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The Night Land: A Story Retold
An adventure of both science fiction and fantasy—one of the great love stories--this is William Hope Hodgson's masterpiece, rewritten for the modern reader.
Penned in 1912, The Night Land is considered by many to be a work of genius, but one written in a difficult, archaic style that readers often find impenetrable. As a labor of love, James Stoddard has rewritten Hodgson's book to bring it to a wider audience.
The story opens in the 19th century, but quickly moves to the far future, where the sun has gone out, leaving the world in a darkness broken only by strange lights and mysterious fires. Over the ages, monsters and evil forces have descended to the earth, compelling the surviving humans to take refuge in a great pyramid of imperishable metal built in a miles-deep chasm. The monsters surround the pyramid in a perpetual siege lasting for eons, waiting for the moment when its defenses must fail.
But one man, born out of his time, must leave the pyramid to seek his long-lost love though all the perils of the Night Land.
Penned in 1912, The Night Land is considered by many to be a work of genius, but one written in a difficult, archaic style that readers often find impenetrable. As a labor of love, James Stoddard has rewritten Hodgson's book to bring it to a wider audience.
The story opens in the 19th century, but quickly moves to the far future, where the sun has gone out, leaving the world in a darkness broken only by strange lights and mysterious fires. Over the ages, monsters and evil forces have descended to the earth, compelling the surviving humans to take refuge in a great pyramid of imperishable metal built in a miles-deep chasm. The monsters surround the pyramid in a perpetual siege lasting for eons, waiting for the moment when its defenses must fail.
But one man, born out of his time, must leave the pyramid to seek his long-lost love though all the perils of the Night Land.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1912
43 people are currently reading
333 people want to read
About the author
James Stoddard
21 books252 followersJames Stoddard grew up in the Oklahoma Panhandle. His short stories have been published in professional SF publications such as Lightspeed and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His first published novel, The High House, won the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel, and was nominated for several other awards. When he isn't writing or composing music, he teaches Sound Engineering to Really Swell college students.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
August 21, 2014
The Night Land was described by H.P. Lovecraft in the following fashion:
The Night Land, a Story Retold is a nearly completely re-written version of the original story, dumping the deliberately archaic language, adding in actual dialogue between the characters, returning to the framing device at the end, and otherwise cleaning up and modernizing the tale. In that, it accomplishes everything it sets out to do admirably without changing the underlying feeling of wonder that the Night Land creates. It even makes it a far more effective love story than the somewhat clumsy, halting attempts The Night Land made.
I would say that it is no longer necessary to read the original to get the understanding of the story, unless you want to see what William Hope Hodgson made of the story, and would recommend this for anyone who likes horror or horror romance.
"It is told in a rather clumsy fashion, as the dreams of a man in the seventeenth century, whose mind merges with its own future incarnation; and is seriously marred by painful verboseness, repetitiousness, artificial and nauseously sticky romantic sentimentality, and an attempt at archaic language even more grotesque and absurd than that in Glen Carrig.And really, he's right. The Night Land is an amazingly creepy story marred by several major flaws: clunky language, a framing device of the "future memories" of a 19-century man envisioning the Night Land but without a second frame (the first chapter is from that man's perspective, but the book never returns to it), incredibly clumsy attempt at romance that makes the woman come off as a spoiled child, and so on. Despite that, the picture the book paints of the Earth after the sun has dimmed and gone out is amazingly evocative.
"Allowing for all its faults, it is yet one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written. The picture of a night-black, dead planet, with the remains of the human race concentrated in a stupendously vast metal pyramid and besieged by monstrous, hybrid, and altogether unknown forces of the darkness, is something that no reader can ever forget: Shapes and entities of an altogether non-human and inconceivable sort -- the prowlers of the black, man-forsaken, and unexplored world outside the pyramid -- are suggested and partly described with ineffable potency; while the night-land landscape with its chasms and slopes and dying volcanism takes on an almost sentient terror beneath the author's touch. Midway in the book the central figure ventures outside the pyramid on a quest through death-haunted realms untrod by man for millions of years -- and in his slow, minutely described, day-by-day progress over unthinkable leagues of immemorial blackness there is a sense of cosmic alienage, breathless mystery, and terrified expectancy unrivalled in the whole range of literature. The last quarter of the book drags woefully, but fails to spoil the tremendous power of the whole.
The Night Land, a Story Retold is a nearly completely re-written version of the original story, dumping the deliberately archaic language, adding in actual dialogue between the characters, returning to the framing device at the end, and otherwise cleaning up and modernizing the tale. In that, it accomplishes everything it sets out to do admirably without changing the underlying feeling of wonder that the Night Land creates. It even makes it a far more effective love story than the somewhat clumsy, halting attempts The Night Land made.
I would say that it is no longer necessary to read the original to get the understanding of the story, unless you want to see what William Hope Hodgson made of the story, and would recommend this for anyone who likes horror or horror romance.
