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Dr. Stuart Hartwell #1
Reanimators
Two Men. A Bitter Rivalry. And a Quarter-Century of Unspeakable Horrors.
Herbert West’s crimes against nature are well-known to those familiar with the darkest secrets of science and resurrection. Obsessed with finding a cure for mankind’s oldest malady, death itself, he has experimented upon the living and dead, leaving behind a trail of monsters, mayhem, and madness. But the story of his greatest rival has never been told.Until now.
Dr. Stuart Hartwell, a colleague and contemporary of West, sets out to destroy West by uncovering the secrets of his terrible experiments, only to become that which he initially despised: a reanimator of the dead.
For more than twenty years, spanning the early decades of the twentieth century, the two scientists race each other to master the mysteries of life . . . and unlife. From the grisly battlefields of the Great War to the backwoods hills and haunted coasts of Dunwich and Innsmouth, from the halls of fabled Miskatonic University to the sinking of the Titanic, their unholy quests will leave their mark upon the world—and create monsters of them both.
Reanimators is an epic tale of historical horror . . . in the tradition of Anno Dracula and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Herbert West’s crimes against nature are well-known to those familiar with the darkest secrets of science and resurrection. Obsessed with finding a cure for mankind’s oldest malady, death itself, he has experimented upon the living and dead, leaving behind a trail of monsters, mayhem, and madness. But the story of his greatest rival has never been told.Until now.
Dr. Stuart Hartwell, a colleague and contemporary of West, sets out to destroy West by uncovering the secrets of his terrible experiments, only to become that which he initially despised: a reanimator of the dead.
For more than twenty years, spanning the early decades of the twentieth century, the two scientists race each other to master the mysteries of life . . . and unlife. From the grisly battlefields of the Great War to the backwoods hills and haunted coasts of Dunwich and Innsmouth, from the halls of fabled Miskatonic University to the sinking of the Titanic, their unholy quests will leave their mark upon the world—and create monsters of them both.
Reanimators is an epic tale of historical horror . . . in the tradition of Anno Dracula and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2013
21 people are currently reading
479 people want to read
About the author
Pete Rawlik
93 books52 followersPete Rawlik is a frequent contributor to the Lovecraft ezine and the New York Review of Science Fiction
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November 20, 2023
Halsey had attempted to counsel West on the futility of such radical theories, and when such
warnings went unheeded, had banned West from carrying out experiments involving the administration of various reagents into the bodies of recently deceased animals.
Quando la fuga del Dr. Allan Halsey, defunto diacono dell’istituto di medicina della Miskatonic University, nonché soggetto di test suo malgrado negli abietti esperimenti di rianimazione svolti in segreto dal famigerato duo di dottori Herbert West e Daniel Cain, si conclude in tragedia con la morte violenta dei genitori del loro collega Stuart Hartwell,ha ’inizio un'epica missione di vendetta più di vent’anni, che e porterà infine lo studioso ad abbracciare quelle stesse ricerche che aveva inizialmente tentato di ostacolare e distruggere, nel tentativo ultimo di sconfiggere la morte.
I am sure that it was on that very train ride that I convinced myself that in the proper hands, in my hands, the science of reanimation had value and could be a boon to mankind, It was then that I accepted the inevitable and adopted the mantle of reanimator!
Un delizioso e divertente pastiche lovecraftiano dove lo spunto iniziale, una rilettura originale del memorabile racconto breve Herbert West, Reanimator, si trasforma in un vero e proprio viaggio organizzato che porterà il Dr. Stuart Hartwell a vivere in prima persona eventi narrati precedentemente dal Solitario di Providence ne L'ombra venuta dal tempo, L’Orrore di Dunwich, La Maschera di Innsmouth, I Sogni nella Casa Stregata e molti altri, in un vero e proprio tripudio di citazioni ed easter-eggs, al quale si aggiungono le comparsate di ulteriori personaggi tratti dal Frankenstein di Mary Shelley, Il Fantasma dell'Opera scritto da Gaston Leroux ed Il Ritorno dello Stregone di Clark Ashton Smith, solo per citarne alcuni.
I am sure that few people in the world could identify the man behind and to the left of Morgan, but I could. The image is blurry, slightly out of focus, but I am positive that one of the men walking with Morgan was none other than the inhuman thing that masqueraded as Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee.
Purtroppo per buona parte del libro protagonista e trama sembrano quasi navigare alla cieca, visitando luoghi ed incontrando personaggi, quasi al solo scopo di mostrare la conoscenza da manuale da parte dell’autore dei Miti di Cthulhu e di tutto quel New England da incubo scaturito dalla penna del Solitario di Providence nei racconti ambientati ad Arkham, Innsmouth, e altri luoghi ameni situati nell’immaginaria Miskatonic Valley.
I cannot fully describe the extreme devastation that I bore witness to on the hill, but I will say that never before or since have seen such a thing.
I have not been out to see for myself what they are calling the Dunwich Horror, but I can't imagine that it is in any manner worse than what I saw that day.
Una narrazione episodica e frammentaria che appesantisce la narrazione, in alcuni casi caratterizzata da scelte di trama discutibili rispetto al materiale ispiratore originale come, a mio parere, il radicale cambio delle origini di un certo personaggio che non cito per evitare spoiler, che si riprende fortunatamente molto bene nella parte finale, quando purtroppo attenzione ed interesse del lettore sono ormai molto probabilmente andati a farsi benedire.
