The Hastur Cycle: 13 Horror Tales Defining Hastur, the King in Yellow, Yuggoth, and the Dread City of Carcosa

Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books

by Robert M. Price (Editor), Ambrose Bierce, Robert W. Chambers

The stories in this book evoke a tracery of evil rarely rivaled in horror writing. They represent the whole evolving trajectory of such notions as Hastur, the King in Yellow, Carcosa, the Yellow Sign, the Black Stone, Yuggoth, and the Lake of Hali. A succession of writers from Ambrose Bierce to Ramsey Campbell and Karl Edward Wagner have explored and embellished these concepts so that the sum of the tales has become an evocative tapestry of hypnotic dread and terror, a mythology distinct from yet overlapping the Cthulhu Mythos. Here for the first time is a comprehensive collection of all the relevant tales.

Genres: Horror, Cthulhu Mythos, Fiction, Short Stories, Weird Fiction, Anthologies, Lovecraftian

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[Allen Walker]

Haita the Shepard (Ambrose Bierce) - ⭐⭐

I don't really know what the point is, other than to say 'HAPPINESS IS FLEETING!'. I mean, I guess it ostensibly takes place on Carcosa and it's an pre-mythos story but for me...mmmmmmmmeh.

An Inhabitant of Carcosa (Ambrose Bierce) - ⭐⭐

The introduction to this story literally gives it away. What the crap, editor of this compilation!

The Repairer of Reputations (Robert W. Chambers) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

A surprisingly easy-to-read tale of madness and the King in Yellow, my favorite of all the mythos 'gods' (except maybe Cthulhu). Some ambiguity and confusion for me kept this one from an all-time fav, but Chambers spins a creepy, creepy tale. Minus points for racism in the opening paragraph.

The Yellow Sign (Robert W Chambers) - ⭐⭐⭐

I mean, I guess. Some genuinely creepy moments but otherwise unremarkable.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

nb: I have outlined the contents of each story in this book (without spoilers) at my reading journal blog, so if you are interested, feel free to click here.

Some time ago, long before HBO's True Detective was even in the works, I read S.T. Joshi's Chaosium collection of Robert W. Chambers' The Yellow Sign and Other Stories. It was my introduction to King in Yellow, and I was hooked. I had to have more. After doing a little research, I realized that this book (which I already owned) would be a very good thing to read.

Robert M. Price notes about this collection that

"The Hastur Cycle ... may be seen as a literary genealogy, a family tree in which Lovecraft's 'The Whisperer in Darkness' is a single branch, with other branches stemming from it and going in their own directions"

and that "the family tree begins with Ambrose Bierce." With "The Whisperer in Darkness" at the center of this collection, the book focuses on the antecedents of this story (Bierce, Chambers, Wagner, Blish, Machen); then, after Lovecraft's piece, moves on to the works of writers inspired by HPL. But as I've discovered, Lovecraft only mentions Hastur as one among many terrible names, and moves his story into the realm of outer space and crustacean-like fungal creatures (Mi-Go), a theme which runs for a while before another author makes Hastur a participant in a battle of bad monsters and a whole new mythology, so I don't think I quite got the connection. If someone wants explain it to me, I would be grateful. I thought about this long and hard, believe me.

All in all, I liked the majority of these stories, but re this connection I mentioned earlier, I'm still a little puzzled. I tried to keep notes but honestly, I must have missed it along the way. In the long run, though, considering the authors represented here and the stories they have to tell, it's a pretty good book for readers of weird fiction. I would have enjoyed it better, I think, if I hadn't been looking for how things all fit together. Otherwise, definitely recommended.