May 26, 2018
The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson is an acknowledged fantasy classic—an extraordinary creation of an immensely far future dying Earth where humanity huddles in a “Great Redoubt”. The dark imaginative power of the novel was admired by H.P.Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, Clarke Ashton Smith and Lin Carter. Possibly it influenced Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” sequence. It certainly inspired the group of brilliant novellas by John C Wright published in “Awake In the Night Land”. So why did James Stoddard bother to retell the story?
The answer lies in some flaws which seriously annoy modern readers. Firstly, the story uses a frame device. It is evidently a dream/vision of an unnamed Victorian narrator who finds himself living as an alter-ego in an incredibly distant far future. The Victorian narrator has lost his one true love Mirdath the Beautiful whom he rescues from a group of ruffians. His future self find his love in Naani and must rescue her from a lesser doomed Redoubt. Now there is nothing wrong with using a time mirror frame. The problem lies in that the hero and Mirdath are mere stereotypes with no personalities to engage the reader. They are simply boring and the frame seems an artificial mechanism the story could do without.
A second problem for the reader is the artificial archaic language adopted by Hodgson for the main section of the novel set in the future. One can argue that its use is effective In distancing the world of the Night Land and one does get used to it after a while. But at the end when Hodgson starts a whole sequence of paragraphs with “Lo!” or “Behold!” it becomes tiresome. Further, there is no dialogue at all. Throughout we are completely locked into the hero’s point of view and very seldom hear another voice. Against this is the fact that the Night Land itself is a character. It is with the Land with its various manifestations from the terrible, monstrous and demonic to the inscrutably sacred that the hero must deal.
But the “love”element is by far the most serious flaw in the book. The “romance”between the narrator and Naani is both ludicrous and offensive. Naani is presented as fragile and infantile—despite the fact that she had survived alone for a month surrounded by all sorts of horrors and hunted by monstrous creatures. Surely, she must have had some Amazonian qualities. But she is presented as ridiculously silly and the hero even has to spank her to help her learn her place. Most of the worst passages occur in the final section during the return home. Nearly everyone finds them awful.
James Stoddard decided to retell the story of the Night Land keeping the amazing setting but modernising the prose. He developed the frame so as to give more life to Mirdath and the narrator whom he named “Andrew”. Stoddard also linked the frame more securely into the Night Land world. Both Naani and Andros (the Night Land narrator) understand that they are reincarnations of Andrew and Mirdath while still having their own specific personalities.
In his introduction to his retelling Stoddard admitted that he had to abandon Hodgson’s“difficult, archaic style.” However a direct “translation” simply didn’t work. So he added dialogue. In my opinion this made the prose flow far more smoothly. He added “character motivation, and even brief scenes not in the original volume.” However, he asserts that he has “striven to use Hodgson’s thoughts. . . To recreate his world.”
But is in the treatment of the romance between Andros and Naani that Stoddard makes the greatest improvement in the book. Gone is Hodgson’s idiotic stereotype. In the retelling Naani is an intelligent young woman who helps plan the trip home, contributes to the action and is a fierce fighter who indeed saves the life of Andros at one point. She goes through a depression which is far more convincing than the attitude of Hodgson’s character.
Stoddard does stay true to the world created by Hodgson and many might prefer the former. I think that the retelling is enjoyable but it is worth reading the original. However, I think that one should read the version edited by Lin Carter for Ballantine books in two volumes. Carter states in an introduction that the worst excesses have been carefully pruned and the novel gains as a result.
If you would like to read a defence of Hodgson’s style the most convincing case is made by John C Wright in his introduction to “Awake In the Night Land”, a collection of novellas set in the world of the Night Land. If you are a member of Kindle Unlimited, the first novella “Awake In the Night” can be downloaded free and it also contains that preface.
The answer lies in some flaws which seriously annoy modern readers. Firstly, the story uses a frame device. It is evidently a dream/vision of an unnamed Victorian narrator who finds himself living as an alter-ego in an incredibly distant far future. The Victorian narrator has lost his one true love Mirdath the Beautiful whom he rescues from a group of ruffians. His future self find his love in Naani and must rescue her from a lesser doomed Redoubt. Now there is nothing wrong with using a time mirror frame. The problem lies in that the hero and Mirdath are mere stereotypes with no personalities to engage the reader. They are simply boring and the frame seems an artificial mechanism the story could do without.
A second problem for the reader is the artificial archaic language adopted by Hodgson for the main section of the novel set in the future. One can argue that its use is effective In distancing the world of the Night Land and one does get used to it after a while. But at the end when Hodgson starts a whole sequence of paragraphs with “Lo!” or “Behold!” it becomes tiresome. Further, there is no dialogue at all. Throughout we are completely locked into the hero’s point of view and very seldom hear another voice. Against this is the fact that the Night Land itself is a character. It is with the Land with its various manifestations from the terrible, monstrous and demonic to the inscrutably sacred that the hero must deal.