That day my world changed. Somehow, despite my desire to cease my studies in reanimation, the past had returned and ensnared me in its horror. I had tried to leave such things behind, tried and failed.
I had set out to wreak vengeance on the monsters that had killed my parents, and in the process I had become a monster myself.
Nonostante tutto una lettura per buona parte piacevole, e con qualche guizzo decisamente sopra la media come l’aver dato al complice di Herbert West, personaggio anonimo nel racconto originale, il nome che aveva invece nell’omonimo cult movie diretto da Stuart Gordon nel 1985.
Dr. Herbert West and I came to fight in the Great War in service to the Canadian forces not as soldiers but as medical personnel, and I must
admit we did not volunteer wholly out of a willingness to serve our Hippocratic Oaths. No, our motives also included a desire, an unwholesome
need, to have unfettered access to a supply of both the freshly dead and the dying.
Un pastiche niente male in fin dei conti, ma prima di affrontare gli altri due libri che compongono la trilogia del Dott. Stuart Hartwell credo che lascerò passare un bel po’ di tempo.
The next day rumors spread like wildfire, and the older residents of Arkham invoked comparisons to certain events that had occurred in June of 1882 following the collection of a meteorite that had fallen on the Gardner farm.
February 4, 2016
Halfway through, and I regretfully abandon it.
Let me start by gathering you into my confidence, and you hold tight to something stable as I drop this revelation into your lap: I have never read any Lovecraft at all. Perhaps you need to in order to really dig this book.
To me it seemed like the author was just taking a meandering tour through various Lovecraftian pastiches, with his main character cheekily waving and sporting a "Cthulhu/Dagon 2016" t-shirt. The narrative flow was choppy, and just when the story gets good, it veers away.
I hate leaving a book unfinished, but I have way too many titles on my to-read shelf to force myself to complete this journey.
Hark! Is that mine tablet, beckoning me to view a new page 1, glistening with newness and hope? Well, so it is.
Let me start by gathering you into my confidence, and you hold tight to something stable as I drop this revelation into your lap: I have never read any Lovecraft at all. Perhaps you need to in order to really dig this book.
To me it seemed like the author was just taking a meandering tour through various Lovecraftian pastiches, with his main character cheekily waving and sporting a "Cthulhu/Dagon 2016" t-shirt. The narrative flow was choppy, and just when the story gets good, it veers away.
I hate leaving a book unfinished, but I have way too many titles on my to-read shelf to force myself to complete this journey.
Hark! Is that mine tablet, beckoning me to view a new page 1, glistening with newness and hope? Well, so it is.
July 16, 2017
Izmedju 2 i 3 zvezde.
Priznajem da sam razocaran. Ktulu mitos omogucava tolko mogucnosti za interesantne price, pune mraka, ludosti i jednostavno pravog horora. I na zalost sve to ovde fali. Ono sto dobijamo je u sustini gomila mini prica spakovanih u jednu celinu koja je slabasno povezano kroz glavnog lika. A na kraju cak i to izgubimo.
Jednostavno receno odlican pocetak, slaba sredina i ocajan kraj. Al bas ocajan.
Za ljubitelje mitosa mozda moze da prodje kao vezivno tkivo mnogih poznatih Lovkraftovih prica, za sve ostale zaobici u sirokom luku.
Steta :(
Priznajem da sam razocaran. Ktulu mitos omogucava tolko mogucnosti za interesantne price, pune mraka, ludosti i jednostavno pravog horora. I na zalost sve to ovde fali. Ono sto dobijamo je u sustini gomila mini prica spakovanih u jednu celinu koja je slabasno povezano kroz glavnog lika. A na kraju cak i to izgubimo.
Jednostavno receno odlican pocetak, slaba sredina i ocajan kraj. Al bas ocajan.
Za ljubitelje mitosa mozda moze da prodje kao vezivno tkivo mnogih poznatih Lovkraftovih prica, za sve ostale zaobici u sirokom luku.
Steta :(
April 29, 2021
I found this book enjoyable but difficult to read. This is a first novel by Rawlik but it obviously shows the love he has for Lovecraftian stories. It is not a single story with a well defined character arc and flowing plot, but rather a collection of self contained chapters with very loose connections (sometimes) to other chapters.
Each chapter explores the events around previous HP Lovecraft stories and adaptations and fills in those events from the POV of a new character, Dr Hartwell. The telling is very dry and the style is very old school making it probably difficult for newer readers to adapt to and enjoy. While the Cthulhu mythos is mentioned it never focuses on the great old ones, but rather on the monsters that people make themselves into or have forced on them. The morality of such choices are clearly called out as bad ideas and yet the characters persist showing the weakness people can have when tempted by something amazing.
I'd recommend this for lovers of old school stories, especially the horror types. Growing up reading Poe and Lovecraft will probably help you to enjoy this book.
Each chapter explores the events around previous HP Lovecraft stories and adaptations and fills in those events from the POV of a new character, Dr Hartwell. The telling is very dry and the style is very old school making it probably difficult for newer readers to adapt to and enjoy. While the Cthulhu mythos is mentioned it never focuses on the great old ones, but rather on the monsters that people make themselves into or have forced on them. The morality of such choices are clearly called out as bad ideas and yet the characters persist showing the weakness people can have when tempted by something amazing.
