Reviews

The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham by Leslie S. Klinger, H.P. Lovecraft

jenn_the_unicorn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

_fictionalreality's review against another edition

Repetitive stories

zgonzale's review against another edition

3.0

Although Lovecraft’s mythos is still a popular part of cosmic horror today, I found much of his fiction to be as dense, frustrating, and problematic as it is interesting, inspiring, and unique.

There are a couple of classics that I quite enjoyed (Dagon, The Doom that Came to Sarnath, The Moon-Bog, The Music of Erich Zann, The Dunwich Horror, The Whisperer in Darkness) but most can be skipped whether you’re a fan of Lovecraft or not.

semmons99's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

grimmenace's review against another edition

I had been reading a bunch of short stories in here but decided I'd rather log the stories individually so I had an account of what I'd read rather than just lumping them all together in the big book.

sams84's review against another edition

5.0

This collection shows the different skills and abilities that Lovecraft has a writer. Yes horror is his genre but there is so much more there too with well written characters, engrossing stories, and superb settings.

oleblanc's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

carynrjones's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

Poe Stories - complete love Poe

runjnee's review against another edition

3.0

It's hard to review a collection like this because it is an author's life's work (well, almost the entirety of his fiction, at least) and much of the (chronologically) earlier material is nowhere near as good as the later ones, something even admitted by Lovecraft himself.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the contemporary stories, and grew fond of the "nameless horror at the end" trope. I read most of this alone on various nights, and found some of it genuinely atmospheric. I deeply disliked anything more fantasy-like, such as the Dream Cycle stories. I found them tiresome.

Highlights for me, some of these non-traditional picks, because I enjoyed what I enjoyed, y'know?
- The Color Out of Space
- The Call of Cthulhu
- The Dunwich Horror
- The Whisperer in Darkness
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth
- The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
- Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
- Herbert West - Reanimator
- In The Vault
- The Thing on the Doorstep
- The Tomb

ngeru's review against another edition

4.0

What can I say? This is just indulgence on my part as I have read these before, but not on Kindle. It is a bit repetitive, and certainly racist by modern standards, as well as mildly anti-semitic. He cannot really do female characters and the adverbs and adjectives become very familiar. Clark Aston Smith and James Branch Caball are much better writers in this genre, but Lovecraft was the inventor and the founder of New England Gothic, and seminal to many others. Jack Vance and others did it better but he was first and his icons remain.