But the “love”element is by far the most serious flaw in the book. The “romance”between the narrator and Naani is both ludicrous and offensive. Naani is presented as fragile and infantile—despite the fact that she had survived alone for a month surrounded by all sorts of horrors and hunted by monstrous creatures. Surely, she must have had some Amazonian qualities. But she is presented as ridiculously silly and the hero even has to spank her to help her learn her place. Most of the worst passages occur in the final section during the return home. Nearly everyone finds them awful.
James Stoddard decided to retell the story of the Night Land keeping the amazing setting but modernising the prose. He developed the frame so as to give more life to Mirdath and the narrator whom he named “Andrew”. Stoddard also linked the frame more securely into the Night Land world. Both Naani and Andros (the Night Land narrator) understand that they are reincarnations of Andrew and Mirdath while still having their own specific personalities.
In his introduction to his retelling Stoddard admitted that he had to abandon Hodgson’s“difficult, archaic style.” However a direct “translation” simply didn’t work. So he added dialogue. In my opinion this made the prose flow far more smoothly. He added “character motivation, and even brief scenes not in the original volume.” However, he asserts that he has “striven to use Hodgson’s thoughts. . . To recreate his world.”
But is in the treatment of the romance between Andros and Naani that Stoddard makes the greatest improvement in the book. Gone is Hodgson’s idiotic stereotype. In the retelling Naani is an intelligent young woman who helps plan the trip home, contributes to the action and is a fierce fighter who indeed saves the life of Andros at one point. She goes through a depression which is far more convincing than the attitude of Hodgson’s character.
Stoddard does stay true to the world created by Hodgson and many might prefer the former. I think that the retelling is enjoyable but it is worth reading the original. However, I think that one should read the version edited by Lin Carter for Ballantine books in two volumes. Carter states in an introduction that the worst excesses have been carefully pruned and the novel gains as a result.
If you would like to read a defence of Hodgson’s style the most convincing case is made by John C Wright in his introduction to “Awake In the Night Land”, a collection of novellas set in the world of the Night Land. If you are a member of Kindle Unlimited, the first novella “Awake In the Night” can be downloaded free and it also contains that preface.
July 24, 2019
Being that The Night Land is my favorite book of all-time, I picked this one up thinking that the more Night Land the merrier. But Everything that made Hodgson original telling is lost in the re-telling. The style, the repetition, the flow, the sense of doom, all lost. Too many modern tropes and cliches (ugh, the dialogue). The worst… filling in all gaps that were better left empty—sometimes a storyteller is better allowed to let the reader assume the details.
Essentially the re-telling takes one of the most imaginative, uniquely horrifying concepts and turns it to every other 21st century sci-fi fan safari. It follows too many rules, sacrifices style for sensibility, and, while only sticking to the BASIC plot and premise, it discards everything that made the original amazing. A reminder that there is so much more to a good story than plot and concept.
Essentially the re-telling takes one of the most imaginative, uniquely horrifying concepts and turns it to every other 21st century sci-fi fan safari. It follows too many rules, sacrifices style for sensibility, and, while only sticking to the BASIC plot and premise, it discards everything that made the original amazing. A reminder that there is so much more to a good story than plot and concept.
December 14, 2020
After reading both, I can confidently say that this version is better than the original. It doesn't leave out any details, and it is so much less frustrating, stuffy, and sexist than Hodgson's original.
June 29, 2023
Definitely more readable than the original version. Naani was also less annoying. The ending gave very little catharsis to me, though.
I mean, I get it, Hodgson is obscure. He's kind of dull. Stoddard sorta fixed the original issues and I am fairly certain he's talented. But, well, Night Land just talks about the love interests rather than, you know, the way we got to that point. I don't generally do romance stories and this is why.
I was hoping for more information on the world itself, but newp. There is speculation that the original Night Land novel was connected to House on the Borderland because of the House of Silence and those Pigmen things. Maybe. Don't know.
If you like romance stuff set in eldritch locations, read it.
I mean, I get it, Hodgson is obscure. He's kind of dull. Stoddard sorta fixed the original issues and I am fairly certain he's talented. But, well, Night Land just talks about the love interests rather than, you know, the way we got to that point. I don't generally do romance stories and this is why.
I was hoping for more information on the world itself, but newp. There is speculation that the original Night Land novel was connected to House on the Borderland because of the House of Silence and those Pigmen things. Maybe. Don't know.
If you like romance stuff set in eldritch locations, read it.
January 2, 2019
The story focuses entirely on the two lovers, and explores almost nothing about the state of the world. While the premise is original and exiting, and the world building is excellent the story never go's beyond mere action sequences. There are lots of forgettable fights near firepits, that add very little to the plot, and just get tiring. The hero never does anything particular clever or original to get out of a situation. There is no clever twist. And we never find out more about the world, nor does the hero change anything meaningful in the world, no mystery is resolved. The protagonists just get married and go back living in the pyramid like countless before them have done.