I'd recommend this for lovers of old school stories, especially the horror types. Growing up reading Poe and Lovecraft will probably help you to enjoy this book.
April 4, 2015
An interesting ... I'm not sure if "pastiche" is the right word here; it's more of a secret history of the events described in Lovecraft's stories (and manages to tie in other period pieces from Universal horror movies to the sinking of the Titanic; oh, and zombies. Can't forget the zombies). Our narrator and ... hero? is Dr. Stuart Hartwell, who becomes obsessed with Herbert West and determined to destroy him after West's experiments lead to horrific consequences for Hartwell's family and others. Of course, as he investigates (and occasionally sabotages) West's researches, Hartwell begins to find the subject area strangely attractive ...
The book is structured almost as a series of independent chapters, each taking one or more of Lovecraft's major stories (Dunwich Horror, Dreams in the Witch House, Shadow Out of Time, etc.), showing the events from the outside and, in many cases, showing that Hartwell was actually involved, if not the proximate cause of everything that happened. The book begins back around the turn of the 20th Century and Rawlik has done an excellent and painstaking job of going through all of Lovecraft's stories (many of which involved the culmination, in the 1920s or 1930s, of events set in motion years or decades before) and creating a relatively complete timeline. Hartwell manages to be present at, amongst other things, the conception of Wilbur Whately and the beginning & end of Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee's strange amnesiac episode. If I was being facile (moi? Jamais!), I'd call the book H.P. Lovecraft's Forrest Gump.
It's interesting to see how Rawlik has brought all of the different strands together (and makes me wish I would've reread Lovecraft more recently, and was more familiar with other period works, because I'm sure there were allusions I was missing). The prose style is kind of a toned-down Lovecraft, distinctly less purple (which makes sense because in most cases Hartwell isn't actually seeing the tentacled beasties himself) and avoiding some of Lovecraft's more unfortunate personal baggage.
Definitely worth checking out if you've read & enjoyed substantial amounts of Lovecraft, especially his Cthulhu Mythos stories; I'm not sure how well it'd work as a standalone book, though, if you're not familiar with the material he was riffing on.
The book is structured almost as a series of independent chapters, each taking one or more of Lovecraft's major stories (Dunwich Horror, Dreams in the Witch House, Shadow Out of Time, etc.), showing the events from the outside and, in many cases, showing that Hartwell was actually involved, if not the proximate cause of everything that happened. The book begins back around the turn of the 20th Century and Rawlik has done an excellent and painstaking job of going through all of Lovecraft's stories (many of which involved the culmination, in the 1920s or 1930s, of events set in motion years or decades before) and creating a relatively complete timeline. Hartwell manages to be present at, amongst other things, the conception of Wilbur Whately and the beginning & end of Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee's strange amnesiac episode. If I was being facile (moi? Jamais!), I'd call the book H.P. Lovecraft's Forrest Gump.
It's interesting to see how Rawlik has brought all of the different strands together (and makes me wish I would've reread Lovecraft more recently, and was more familiar with other period works, because I'm sure there were allusions I was missing). The prose style is kind of a toned-down Lovecraft, distinctly less purple (which makes sense because in most cases Hartwell isn't actually seeing the tentacled beasties himself) and avoiding some of Lovecraft's more unfortunate personal baggage.
Definitely worth checking out if you've read & enjoyed substantial amounts of Lovecraft, especially his Cthulhu Mythos stories; I'm not sure how well it'd work as a standalone book, though, if you're not familiar with the material he was riffing on.
September 19, 2014
What Lovecraftian fun!
This tale follows Dr. Stuart Hartwell as he follows a decades-long quest of vengeance against Dr. Herbert West (of Lovecraft's "Herbert West -- Reanimator") and his partner Dr. Daniel Cain, an endeavor that ultimately twists Hartwell into a monster even more immoral and dangerous than West himself.
There is so much to love in this novel.
First, it is a mega-crossover, uniting the characters and events from many works 1) by Lovecraft ("Cool Air," The Shadow Over Innsmouth, "The Music of Eric Zann," The Dunwich Horror, and others), 2) by other authors (from The Phantom of the Opera to the Charlie Chan stories and even the Indiana Jones films), 3) and from history (the sinking of the Titanic, the 1918 flu pandemic, World War I, etc.). These references fit well into the narrative, and if the reader fails to recognize an allusion, this doesn't hinder enjoyment of the story.
Second, the novel is written in the style of "Herbert West -- Reanimator." This means it is organized like a pulp-era serialized story, with a number of smaller tales (complete with beginnings, middles, and satisfying/sensationalist endings) coming together to comprise the novel as a whole. It's also written primarily in descriptive prose rather than dialogue, just like the story that inspired it. Rawlik captures the Lovecraftian tone and flavor very well.
Last, Hartwell is a terrific Lovecraftian protagonist/villain: achingly earnest with incredible tunnel vision and complete obliviousness to his own moral descent and intellectual unraveling. Rawlik nails his voice in a way that is alternately amusing and chilling.
I understand a sequel is in the works. I'll definitely read it.
If you've read and appreciated both the serious and not-so-serious sides of Lovecraft's "Herbert West -- Reanimator," this novel is for you.
This tale follows Dr. Stuart Hartwell as he follows a decades-long quest of vengeance against Dr. Herbert West (of Lovecraft's "Herbert West -- Reanimator") and his partner Dr. Daniel Cain, an endeavor that ultimately twists Hartwell into a monster even more immoral and dangerous than West himself.