Just a note --I have the original version of The Hastur Cycle rather than the revised edition of 2006 so I'm missing "The Feaster from Afar," by Joseph Payne Brennan. Otherwise, it seems to be the same, although I don't know if Price's commentary has changed in the newer version. Another note and a warning: ignore the introductions to each story until the end -- I discovered after reading the intro to "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" that the editor needed to provide spoiler alerts, so I waited to read the introductions until after I'd read each story.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compilación de relatos en torno a la figura del rey de amarillo o Hastur, invención de Robert William Chambers. Realmente hay pocos relatos nuevos ya que en este compilado aparecen algunos que fueron la inspiración para Chambers para crear al personaje como fueron Haita el pastor y Un habitante de Carcosa de Ambrose Bierce y otros que cogieron el fenomenal libro de Chambers para crear su interpretación.
El libro empieza bien con dos de los mejores relatos de Chambers: El reparador de reputaciones y El signo amarillo. En estos cuentos los protagonistas caerán hechizados por el libro prohibido y leerán "El rey de amarillo" cayendo en sus maldición. La influencia posterior en Lovecraft y la creación de su Necronomicon es clara y el de Providence le homenajearia en piezas como " El que susurra en la oscuridad". Muchos autores tomarían el relevo de Lovecraft y incluirían a Hastur en sus relatos de los mitos pero para mí estos se alejan de la esencia de los cuentos de Chambers y se meten más en la mitología lovecraftiana de dioses primigenios y criaturas tentaculares. De este estilo destacaría " La mina de Yuggoth" de Ramsey Campbell, quizás el mejor autor moderno que escribió cuentos lovecraftianos.
Del resto de autores destacaría " Más luz" de James Blish donde aparece lo que sería el texto de la obra teatral "El rey de amarillo" y nos hacemos una idea de como es leer el libro prohibido.
También destaca Karl Wagner con "El rio de la ensoñación nocturna" donde una rea escapa del presidio a la que está destinada al caer el vehículo que la transporta al mar. Nadando llegará a una extraña casa en la costa deonde una vieja y su criada la cuidarán y acogerán pero parece que esconden un temible secreto.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are only two questions which any mythos fan should have about this book: Are the stories any good and does the collection provide considerable illumination regarding the nature of Hastur? The answer is a resounding 'yes' to the former and a resounding 'kinda' to the latter.

Although one can hardly blame editor Rober M Price for adhering to the highest standards of quality when selecting tales for this first of Chaosium's 'Cycle' books, the connections between the alien Mi-go and Hastur are exceptionally tenuous. Yet there are no less four stories about the aliens and their base on the planet of Yuggoth, five if you count Arthur Machen's laborious 'The Novel Of The Black Seal' which was a direct inspiration for Lovecraft's 'The Whisperer in Darkness'. While this lengthy excursion may grate on the nerves of those lusting for more stories about He Who Is Not To Be Named, it must be said that Ramsey Campbell's Yuggoth tale is one of the finest of any Mythos stories I've read.

However, Hastur still remains highly enigmatic. He appears as a minor deity in Ambrose Bierce's 'Haita The Shepherd', a place in Chambers' hideously effective stories and a very real force of evil for August Derleth and Joseph Payne Brennan. Though Price seemed rather scathing towards Lin Carter's 'Tatters Of The King', I thoroughly enjoyed his attempt to unite the various strands from Chambers, Lovecraft, Derleth and Blish into one (almost) coherent whole.

Price's introductions to each story are excellent and worth the price of admission alone, although they are best read after each story as he has a nasty habit of giving the game away.

[Mir]

A partial version (beginning page 94) is available from Google books

[Marquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The River of Night's Dreaming" alone makes this book worth it. There are plenty of eerie stories in here and fans of Lovecraft's Mythos and Chamber's King in Yellow stories should find a lot to enjoy. "Haita the Shepherd" by Ambrose Bierce is wonderfully surreal when it's placed in context with the rest of these stories. It's definitely worth a read and I'll be posting synopses of some of the individual stores on Antique Horrors. Those synopses tend to have spoilers, so I won't post them here.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a time, I had only deigned to explore one area of Lovecraftian fiction, that of course being the works written by Lovecraft himself. In the past year, however, I have broadened my reading of cosmic horror to explore those who influenced Lovecraft, and those who have picked up where he left off.

As part of that broadening spectrum of stories, I picked up Chambers' "The King in Yellow", and after that I decided I wanted to explore more about Hastur. In the past month I finally picked up this book from Chaosium.

It has been an enjoyable read. Some of the stories are early tales that were later referenced by Lovecraft and his contemporaries; others are more recent stories that further crafted the legend of Hastur. All the stories are prefaced with a short description of the author and what the story contributes to the mythos. It was an entertaining insight into how Lovecraftian fiction has evolved over the decades.

I want to end on a positive, but before that I want to cover a criticism. There appear to be quite a few grammatical errors and typos throughout the edition I read (this may have been rectified in more recent printings). At times symbols had been replaced with "??", suggesting some error in formatting. In the play-format entries in this anthology, there were also some structural errors that affected my ease of reading.