June 20, 2021
This is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice and no one can convince me otherwise.
November 8, 2025
[Revised slightly in 2025 to fix some typos, etc.] The basic story of the book is well laid out in the Goodreads synopsis, so I won't repeat it here. But in order to review James Stoddard's work I need to give a bunch of background about where this book came from.
"The Night Land" was first published in 1912 in the UK, and not published in the US until 1946, in a now-rare Arkham House edition of all Hodgson's novels. Then in 1972 Lin Carter presented it in an inexpensive two-volume paperback edition in the famous Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
At the time, Carter observed that while "The Night Land is a work of sustained imaginative vision without equal in literature", it was also "dreadfully overwritten, overlong [about 200,000 words], and verbose and repetitive to the point of shameless self-indulgence." Even C. S. Lewis, who admired the book, noted that it bore certain flaws. There are many scenes in the second half of the novel which represent "Victorian sentimentality at the very nadir of taste", according to Carter. He felt that these excesses "severely injured the cumulative power and movement of the novel" and so (blaming the publisher) "judiciously trimmed these scenes of their most excruciating emotional excesses." I don't know how much was cut, but believe me, as a lover of the book who's read it several times, even with the edits there are still plenty of eye-rolling scenes, and I write this as a superfan of Victorian science fiction and fantasy.
Now comes Mr Stoddard (in 2010), who had pondered many years about a way to bring the essence of the book, which he also clearly loved, to a wider audience. He discarded potential approaches about editing out more of Hodgson's excesses, attempting a "translation" of his prose, and the like, and decided to just basically rewrite it from scratch, using the scenario of the original as a template.
In my personal opinion, he hit a metaphorical grand slam. I recommend his book 100%, whether you have any familiarity with Hodgson's original, the Ballantine reprint, or none at all. He has captured the eerie and somber mood of the original perfectly, and the characters have become three-dimensional rather than the utterly flat caricatures they too often were in the original. I think you will agree with me if you read Stoddard's version first, and then compare it with one of the earlier ones, that he has done an unbelievable job of being what he calls Hodgson's "second scribe", or as I might put it, a most loving, considerate, and expert retroactive editor.
"The Night Land" was first published in 1912 in the UK, and not published in the US until 1946, in a now-rare Arkham House edition of all Hodgson's novels. Then in 1972 Lin Carter presented it in an inexpensive two-volume paperback edition in the famous Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
At the time, Carter observed that while "The Night Land is a work of sustained imaginative vision without equal in literature", it was also "dreadfully overwritten, overlong [about 200,000 words], and verbose and repetitive to the point of shameless self-indulgence." Even C. S. Lewis, who admired the book, noted that it bore certain flaws. There are many scenes in the second half of the novel which represent "Victorian sentimentality at the very nadir of taste", according to Carter. He felt that these excesses "severely injured the cumulative power and movement of the novel" and so (blaming the publisher) "judiciously trimmed these scenes of their most excruciating emotional excesses." I don't know how much was cut, but believe me, as a lover of the book who's read it several times, even with the edits there are still plenty of eye-rolling scenes, and I write this as a superfan of Victorian science fiction and fantasy.
Now comes Mr Stoddard (in 2010), who had pondered many years about a way to bring the essence of the book, which he also clearly loved, to a wider audience. He discarded potential approaches about editing out more of Hodgson's excesses, attempting a "translation" of his prose, and the like, and decided to just basically rewrite it from scratch, using the scenario of the original as a template.
In my personal opinion, he hit a metaphorical grand slam. I recommend his book 100%, whether you have any familiarity with Hodgson's original, the Ballantine reprint, or none at all. He has captured the eerie and somber mood of the original perfectly, and the characters have become three-dimensional rather than the utterly flat caricatures they too often were in the original. I think you will agree with me if you read Stoddard's version first, and then compare it with one of the earlier ones, that he has done an unbelievable job of being what he calls Hodgson's "second scribe", or as I might put it, a most loving, considerate, and expert retroactive editor.
June 30, 2017
Interesting
Having read Wright's books on the Night Land, I looked forward to reading this one. I was very pleased with the story and found the 'different' areas of the Night Land interesting and satisfying to discover.
Having read Wright's books on the Night Land, I looked forward to reading this one. I was very pleased with the story and found the 'different' areas of the Night Land interesting and satisfying to discover.
November 24, 2022
Very well written adaption
The original work is a deeply flawed masterpiece. This removes most of the flaws and introduces relatively few new flaws. Highly recommended.
The original work is a deeply flawed masterpiece. This removes most of the flaws and introduces relatively few new flaws. Highly recommended.
August 1, 2021
What a strange and wonderful tale, the ideas and themes were decades ahead of their time. This is the story of a love that transcends time and space, life and death. It was written in a time when science fiction was in it's infancy, when a serious idea of going to the moon might have involved a cannon or a hot air balloon. The story is remarkable, the setting entrancing, the world building subtle and vague in just the right measure to leave you scrounging and begging for more information.