There is so much to love in this novel.
First, it is a mega-crossover, uniting the characters and events from many works 1) by Lovecraft ("Cool Air," The Shadow Over Innsmouth, "The Music of Eric Zann," The Dunwich Horror, and others), 2) by other authors (from The Phantom of the Opera to the Charlie Chan stories and even the Indiana Jones films), 3) and from history (the sinking of the Titanic, the 1918 flu pandemic, World War I, etc.). These references fit well into the narrative, and if the reader fails to recognize an allusion, this doesn't hinder enjoyment of the story.
Second, the novel is written in the style of "Herbert West -- Reanimator." This means it is organized like a pulp-era serialized story, with a number of smaller tales (complete with beginnings, middles, and satisfying/sensationalist endings) coming together to comprise the novel as a whole. It's also written primarily in descriptive prose rather than dialogue, just like the story that inspired it. Rawlik captures the Lovecraftian tone and flavor very well.
Last, Hartwell is a terrific Lovecraftian protagonist/villain: achingly earnest with incredible tunnel vision and complete obliviousness to his own moral descent and intellectual unraveling. Rawlik nails his voice in a way that is alternately amusing and chilling.
I understand a sequel is in the works. I'll definitely read it.
If you've read and appreciated both the serious and not-so-serious sides of Lovecraft's "Herbert West -- Reanimator," this novel is for you.
September 18, 2013
They really don't come back the same once they've been dead a while. Pete Rawlik's first novel Reanimators (2013) takes its cue from Lovecraft's classic story
Herbert West — Reanimator
(1922), spurts the old story full of the green reagent, and goes crazy.
The setup is ingenious; as in Lovecraft's original story, Herbert West's experiment goes horribly/exhilaratingly wrong, and people die. Only in Rawlik's interpretation those people have a son, Doctor Stuart Hartwell, who then swears revenge on poor West. Somehow Hartwell also figures out a formula for reanimation, thus giving the title its plural suffix.
So far so good, but then other folks from Lovecraft's stories start appearing. Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee (of The Shadow Out of Time ), the Whateleys (of The Dunwich Horror ), Doctor Muñoz (of Cool Air ) and Erich Zann (of The Music of Erich Zann ... and others. Every name connects to some other piece of fiction somewhere.
And the novel gets sidetracked, time and again. Some references slip in smoothly, others have to be shoehorned in. And sure, it's fun to read about Hartwell observing a certain hill in Dunwich at a certain time, when a certain Great Old One shows up in all his glory, glowing balls and all. But does it amount to anything?
Not really. The main plotline, when it occasionally surfaces from the seething tangle of recycled references, is great; the chapter where Hartwell inadvertently creates zombies in the trenches of World War I is brilliant, as is the storyline concerning the Spanish flu epidemic. Maybe the original Reanimator story, as a born and bred pulp tale, is well suited to such tinkering (as seen in the movie adaptation and its sequels); messing with the other stories is far more difficult, and the line between good fun and preposterously ridiculous is a very thin one.
The writing, in first person and ostensibly by Hartwell, is solid and insanely serious; Rawlik has the Lovecraftian protagonist spot on. Certain chapters and episodes are excellent, but as a whole the plot barely holds together. No doubt the numerous sidetracks to other stories will tickle any hardcore Lovecraft fan; it's fun just to spot which story is currently being cannibalized. But for the rest of humanity, it all probably comes across as slightly meh.
Read all my reviews at mikareadshorrorfiction.wordpress.com
The setup is ingenious; as in Lovecraft's original story, Herbert West's experiment goes horribly/exhilaratingly wrong, and people die. Only in Rawlik's interpretation those people have a son, Doctor Stuart Hartwell, who then swears revenge on poor West. Somehow Hartwell also figures out a formula for reanimation, thus giving the title its plural suffix.
So far so good, but then other folks from Lovecraft's stories start appearing. Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee (of The Shadow Out of Time ), the Whateleys (of The Dunwich Horror ), Doctor Muñoz (of Cool Air ) and Erich Zann (of The Music of Erich Zann ... and others. Every name connects to some other piece of fiction somewhere.
And the novel gets sidetracked, time and again. Some references slip in smoothly, others have to be shoehorned in. And sure, it's fun to read about Hartwell observing a certain hill in Dunwich at a certain time, when a certain Great Old One shows up in all his glory, glowing balls and all. But does it amount to anything?
Not really. The main plotline, when it occasionally surfaces from the seething tangle of recycled references, is great; the chapter where Hartwell inadvertently creates zombies in the trenches of World War I is brilliant, as is the storyline concerning the Spanish flu epidemic. Maybe the original Reanimator story, as a born and bred pulp tale, is well suited to such tinkering (as seen in the movie adaptation and its sequels); messing with the other stories is far more difficult, and the line between good fun and preposterously ridiculous is a very thin one.
The writing, in first person and ostensibly by Hartwell, is solid and insanely serious; Rawlik has the Lovecraftian protagonist spot on. Certain chapters and episodes are excellent, but as a whole the plot barely holds together. No doubt the numerous sidetracks to other stories will tickle any hardcore Lovecraft fan; it's fun just to spot which story is currently being cannibalized. But for the rest of humanity, it all probably comes across as slightly meh.