Beyond these errors, the four-star rating comes down to the fact that I did not enjoy all of the stories, and some of them did not seem to tie-in with the Hastur legendry beyond some mentions of the name.

Ending on a positive, though, as promised, I should like to list my favourites from this collection:

The Repairer of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers

More Light by James Blisg

The Novel of the Black Seal by Arthur Machen

The Whisperer in Darkness by H.P. Lovecraft

The Return of Hastur by August Derleth (though of this last story I do have some gripes).

Overall, though, it is a fantastic assemblage of weird tales that are guaranteed to leave you discomforted, especially if you read by only the light of a lamp just before bed. A valuable insight into the evolution of a literary legacy, and all-in-all well worth reading.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book ought to be a model for how to properly assemble an anthology of short stories. Unlike other collections that contain high-quality work but are thrown together slap-dash with no real editorial effort(I'm looking at you, Book of Cthulhu books I and II), Chaosium has provided a linear, analytic framework for the stories featured in this collection that leaves the reader feeling as if they grasp the historical and cultural context surrounding the works rather than receiving them as independent obelisks. Every story begins with an introduction explaining why the story is meaningful to the broader mythos, along with notes on the lives and inspirations of the authors. I plan on reading other collections from this publisher in the future.

[Octavio Villalpando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante antología enfocada a textos relacionados con una de las figuras del panteon de Dioses Lovecraftnianos míticos, en este caso, el Innombrable Hastur... incluye relatos de Bierce, Chambers, Lovecraft, Campbell, etc. Todos ellos muy interesantes aunque a veces la relación se pierde un poco o se siente algo forzada. Es interesante como expansión del universo creado por Lovecraft y sus colaboradores para el Ciclo de Cthulhu. ¡Recomendable!

[Coeruleo Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the better books in the chaosium series in my opinion. hastur the unspeakable is one of the most intriguing great old ones and this book shows you where lovecraft's inspiration came from for this character. i think this collection is not just entertaining but the idea for the book itself is well executed, being the most important hastur stories out there and not just a bunch of filler material to pump out another book.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the shores of Leng,to the towers of Dim Carcosa the King of Yellow sits on his tattered throne..

[Doug Kallies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[CountZeroOr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm "lem"-ing this book.

[Petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several gems, lots of duds. Most interesting when actually building on the Carcosa mythos rather than simply lifting names and vague themes from Chambers into the Cthulhu mythos. Plenty of barely-relevant connections, which leads me to believe that there simply isn't much work out there to build on Chambers.

Bierce:

Haita the Shepherd: ⭐💫, very very very boring

An Inhabitant of Carcosa: ⭐⭐, boring, baby's first symbolism

Chambers:

The Repairer of Reputations: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, absolute classic and the real start of the Carcosa mythos

The Yellow Sign: ⭐⭐⭐💫, good, interestingly takes the mythos in a more explicitly supernatural direction

Wagner:

The River of Night’s Dreaming: ⭐⭐⭐⭐, excellent use of an unreliable narrator

Blish:

More Light: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫, a magnificent attempt to actually complete the King in Yellow. The imagery is magnificent, the dialogue is actually funny at points (rare in Lovecraft-adjacent work), and much of Blish's version has embedded itself in my mind as canon. Unlike some of the later texts, it tries and succeeds in making the work stand for itself rather than pathologically grafting Lovecraft into a frankly more interesting myth.

Machen:

The Novel of the Black Seal: ⭐, pre-Celtic pygmy morlocs

Lovecraft:

The Whisperer in Darkness: ⭐⭐, what if fish monsters? Infinitely less interesting than The King in Yellow.

Lupoff:

Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley: ⭐⭐⭐💫, an improvement on the above

Campbell:

The Mine on Yuggoth: ⭐⭐, brain vats and hybridisation

Wade:

Planetfall on Yuggoth: ⭐⭐, three pages of schlock

Derleth:

The Return of Hastur: ⭐⭐, another diseased attempt at grafting the two mythoses together

Brennan:

The Feaster from Afar: ⭐⭐, brain suck scary monster why is this here?

Carter:

Tatters of the King: ⭐⭐💫, more welding, like More Light but infinitely less charismatic.