The little clues granted to the reader only serve to underscore the mystery laid out in this story of a dying world where humanity has amazing technology and yet is all but extinct on earth. How did the world get this way? Where did the horrors of the night land come from? Is there a way out or is humanity doomed to spend it's final days on this cursed earth? Only by reading this ground breaking story will you find the answers.
Side note: This is the rewritten version of the book. The original used archaic language that was intended to reflect the tale being related by the past form of the protagonist, set in the 17th century. There was also no dialogue at all, with all the text consisting of narration and description only. The rewritten version retains the story in it's whole but retold in more modern English with dialogue added where the author would have simply described a conversation. The protagonist was given a name, where as he had none in the original. There are also a couple of added scenes, but this was done simply to clarify a few things in the plot and only reinforce the book as a whole. I have read much of the original and while I won't tell you to avoid trying it out, I will say it is quite difficult to read. Many times did I have to stop and look up words or phrases online. The archaic language is the only flaw in the original, otherwise flawless, story.
I whole heartedly recommend you read this book at your earliest opportunity. It is one of my absolute favorites, and I'm sure it will become one of yours as well.
The little clues granted to the reader only serve to underscore the mystery laid out in this story of a dying world where humanity has amazing technology and yet is all but extinct on earth. How did the world get this way? Where did the horrors of the night land come from? Is there a way out or is humanity doomed to spend it's final days on this cursed earth? Only by reading this ground breaking story will you find the answers.
Side note: This is the rewritten version of the book. The original used archaic language that was intended to reflect the tale being related by the past form of the protagonist, set in the 17th century. There was also no dialogue at all, with all the text consisting of narration and description only. The rewritten version retains the story in it's whole but retold in more modern English with dialogue added where the author would have simply described a conversation. The protagonist was given a name, where as he had none in the original. There are also a couple of added scenes, but this was done simply to clarify a few things in the plot and only reinforce the book as a whole. I have read much of the original and while I won't tell you to avoid trying it out, I will say it is quite difficult to read. Many times did I have to stop and look up words or phrases online. The archaic language is the only flaw in the original, otherwise flawless, story.
I whole heartedly recommend you read this book at your earliest opportunity. It is one of my absolute favorites, and I'm sure it will become one of yours as well.
February 21, 2019
Without a doubt one of the most lovely romance stories I've read in recent time, not to mention the horrying depiction of that terrifying place — the Night Land, home to the Last Redoubt.
I am certain, completely and absolutely assured, that I will never forget the adventure this book tells about. It is wonderfully and professionally rewritten, and though I have yet to read the original in all its verbosity, I truly recommend this version to any and all that enjoy horror in the vein of H.P. Lovecraft and stories of undying love and charity.
I am certain, completely and absolutely assured, that I will never forget the adventure this book tells about. It is wonderfully and professionally rewritten, and though I have yet to read the original in all its verbosity, I truly recommend this version to any and all that enjoy horror in the vein of H.P. Lovecraft and stories of undying love and charity.
September 13, 2024
One (long) sentence review:
An interesting, and for me a new, concept of rewriting outdated (Victorian) literature so that one hundread years after it was written, it will be understood, which ties in to a concept in the book, about a futuristic society that forgot so much knowledge, it is basically living in a big cage and waiting for its final time, I recommend this only to dedicated fans of bizzare and dark, in the language of video games it would be a child of Dark Souls and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
An interesting, and for me a new, concept of rewriting outdated (Victorian) literature so that one hundread years after it was written, it will be understood, which ties in to a concept in the book, about a futuristic society that forgot so much knowledge, it is basically living in a big cage and waiting for its final time, I recommend this only to dedicated fans of bizzare and dark, in the language of video games it would be a child of Dark Souls and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
October 12, 2018
2.5 Stars. I know it's famous for the romance, but the shallow immaturity of it really turned me off. I get how Andros has the burning passion of youth, but Andrew seems to have no perspective after years of marriage. Stoddard notes how "diverse sources" liked the original version, and it's easily divided with C.S. Lewis liking the vaguely Christian spirituality and H.P. Lovecraft liking the unknowable horror. I appreciate the effort, but I prefer some of Hodgson's shorter works.
May 22, 2019
I was already a fan of Stoddard's "Evenmere" books AND the original book, so this "modern translation" is like a dream come true. If you like sci-fi/fantasy that is strange and wildly imaginative, this is a book you should check out. The original is a bit ponderous due to the archaic language.
January 18, 2021
Don't let the cover fool you:
This is the version to read!
This story was a fascinating and terrifying science fiction set in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, while simultaneously being one of the most touching, authentic romance stories I have ever read.
This is the version to read!
This story was a fascinating and terrifying science fiction set in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, while simultaneously being one of the most touching, authentic romance stories I have ever read.
September 3, 2022
This retelling helps make a book that even Lovecraft described as "seriously marred by painful verboseness, repetitiousness, artificial and nauseously sticky romantic sentimentality" more accessible.