Read all my reviews at mikareadshorrorfiction.wordpress.com
November 3, 2013
Pete Rawlik's debut novel Reanimators beautifully weaves the tales of H.P. Lovecraft, vivid historical locations and events, and his own creations together to form a fast, rich, and wonderfully imagined tale.
As a fan of Lovecraft, it was a delight to see not only the character of Herbert West, but also the interwoven connections to a number of the other events and stories that exist within the rich universe of events that surround Arkham, Miskatonic U., and the region in which they are held. Events start with a third party involvement in Lovecraft's Reanimator tales, giving us Rawlik's lead character, and the narrator of the story, Dr. Stuart Harwell who, in order to achieve his own personal vengeance against Herbert West, begins to develop, then master, his own Reanimation serum.
Events in Hartwell's life mirror those of West and his assistance, and are woven around Lovecraft's classic tales in such a way as to make them not only a wonderful treat for readers who are familiar with the classic works, but also in a manner that still makes it readily open and accessible to readers who are either only slightly aware of, or have no knowledge of, Lovecraft.
I'll not go into great detail regarding the plot, as I hate reviews that act in a way that ruins the book for any who have not yet read it, but will say that the only reason this book did not receive a full 5 star review is not the fault of the author, but that of Night Shade books for not proofing the text prior to going to print. There are several errors throughout the book, which are clearly print errors as they include missing letters, and repeated words in several locations, which took me out of the story.
This can be forgiven only in that the book is written as a first person confessional, and these errors can possibly be passed of mistakes of the character, however it strikes me that the good Dr. Hartwell would not make such mistakes...
As a fan of Lovecraft, it was a delight to see not only the character of Herbert West, but also the interwoven connections to a number of the other events and stories that exist within the rich universe of events that surround Arkham, Miskatonic U., and the region in which they are held. Events start with a third party involvement in Lovecraft's Reanimator tales, giving us Rawlik's lead character, and the narrator of the story, Dr. Stuart Harwell who, in order to achieve his own personal vengeance against Herbert West, begins to develop, then master, his own Reanimation serum.
Events in Hartwell's life mirror those of West and his assistance, and are woven around Lovecraft's classic tales in such a way as to make them not only a wonderful treat for readers who are familiar with the classic works, but also in a manner that still makes it readily open and accessible to readers who are either only slightly aware of, or have no knowledge of, Lovecraft.
I'll not go into great detail regarding the plot, as I hate reviews that act in a way that ruins the book for any who have not yet read it, but will say that the only reason this book did not receive a full 5 star review is not the fault of the author, but that of Night Shade books for not proofing the text prior to going to print. There are several errors throughout the book, which are clearly print errors as they include missing letters, and repeated words in several locations, which took me out of the story.
This can be forgiven only in that the book is written as a first person confessional, and these errors can possibly be passed of mistakes of the character, however it strikes me that the good Dr. Hartwell would not make such mistakes...
November 30, 2013
Revenge, even when slightly sidetracked or forgotten at times, is still a fun read. For diehard Lovecraft fans, for worshipers of Cthulhu, you’ll be tickled to see familiar places and friends returned to a telling in-which everything seen and unseen is bound together. Not being a master of Lovecraft myself, I had to take moments to double-check these little goodies.
Trench Zombies: very cool and alot of fun.
The writing is seriously strong and though sometimes I wished for more dialogue, a little more show instead of tell, I concede how to do so might've deviated from the author’s intent: that early 1900’s feel that H.P made his own; which Rawlik so accurately reanimated with new and powerful green glowing life. :)
As others have said, I’ll repeat:
“There’s a new Lovecraftian in town and he’s terrifically terrifying.”
Trench Zombies: very cool and alot of fun.
The writing is seriously strong and though sometimes I wished for more dialogue, a little more show instead of tell, I concede how to do so might've deviated from the author’s intent: that early 1900’s feel that H.P made his own; which Rawlik so accurately reanimated with new and powerful green glowing life. :)
As others have said, I’ll repeat:
“There’s a new Lovecraftian in town and he’s terrifically terrifying.”
March 18, 2015
Fun and engaging from the start, and a tale that doesn't disappoint at the end. That's a rare thing for an author's debut novel, bu Mr. Rawlik pulls it off easily. If you're a fan of anything Re-animator (the movie, the original story by H.P. Lovecraft, or both) then you'll love this book. I am and I did.
August 31, 2023
This was a fun read! Sometimes, it strays a little far into pushing the Lovecraft angles. But never far enough to pull me fully out of the narrative. Enjoyable for fans of Lovecraftian stories, of course mostly those akin to tales of everyone's favorite Re-Animator, Herbert West, and other less cosmic tales. I'll look into more of Rawlik's stuff soon enough!
February 19, 2015
I have to give Rawlik full marks for weaving together characters and plot bits from a dozen or so Lovecraft stories, combining them with actual events from history. The prose is vivid in spots, even a little feverish. Rawlik maintains most of the necessary characteristics of a Lovecraftian story -- a main character who is a single, unattached male, narration with little dialogue, and no sex. Scientific details are added with authority and reasonable plausibility. Some of the plot elements created to provide background -- for example Dr. Munoz's and Keziah Mason's backstories -- show ingenuity and imagination. Aficionados of HPL would certainly find this novel a gold mine of allusions and expansions on the work of the master. As an homage to H.P. Lovecraft, Reanimators is admirable.