[Thee_ron_clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hastur Cycle is a collection of short stories connected to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. This particular collection revolves around Hastur as a god, a city, and finally a Great Old One.

I will try to break down my thoughts on each story briefly.

1. In Haita the Shepherd, Hastur is the god of the shepherds. A dutiful shepherd begins to lose faith in Hastur and question things about his life when a beautiful stranger appears before him.

This was not so much a horror story, but a fable of sorts. The end was a bit interesting. I really was not thrilled with the story as a whole though.


2. An Inhabitant of Carcosa is about a man who is lost and trying to find his way home. He has no idea where he is or how he got there.

As for the two Ambrose Bierce stories, this one was far superior in my opinion. Although the ending is nothing shocking today, I can imagine that it was quite creative in its time.


3. The Repairer of Reputations was the first story I really enjoyed in this collection. It revolves around a man who has revenge plotted and some interesting contacts. This is also the first story in which the King in Yellow is mentioned.

I enjoyed this read. Robert W. Chambers created a fascinating mythos of his own with this story and played it out quite nicely.


4. The Yellow Sign continues Robert W. Chambers' mythos of the King in Yellow. In this, a painter comes across the play that has been known to drive people insane. This is only the beginning of his issues.

I enjoyed this one as well. As with the Repairer of Reputations, Chambers only hints at the contents of his fictional play. This allows the readers to formulate their own ideas of its contents.



5. The River of Night's Dreaming is about an escaped prisoner finding her way into what might be an ideal haven from the authorities. Unfortunately for her, all is not quite as it at first seems.

This story also contained the King in Yellow. Again, it is used in a way that allows the reader to guess at its contents without revealing much. The story itself was pretty interesting and read smoothly.



6. More Light again features the King in Yellow. This time, a man invites an old colleague to read the play that has caused him health problems. In a house with apparent electrical issues, the colleague reads the play.

I was less than impressed with this story. The author chose to write out the entirety of the King in Yellow. It appeared to be fairly boring and less than sinister to me. Call me disappointed, I suppose. Again, this play entire composition was best left to the imagination of the readers.



7. The Novel of the Black Seal is about a missing scientist and the true story of his disappearance. As with many stories in this mythos, a skeptic is being exposed to things that they would not consider believing at first.

This one ties in with Robert Howard's stories about the Children of the Night. It was good for the most part, but dragged a bit at times as well. Over all, it was an interesting story.



8. The Whisperer in Darkness is the only H.P. Lovecraft story in this collection. In it, we hear of a race of beings alien to the earth that most claim do not exist. A skeptic is slowly driven to believe in their possibility.

Somehow, I don't recall reading this story before although I thought I had read most of Lovecraft's work. Regardless, I found it enjoyable.



9. Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley is a sequel of sorts to the Whisperer in Darkness. The great-granddaughter of one of the main characters of that story is contacted by her great-grandfather through unusual means.

This was a fairly interesting story. It puts a twist on the Whisperer in Darkness in some ways and modernizes the story (at least to the 1970's). Not bad at all.



10. The Mine of Yuggoth is a Ramsey Campbell story about a man involved in the occult becoming curious as to what metal is mined on Yuggoth.

The idea was pretty silly to me. Sorry to say, but it was. The story itself had some creepy moments, but otherwise was pretty ridiculous.



11. Planetfall of Yuggoth is a story about a landing on the planet of Yuggoth by the United States space program. It's less than two pages and an easy read. Nothing too special. Not bad though.



12. The Return of Hastur is the story of a man inheriting his uncles massive home and occult book collection, that the uncle requested be destroyed. As time progresses, the nephew realizes why that request was made.

This is the first story in which Hastur appears as one of the Great Old Ones. This is also the story in which Derleth rewrote the entire Cthuhlu mythos to his own liking. He gives a lengthy history of Hastur and a bit of a family tree. He also mentions a group of good gods who thwart the Great Old Ones when they see fit. Much of this has been attacked by Lovecraft purists.

Interestingly enough, this story is accompanied by a letter sent to August Derleth by Clark Ashton Smith on the story. Smith told Derleth of numerous changes that should be made to improve the story. In my opinion, he was correct on most if not all suggestions. Derleth made no changes.