The setting is brilliant, and that alone makes it worth the read.
The setting is brilliant, and that alone makes it worth the read.
January 25, 2018
Great story about the last desperate days of humanity. Terrible book cover though. Just... awful.
January 3, 2019
Enjoy Lovecraft? Laugh at humanity's inexorable slide towards species death? Look no further.
November 1, 2020
Incredible love story and amazing world
I love this book. its one of my top ten favorites. A love story in the most dystopian future imaginable with so many incredible moments.
I love this book. its one of my top ten favorites. A love story in the most dystopian future imaginable with so many incredible moments.
January 11, 2022
A world without the sun is scary. Though this novel was beautiful, I didn't find the romance part enjoyable. It's a personal thought of mine.
December 19, 2024
First half was great then it got so repetitive
May 1, 2011
The book opens in 1827 with a gentleman walking down a lane contemplating the beauty of the scenery, when he comes across three men accosting a woman. After he quickly dispatches with the riff-raff, we learn he is Lord Andrew Eddins, and he has rescued Lady Mirdath the Beautiful. As time goes on, they fall in love and marry.
Soon the story moves forward into the far future where the sun has disappeared and the world is enveloped in darkness. The world is now filled with all sorts of monsters, evil forces, mysterious fires and strange lights. In order to survive, the remaining humans build a huge pyramid where they now live, with only a few ever going into the outside night. In this world we meet a young man named Andros who realizes that he has memories of a past life as Andrew. Soon he discovers that there is another pyramid in a different part of their world in which his soul mate Mirdath, now known as Naani, lives. Andros and Naani are able to communicate with each other telepathically, and Andros learns that Naani’s people are slowly dying. Not being able to live with just having found his lost soul mate and then losing her so soon, Andros embarks on a heroic journey into the Night Land to find her.
This is the story of the strength of love, the epic journey Andros undertakes to rescue his soul mate, the belief that Naani has in Andros’ love, and what the two are willing to endure to be together.
Night Land was originally written by William Hope Hodgson in 1912. James Stoddard has taken the hard to read, archaic style of writing and re-written it into today’s style. In order to compare the two styles of writing, I downloaded the original book and read the first few chapters. Mr. Stoddard did an excellent job of re-writing the book while maintaining the original author’s story. The book still retains the story of the original book and maintains a 19th century feel.
I do not normally read fantasy/science fiction. I will go so far as to say I don’t actually like fantasy/science fiction, as I find the genre confusing and usually full of complicated worlds and strange names for people and places. What a pleasant surprise this book turned out to be, the world building made sense and the names were easy to understand. It is described as a love story, which in essence it is, but I felt like the underlying story here was more the journey Andros and Naani undertook, fighting real monsters and unknown evil.
This book will appeal to both sexes and readers of many different genres. There are many action scenes where Andros and Naani fight battles against strange and unusual monsters, scenes of grueling travel, a few slightly humorous scenes and even one scene that had me in tears. This was not the easiest book to read, normally I’ll run through a book in a day or two, this one took me about a week. The story requires some thought and deserves to have time taken to read it. I enjoyed this book and applaud Mr. Stoddard for what I’m sure must has been a labor of love in undertaking the re-writing of it.
reviewed for Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team Member
Soon the story moves forward into the far future where the sun has disappeared and the world is enveloped in darkness. The world is now filled with all sorts of monsters, evil forces, mysterious fires and strange lights. In order to survive, the remaining humans build a huge pyramid where they now live, with only a few ever going into the outside night. In this world we meet a young man named Andros who realizes that he has memories of a past life as Andrew. Soon he discovers that there is another pyramid in a different part of their world in which his soul mate Mirdath, now known as Naani, lives. Andros and Naani are able to communicate with each other telepathically, and Andros learns that Naani’s people are slowly dying. Not being able to live with just having found his lost soul mate and then losing her so soon, Andros embarks on a heroic journey into the Night Land to find her.
This is the story of the strength of love, the epic journey Andros undertakes to rescue his soul mate, the belief that Naani has in Andros’ love, and what the two are willing to endure to be together.
Night Land was originally written by William Hope Hodgson in 1912. James Stoddard has taken the hard to read, archaic style of writing and re-written it into today’s style. In order to compare the two styles of writing, I downloaded the original book and read the first few chapters. Mr. Stoddard did an excellent job of re-writing the book while maintaining the original author’s story. The book still retains the story of the original book and maintains a 19th century feel.
I do not normally read fantasy/science fiction. I will go so far as to say I don’t actually like fantasy/science fiction, as I find the genre confusing and usually full of complicated worlds and strange names for people and places. What a pleasant surprise this book turned out to be, the world building made sense and the names were easy to understand. It is described as a love story, which in essence it is, but I felt like the underlying story here was more the journey Andros and Naani undertook, fighting real monsters and unknown evil.