Now the elements that aren't so good, first among them the fact that a reader unacquainted with the work of Lovecraft would probably find this book incomprehensible. In order to incorporate characters and plot elements from a number of stories, Rawlik sacrifices overall plot integrity. His adoption of Lovecraft's style -- old-fashioned, sometimes pedantic and wordy -- becomes tedious at times, and is not helped by the paucity of dialogue. (In the few places where dialogue is used, it has a distinctly livening effect). Most of Lovecraft's works are short -- stories and a couple of novellas. Adopting his style for a novel of more than 300 pages risks straining the patience of readers used to contemporary fast-paced fiction. Like most of Lovecraft's main characters, Rawlik's Hartwell doesn't have much personality. Apart from token chest-beating about his role in some of the disasters that occur, he doesn't do much self-examination or undergo any development. His function is to tell what happens, but he does not engage the reader. What kept me reading wasn't sympathy for Hartwell, but merely a desire to find out what happened next.
Finally, I was quite disappointed to find that despite the title of the book, which references "Herbert West, Reanimator," Herbert West is almost invisible in Reanimators. Creating Hartwell to play the role of a rival and enemy of West was a good idea, but Rawlik sends Hartwell off on side trips in order to bring in all those other HPL plots and people, breaking the original plot thread in the process. There is almost no interaction between Hartwell and West. I wish the author had stayed focused on reanimation and examined different motives for and methods of accomplishing it, ending with a showdown between West and Hartwell. Anyone looking for that won't find it in Reanimators.
Now the elements that aren't so good, first among them the fact that a reader unacquainted with the work of Lovecraft would probably find this book incomprehensible. In order to incorporate characters and plot elements from a number of stories, Rawlik sacrifices overall plot integrity. His adoption of Lovecraft's style -- old-fashioned, sometimes pedantic and wordy -- becomes tedious at times, and is not helped by the paucity of dialogue. (In the few places where dialogue is used, it has a distinctly livening effect). Most of Lovecraft's works are short -- stories and a couple of novellas. Adopting his style for a novel of more than 300 pages risks straining the patience of readers used to contemporary fast-paced fiction. Like most of Lovecraft's main characters, Rawlik's Hartwell doesn't have much personality. Apart from token chest-beating about his role in some of the disasters that occur, he doesn't do much self-examination or undergo any development. His function is to tell what happens, but he does not engage the reader. What kept me reading wasn't sympathy for Hartwell, but merely a desire to find out what happened next.
Finally, I was quite disappointed to find that despite the title of the book, which references "Herbert West, Reanimator," Herbert West is almost invisible in Reanimators. Creating Hartwell to play the role of a rival and enemy of West was a good idea, but Rawlik sends Hartwell off on side trips in order to bring in all those other HPL plots and people, breaking the original plot thread in the process. There is almost no interaction between Hartwell and West. I wish the author had stayed focused on reanimation and examined different motives for and methods of accomplishing it, ending with a showdown between West and Hartwell. Anyone looking for that won't find it in Reanimators.
March 11, 2019
H.P. Lovecraft's REANIMATOR is a story that he wrote for cash and is something of an iffy entry into his collection. Indeed, it's generally agreed that the Stuart Gordon horror-comedy was far better than the original source material thanks to the hilarious yet disturbing performance of Jeffrey Combs (of Star Trek and Gotham fame). Still, Peter Rawlik has decided to make it the basis of his story and he makes an entertaining tale even if it has some serious flaws.
Most of the book is written in the same style as Reanimator itself with the protagonist dictating events to us. That means that there's very little dialogue in the story and a poor sense of tension since, well, we know the protagonist survives. He is a victim of Herbert West's criminal actions and attempts to get revenge in a round about way by becoming even better at Reanimation than West himself. This leads him on a global journey that Forest Gumps through the Cthulhu Mythos and includes references to many other stories--some of which are demythologized to being less about aliens or gods than the misuse of the reagent.
While entertaining, the simple fact is the protagonist is basically Herbert West in that he's an emotionless fanatic who commits all manner of atrocities in the name of science while being occasionally horrified by how far he's willing to go. He doesn't even care that much about revenge after the first few chapters. As such, I have to question why Pete Rawlik didn't just do a book from West's perspective to begin with.
6/10
Most of the book is written in the same style as Reanimator itself with the protagonist dictating events to us. That means that there's very little dialogue in the story and a poor sense of tension since, well, we know the protagonist survives. He is a victim of Herbert West's criminal actions and attempts to get revenge in a round about way by becoming even better at Reanimation than West himself. This leads him on a global journey that Forest Gumps through the Cthulhu Mythos and includes references to many other stories--some of which are demythologized to being less about aliens or gods than the misuse of the reagent.
While entertaining, the simple fact is the protagonist is basically Herbert West in that he's an emotionless fanatic who commits all manner of atrocities in the name of science while being occasionally horrified by how far he's willing to go. He doesn't even care that much about revenge after the first few chapters. As such, I have to question why Pete Rawlik didn't just do a book from West's perspective to begin with.
6/10
December 7, 2015
It started so promisingly but about a third of the way through the author lost the focus of the story and the plot began to meander about. The initial drive of the plot was the desire of the protagonist to revenge himself for the deaths of his parents. This device was all but abandoned a third of the way through the story and the story then became more of a hodge-podge of "how many Mythos characters/stories can my protagonist intersect with?"