All in all, it's not bad. It has its moments. It just has too many things tossed into the pot for the readers to consume. I suppose this was simply meant to start a new branch of the mythos, but should have been left open to the reader's interpretation or guesswork instead of being shoved down in such a large quantity.



13. The Feaster From Afar is a story of a man moving into a cabin in a remote wooded area with a dark secret.

This story caught me as something of a rip-off of The Space Eaters in the way that Hastur feeds in this story. It also seemed a bit off that this one cabin was marked as such. Otherwise, it was alright. Nothing to write home about.



14. The final part is Tatters of the King by Lin Carter. A few poems and another retelling of a large bit of the King in Yellow are offered here. Honestly, I felt this could have been left out.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first volume in the set of anthologies of Lovecraftiana edited by Robert M. Price for Chaosium (though the copy I read was the second edition). Though it’s the first in the set, it’s the fifth one I’ve read, and not to put too fine a point on it, the first four were at least a little more focused. This anthology starts by tracing Bierce’s Carcosa through Blish’s partial creation of the insanity-inducing “King in Yellow.” But then suddenly we shift gears and move on to Lovecraft’s “Whisperer in Darkness,” which shares a name or two with the prior tales but is otherwise unrelated. I’m not sure that I’m complaining about the odd editorial standards; after all, “Whisperer” is one of my all-time favorite HPL tales. Several other stories in the book are similarly entertaining, particularly Lupoff’s follow-up and Brennan’s “Feaster from Afar,” though there’s a stinker or two in here as well. I’m not sure I know any more about the mysterious Hastur the Unspeakable now than I did when I started reading, but the trip alone was nonetheless worth it.

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some shorts are easily 4/5 and 5/5, like Chambers' two (The Repairer of Reputations and The Yellow Sign) and The River of Night's Dreaming by Karl Edward Wagner... but there are some 1/5s as well, like mostly anything by August Derleth honestly. I'd give this 3.5/5 if it was possible. I just wish Lin Carter would have kept at rewriting Blish's attempt at The King in Yellow play to verse form, beyond Lin's third act.

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Price is not that discerning as an editor, and the idea that all these stories serve a common theme rather falls apart when you look closely, so inevitably this collection is a bit hit and miss.

Admittedly, it has a better batting average than many of Price's Cthulhu Mythos anthologies, and it includes a brace of stories which have rarely been reprinted elsewhere, so that's a plus. On the other hand, it also incorporates too much material which is likely redundant; is anyone getting this deep into Cthulhu Mythos fiction really likely to not already own a copy of The Whisperer In Darkness, for instance? Finally, some of the lesser stories here are just doggerel - low-grade pastiche which could have happily been cut.

Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...

[Julian]

I have never read any of these "** cycle" compilations before this so I was curious as to what to expect here. Overall, there was definitely some stretching of "Hastur association" to include The Whisperer in Darkness and other Yuggoth type stories, which make very little reference to Hastur or the King In Yellow.

For simple literary merit, I primarily recommend the stories herein by the following authors: HPL, Chambers, Campbell, Wagner, Machen, Brennan.

The rest are either somewhat goofy pastiches or efforts to versify and/or dramatize the Bierce-y/Chambers bits of Carcosa (!)- though I like audacious stuff, Blish's attempt at a play was (I felt) improved by Carter's attempt to make it a verse play.

As a whole, this is mostly for completists. As an anthology, if you stick to the authors you already know are great, you won't miss a ton.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haïta the Shepherd: 3.5/5
An Inhabitant of Carcosa: 3/5
The Repairer of Reputations: 4.5/5
The Yellow Sign: 4/5
The River of Night’s Dreaming: 4/5
More Light: 3/5
The Novel of the Black Seal: 4/5
The Whisperer in Darkness: 4/5
Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley: 4/5
The Mine on Yuggoth: 3.5/5
Planetfall on Yuggoth: 2.5/5
The Return of Hastur: 3.5/5
Tatters of the King: 1/5

Average Rating: 3.4/5
Final Rating: 3/5

Almost half of the stories are about Yuggoth/the Mi-Go instead of about Hastur/The King In Yellow, one of them wasn’t connected to either, and once again someone decided to include an abysmal attempts at verse from Lin Carter. His inclusion here is worse than usual because it’s not even a finished work, just three fragments.

Easily the most disappointing entries in this series so far.