This book will appeal to both sexes and readers of many different genres. There are many action scenes where Andros and Naani fight battles against strange and unusual monsters, scenes of grueling travel, a few slightly humorous scenes and even one scene that had me in tears. This was not the easiest book to read, normally I’ll run through a book in a day or two, this one took me about a week. The story requires some thought and deserves to have time taken to read it. I enjoyed this book and applaud Mr. Stoddard for what I’m sure must has been a labor of love in undertaking the re-writing of it.
reviewed for Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team Member
August 22, 2015
As I understand it, this is a retelling of a novella by William Hope Hodgson, motivated by the lack of dialogue and the use of an archaic mode of speech in the original. Not having read Hodgson, I can only comment on Stoddard's work as it stands alone.
Both "Night Lands" are a great set-up for weird fiction: a last human city in a dark corner of the Earth, surrounded by horrible and inexplicable monsters. Some of the monsters appear allegorical, particularly the Watchers, slow moving giants approaching the Last Redoubt from four different directions. The hero ventures out into the land to contact his lover in another Redoubt so old that it's been forgotten. Both the hero and his lover are supposedly reincarnations of characters from the first chapter of the book, which is set in the near-past (the 18th century? the 19th? It's not clear, but the setting of the Night Lands in "deep time" makes it irrelevant.)
There's a hint that the entire experience might be a 'coping mechanism' for the narrator's loss, making the Night Land a vast metaphor for spiritual hazard. The hero does comment on the spiritual dissonance with his former life as an outdoorsman, which nobody else in the future world can comprehend, and of which his journey in the Night Lands are a perilous perversion. I'm tempted to compare the Night Land to other horrific landscapes, like Carcosa, which is nothing if not an allegory for the internal worlds of the mad, bereaved, and disenfranchised.
But the problem is, after the hero ventures out in the wilderness, it's just an adventure story. The monsters are so weird that they cease to be interesting about halfway through the journey, and they quickly lose their cosmic or spiritual aspects. The original version had no dialogue, which may have contributed to the dreamlike quality, but I'm glad of it's presence in Stoddard's revision, because otherwise the supporting cast would be like many things in the Night Lands: disturbing statuary.
To put it another way, what I want is Robinson's "Mars" trilogy; what I got was "John Carter". That doesn't make it bad. Just... a bit more shallow than I wanted, for the amount of reading I had to do. Giving it three stars, because the story is OK, and on the whole I think that Stoddard's revision must have been an improvement.
Both "Night Lands" are a great set-up for weird fiction: a last human city in a dark corner of the Earth, surrounded by horrible and inexplicable monsters. Some of the monsters appear allegorical, particularly the Watchers, slow moving giants approaching the Last Redoubt from four different directions. The hero ventures out into the land to contact his lover in another Redoubt so old that it's been forgotten. Both the hero and his lover are supposedly reincarnations of characters from the first chapter of the book, which is set in the near-past (the 18th century? the 19th? It's not clear, but the setting of the Night Lands in "deep time" makes it irrelevant.)
There's a hint that the entire experience might be a 'coping mechanism' for the narrator's loss, making the Night Land a vast metaphor for spiritual hazard. The hero does comment on the spiritual dissonance with his former life as an outdoorsman, which nobody else in the future world can comprehend, and of which his journey in the Night Lands are a perilous perversion. I'm tempted to compare the Night Land to other horrific landscapes, like Carcosa, which is nothing if not an allegory for the internal worlds of the mad, bereaved, and disenfranchised.
But the problem is, after the hero ventures out in the wilderness, it's just an adventure story. The monsters are so weird that they cease to be interesting about halfway through the journey, and they quickly lose their cosmic or spiritual aspects. The original version had no dialogue, which may have contributed to the dreamlike quality, but I'm glad of it's presence in Stoddard's revision, because otherwise the supporting cast would be like many things in the Night Lands: disturbing statuary.
To put it another way, what I want is Robinson's "Mars" trilogy; what I got was "John Carter". That doesn't make it bad. Just... a bit more shallow than I wanted, for the amount of reading I had to do. Giving it three stars, because the story is OK, and on the whole I think that Stoddard's revision must have been an improvement.
June 20, 2014
I loved this book.
After reading John C. Wright's homage, Awake in the Night Land, and truly enjoying it, I was curious about the origins of the Night Lands mythos. As much as I usually prefer original texts, I decided to go with the vast majority of existing opinion and read this modernization by Stoddard instead of the reputedly nigh-unreadable original written by William Hope Hodgson in 1912.
This is one of the most gripping love stories I've ever read, as well as a brutal masterpiece of dark fantasy (I almost want to give it five stars, and I may come back and amend my rating later.) It's better by far than Lovecraft- especially in light of mythos-extending tributes such as Wright's-and indeed Lovecraft himself described it as as "one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written." I concur. A must-read for fans of the genre.