I watched as the promising narrator turned into a sort of Cthulhu Mythos Forrest Gump and I truly weep for that as I was really enjoying the story up until then.
The final straw was when the author shoe-horned in characters and allusions to Frankenstein and The Phantom of the Opera. These elements were completely unnecessary and clashed horribly, causing the entire novel to "jump the shark" so-to-speak.
I will say that I enjoyed the 'voice' of the author, his lack of direction, and poor plot developments aside.
I watched as the promising narrator turned into a sort of Cthulhu Mythos Forrest Gump and I truly weep for that as I was really enjoying the story up until then.
The final straw was when the author shoe-horned in characters and allusions to Frankenstein and The Phantom of the Opera. These elements were completely unnecessary and clashed horribly, causing the entire novel to "jump the shark" so-to-speak.
I will say that I enjoyed the 'voice' of the author, his lack of direction, and poor plot developments aside.
April 12, 2016
Self indulgent fanfic.
The book itself is written to ape the turn of the twentieth century paid by the word style that was a hallmark of Lovecraft. Unfortunately, while Lovecraft could twist the often tedious style into interesting tales of cosmic horror, this author lack the imagination to do anything but directly reference other author's work.
When Charlie Chan showed up is when I decided enough was enough and abandoned the work.
The book itself is written to ape the turn of the twentieth century paid by the word style that was a hallmark of Lovecraft. Unfortunately, while Lovecraft could twist the often tedious style into interesting tales of cosmic horror, this author lack the imagination to do anything but directly reference other author's work.
When Charlie Chan showed up is when I decided enough was enough and abandoned the work.
May 22, 2017
For me this book was quite a page turner.
There are some interesting ideeas with a good execution and an interesting range of characters.
All the chapters have new stories in them so this could easily be read like a Horror Anthology.
Overall a fun ride....
There are some interesting ideeas with a good execution and an interesting range of characters.
All the chapters have new stories in them so this could easily be read like a Horror Anthology.
Overall a fun ride....
June 2, 2021
I really enjoyed this one. I was in a Lovecraftian mood after playing Gibbous and Call of the Sea so I decided to pick up this book that my husband gave me for Christmas. I think I've read all of H.P. Lovecraft's works and found many of them fascinating.
This is almost a Lovecraft fanfic, though I don't mean by that that the writing is amateurish. Rather in the framing device of the story of a rival of Herbert West we get to revisit many of Lovecraft's most famous stories in chapters that either refer to them, elaborate on them, or offer a prequel or sequel. It's been awhile since I read them, so I did a lot of googling character names to refresh my memory.
The only thing that bothered me was the narrator's motivation for experimenting with reanimation itself. It doesn't follow for me that it would have anything to do with revenge against West for the murder of Hartwell's parents. Messing with West's experiments, sure, but trying to replicate them himself? Of course our narrator is somewhat unreliable so his own explanation of his motivations can get away with being suspect.
I recommend it to fellow Lovecraft fans as long as you're not too uptight about someone playing with his ideas.
This is almost a Lovecraft fanfic, though I don't mean by that that the writing is amateurish. Rather in the framing device of the story of a rival of Herbert West we get to revisit many of Lovecraft's most famous stories in chapters that either refer to them, elaborate on them, or offer a prequel or sequel. It's been awhile since I read them, so I did a lot of googling character names to refresh my memory.
The only thing that bothered me was the narrator's motivation for experimenting with reanimation itself. It doesn't follow for me that it would have anything to do with revenge against West for the murder of Hartwell's parents. Messing with West's experiments, sure, but trying to replicate them himself? Of course our narrator is somewhat unreliable so his own explanation of his motivations can get away with being suspect.
I recommend it to fellow Lovecraft fans as long as you're not too uptight about someone playing with his ideas.
July 29, 2019
I have a confession to make: Up until relatively recently, I had never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft. I know, right? I both clearly know and appreciate Lovecraft's influence on the genre and it's not that I didn't try to delve into his work. It's just that every time I did, it didn't grab me. Maybe it was his style, maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset. Regardless, though, reading Pete Rawlik's Reanimators solved that problem.
Set in the same universe as Lovecraft's Herbert West: Reanimator, the book follows Dr. Stuart Hartwell and his attempts to ruin his rival Herbert West. Once both students at Miskatonic University, West's mad experiments with the raising the dead led to the death of Hartwell's parents, leading to his lifelong obsession with revenge.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
Set in the same universe as Lovecraft's Herbert West: Reanimator, the book follows Dr. Stuart Hartwell and his attempts to ruin his rival Herbert West. Once both students at Miskatonic University, West's mad experiments with the raising the dead led to the death of Hartwell's parents, leading to his lifelong obsession with revenge.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
July 20, 2023
Was pretty interesting but began to drag abit
March 22, 2014
This book was OK.
When I saw this book and read the blurb about it, I was excited. Someone had taken the Lovecraft's story about Herbert West and done something with it, and not only that, done something novel length with it! As with most books, I checked out the reviews before I picked it up, and generally most of them were pretty positive. The one thing that stuck with me was more than one review commenting on the lack of dialogue within the story. It made me wonder, could a story with very little to no dialogue succeed?