[Wekoslav Stefanovski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The overarching concept behind this collection is to show that there's more to Hastur than Lovecraft, maybe even to bring him to a "one of..." designation.

The goal (which was met and exceeded) was to give the history and the chronology of the development of, for lack of a better word, mythos, behind the concept. So while Lovecraft's The Whisperer in darkness is one of the best stories in the collection, it's just that, "one of..."

The ones that pop up, aside from the Whisperer, are The Repairer of Reputation and The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers, The River of Night's Dreaming by Karl Edward Wagner, The Novel of the Black Sea by Arthur Machen and The Feaster From Afar by Joseph Payne Brennan

[Mateo Jaramillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever found a group of people that also geek out about all the same stuff you do and talk in references? That's what this collection is to King in Yellow fans. The introduction by Price is insightful and well researched as well as his annotations before each story. Granted, some of the middle stories are more HPL focussed. The first few by Bierce, Chambers, Wagner, and Blish are worth buying this book. I'll have to read "In the Court of the Yellow King" in order to finish scratching my itch for KiY stories, but this book was good even from a literary studies perspective. You could really see how the authors influenced each other and how this mythos fleshed itself out over the century.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading this for years now and finally decided to finish it since I only had 3 or 4 stories left. As with most anthologies there's a couple good stories, a couple of passable stories and some crap. None of these stories really blew me away (the Machen story was my favorite and probably the only 4 star story). Also since these stories are all about Hastur in some way, they get kind of repetitive (especially to someone who's read just about everything Lovecraft ever wrote).

[Sean Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of weird stories that are tantalizingly linked over almost a century of the genre. I particularly liked The Return of Hastur by August Derleth. Comments from Editor Robert Price add intriguing historical and literary perspective to the proceedings. I look forward to reading more collections in this series.

[Courteny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but not the best. I've never been a big fan of The King in Yellow, but I own it anyway for the collection. It's not a BAD book, but it's nothing out of this world either, at least in my opinion.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of weakly-linked horror tales of vastly variable quality. Some of them are very poor indeed, and most of the better ones are already available to read out of copyright. The context sheds light on the evolution of "Hastur" as a concept, but not as a creature in itself.

[Alex Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first 4 stories, the ones by Bierce and Chambers. And of course the Lovecraft and Machen pieces. Besides that I did not care for the stories selected.

[Charles Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories by Chambers, Blish, Campbell, and Lupoff are worth purchasing the book. The rest of the contents seem to have been dragooned into the anthology to retcon a new mythos where none existed.

[Tonk82 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aviso de que no he leido el volúmen entero, porque la mitad de relatos ya los había leido muy recientemente. Pero aprovecho a comentarlo un poco porque es un recopilatorio muy raro. Tiene como tres partes muy diferenciadas:

-2 relatos de Ambrose Bierce, 2 de Chambers, 1 de Arthur Machen, 1 de James Blish y uno de Edward Wagner... que siguen la estela de "El rey de amarillo" de Robert Chambers. Salvo el de Wagner, ya los conocía todos y son estupendos (los de Chambers los reseñé hace poco).

-"El susurrador de la oscuridad" de H.P. Lovecraft donde Hastur se nombra de pasada, sin que realmente tenga que ver con la trama. No es un relato que tenga que ver con la linea anterior, seguramente Lovecraft solo quería homenajear un poco a Chambers.

-Derleth que se obsesiona con el "Ciclo de Hastur" (hasta pretendía llamar así a los mitos de Lovecraft, poniendole en lugar de Cthulhu) y se pone a hacer relatos estilo Lovecraft . No son malos relatos, ni mucho menos... pero son totalmente diferentes a lo que era el Rey de Amarillo, varios son simples continuaciones del relato de Lovecraft, sin Hastur ni nada. Soy bastante poco fan de buena parte de ellos.

El resultado me parece muy irregular, porque a mitad de libro cambia totalmente el tipo de historia. Los mejores relatos son los de la primera rama (memorables los de Chambers y el de Wagner), y el de Lovecraft (que es un gran relato por si solo).

Me ha decepcionado bastante, eso si, la traducción. No porque esté mal hecha, sino porque tiene un estilo que em saca de la lectura bastante. A cambio, la introducción al libro y a cada relato de Robert m. price están muy bien (mejor leerlos tras cada relato eso si, que suelta spoilers).