After reading John C. Wright's homage, Awake in the Night Land, and truly enjoying it, I was curious about the origins of the Night Lands mythos. As much as I usually prefer original texts, I decided to go with the vast majority of existing opinion and read this modernization by Stoddard instead of the reputedly nigh-unreadable original written by William Hope Hodgson in 1912.
This is one of the most gripping love stories I've ever read, as well as a brutal masterpiece of dark fantasy (I almost want to give it five stars, and I may come back and amend my rating later.) It's better by far than Lovecraft- especially in light of mythos-extending tributes such as Wright's-and indeed Lovecraft himself described it as as "one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written." I concur. A must-read for fans of the genre.
March 7, 2015
One of the most wonderful, strange tales of sci-fi/fantasy/horror -- William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land -- also had a couple major flaws that make it inaccessible to many readers who would otherwise appreciate the towering achievement of Hodgson's imagination. First, Hodgson chose to write the whole long book in a pseudo-archaic style that makes it difficult to read. Second, he eschewed any dialogue.
With The Night Land, a Story Retold, award-winning fantasy novelist James Stoddard has rectified the matter by faithfully re-telling the story in a more readable style -- and with great dialogue to boot!
The titular Night Land is one of those settings that will haunt you forever after, so whether you embark there through the original or Stoddard's adaptation, it is highly worth a visit.
With The Night Land, a Story Retold, award-winning fantasy novelist James Stoddard has rectified the matter by faithfully re-telling the story in a more readable style -- and with great dialogue to boot!
The titular Night Land is one of those settings that will haunt you forever after, so whether you embark there through the original or Stoddard's adaptation, it is highly worth a visit.
February 26, 2021
Ein Buch über Liebe wie Verzweiflung. Die - vermutlich im Gegensatz zum Original - einfache Sprache funktioniert wunderbar und verstärkt auf eine seltsame Art die Düsternis des Night Lands. Das Buch lebt vom interessanten Setting, dass ich gerne noch weiter ausgebaut gesehen hätte - aber alles, was erklärbar und erkundbar ist, verliert an Schrecken; dieser ist ja vorrangig durch die schiere Andersartigkeit der Dinge so präsent.
Wie dem auch sei, es ist mir leider erst einige Tage nach dem Lesen richtig schmerzlich bewusst geworden, dass nahezu alles in diesem Roman ausser dem Setting (auf welches wie oben bemerkt leider sehr wenig eingegangen wird) sehr ersetzbar ist. Und leider, wenige Tagen nach dem Lesen, bereits nur mehr verblasste Erinnerungen sind.
Wie dem auch sei, es ist mir leider erst einige Tage nach dem Lesen richtig schmerzlich bewusst geworden, dass nahezu alles in diesem Roman ausser dem Setting (auf welches wie oben bemerkt leider sehr wenig eingegangen wird) sehr ersetzbar ist. Und leider, wenige Tagen nach dem Lesen, bereits nur mehr verblasste Erinnerungen sind.
August 21, 2016
I almost didn't finish reading the first chapter of this book. It read like chick-lit set in the 19th century. I'm very glad that I continued to read into the second chapter. It morphs from chick-lit to sci-fi.
However I didn't like the way the books ends. It seems to fall flat. Nothing about the circumstance or other curiosities are ever explained. I think the reason for this is that the book is, ultimately, a love story. The sci-fi elements are simply the vehicle the author uses to tell love story. Personally, I was more interested in the broader environment, though the love story itself certainly had its merits.
However I didn't like the way the books ends. It seems to fall flat. Nothing about the circumstance or other curiosities are ever explained. I think the reason for this is that the book is, ultimately, a love story. The sci-fi elements are simply the vehicle the author uses to tell love story. Personally, I was more interested in the broader environment, though the love story itself certainly had its merits.
January 22, 2015
An unexpected love story
Earth, millennia in the future. The sun extinguished, the earth torn asunder, yet life still clinging far below the surface, kept alive by Earth's own core. Humans, living for eons in the last structure built by the last survivors. Stretching across time, the love of a man and a woman, lost once, reborn? Not only separated by millions of years, but physically separated, not knowing that there are two remaining civilizations. Will they be able to find each other, or is it just a madman's dream?
Earth, millennia in the future. The sun extinguished, the earth torn asunder, yet life still clinging far below the surface, kept alive by Earth's own core. Humans, living for eons in the last structure built by the last survivors. Stretching across time, the love of a man and a woman, lost once, reborn? Not only separated by millions of years, but physically separated, not knowing that there are two remaining civilizations. Will they be able to find each other, or is it just a madman's dream?
April 27, 2025
This book has stood out to me particularly because it has mostly been forgotten by modern audiences, and it seems rather strange that a gripping story filled with great love, sacrifice, and terror could be so easily forgotten. Perhaps it is because of the archaic English that William Hope Hodgson originally chose to write in, but James Stoddard was able to revive his vision and present it to us in a most captivating way. If you have not heard of or read this book yet, I would encourage you to at least give it a try.
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