms of genre, this work is almost unique, blending the gothic, the weird, the grotesque, the fantastical, and the mythical into a rich and intoxicating blend the likes of which is very seldom seen. McNaughton has taken the weird and gothic threads of his literary forebears – Beckford, HPL, CAS, REH, Machen, E. R. Eddison, etc. – and added elements of horror so graphic and gleefully obscence one is tempted to label these stories “splatter fantasy.”
It’s hardly possible to praise this work enough. It’s ingenious, pure and simple. Reading these tales, I found myself shocked that McNaughton has not become a household name in the realm of horror, nor even a particularly well-known one. Now that I have finished the book, I find myself frustrated by my inability to give it more than five stars.