Rawlik has done more than his fair share of things right with this book. Primary of these was his use of other literary and real world events throughout the telling of his story. Any reader of Lovecraftian works or those that came after will recognize these events and they help to build an over arching storyline that spreads its roots throughout a fair number of other mythos works. Rawlik did a great job linking these tales to his own and more than once I was left going "Aha!" when I read something (a character, a location, etc) I recognized.
'Reanimators' is also set up with a number of interesting character conflicts throughout the book, mostly due to the sheer number of unique and interesting people that Rawlik populated his novel with. Some of these conflicts are what you would suspect within a mythos related work, while others are distinctly human in their nature. This helps bring about a certain level of realism to Rawlik's characters and helps to build the realistic nature of the story. However, I do have to agree with the reviews that stated the extremely low level of dialogue hinders these characters and reduces many of them to feeling like mere side-notes within the story.
I would like to state that the little amount of dialogue within the story is this novel's major flaw, but I think it goes beyond that. Due to the perspective Rawlik has chosen to use for his main character's confession, the reader is left with page after page of what feel like nothing more than a doctor's observation sheets or medical charts. Without dialogue or a change in voice (until later in the book), this makes for some very tedious and dry reading. Coupled with the fact that a lot of the events that take place within the story are very similar to each other, I felt as if I was reading the same event over and over again. (his perpetual whining about West and Cain and his need for revenge against them, while doing absolutely NOTHING to actually hurt then other than what amount to pranks got annoying very quickly)
Now Rawlik does change the POV to two other characters for one chapter each later on in the book. But this in itself is an issue as since he hasn't done it earlier in the piece, the switch of POV is jarring in nature since until this point you have been treated to only one person narrating for the whole text. This isn't 'Dracula' where it is a collection of various points of views from differing people. This is a book where for the first half, if not more, you are reading one person's observations and then suddenly you are thrown into Cain's view for no other reason other than to bring the reader up to speed on what West and him have been doing over the years. Both
Lastly, if you are looking for a major climax in this book, there really isn't one. There are a multitude of tiny ones chapter to chapter, but it never really builds to anything. Even the capture that is eluded to in the opening chapters of the book ended up to be next to nothing. There is no real confrontation between West and the main character (even though that was the major driving force behind the experiments in the beginning of the book) and even the results of the doctor's mass experiments really didn't amount to anything horrific or shocking.
Still, Rawlik has put together an interesting read that brings together a multitude of other mythos pieces and presents an interesting storyline that any Lovecraftian fan will be sure to enjoy. The book has gotten a number of high ranking reviews, so a lot of people have enjoyed it. 'Reanimators' is a book I think will garner a lot of interest from fans of Lovecraft, though I personally wouldn't recommend it, or at least wouldn't recommend it right away. (unless the person in question wanted to know how to link their novel to other stories or real world events, then I most certainly would)
When I saw this book and read the blurb about it, I was excited. Someone had taken the Lovecraft's story about Herbert West and done something with it, and not only that, done something novel length with it! As with most books, I checked out the reviews before I picked it up, and generally most of them were pretty positive. The one thing that stuck with me was more than one review commenting on the lack of dialogue within the story. It made me wonder, could a story with very little to no dialogue succeed?
Rawlik has done more than his fair share of things right with this book. Primary of these was his use of other literary and real world events throughout the telling of his story. Any reader of Lovecraftian works or those that came after will recognize these events and they help to build an over arching storyline that spreads its roots throughout a fair number of other mythos works. Rawlik did a great job linking these tales to his own and more than once I was left going "Aha!" when I read something (a character, a location, etc) I recognized.
'Reanimators' is also set up with a number of interesting character conflicts throughout the book, mostly due to the sheer number of unique and interesting people that Rawlik populated his novel with. Some of these conflicts are what you would suspect within a mythos related work, while others are distinctly human in their nature. This helps bring about a certain level of realism to Rawlik's characters and helps to build the realistic nature of the story. However, I do have to agree with the reviews that stated the extremely low level of dialogue hinders these characters and reduces many of them to feeling like mere side-notes within the story.
I would like to state that the little amount of dialogue within the story is this novel's major flaw, but I think it goes beyond that. Due to the perspective Rawlik has chosen to use for his main character's confession, the reader is left with page after page of what feel like nothing more than a doctor's observation sheets or medical charts. Without dialogue or a change in voice (until later in the book), this makes for some very tedious and dry reading. Coupled with the fact that a lot of the events that take place within the story are very similar to each other, I felt as if I was reading the same event over and over again. (his perpetual whining about West and Cain and his need for revenge against them, while doing absolutely NOTHING to actually hurt then other than what amount to pranks got annoying very quickly)
Now Rawlik does change the POV to two other characters for one chapter each later on in the book. But this in itself is an issue as since he hasn't done it earlier in the piece, the switch of POV is jarring in nature since until this point you have been treated to only one person narrating for the whole text. This isn't 'Dracula' where it is a collection of various points of views from differing people. This is a book where for the first half, if not more, you are reading one person's observations and then suddenly you are thrown into Cain's view for no other reason other than to bring the reader up to speed on what West and him have been doing over the years. Both
Lastly, if you are looking for a major climax in this book, there really isn't one. There are a multitude of tiny ones chapter to chapter, but it never really builds to anything. Even the capture that is eluded to in the opening chapters of the book ended up to be next to nothing. There is no real confrontation between West and the main character (even though that was the major driving force behind the experiments in the beginning of the book) and even the results of the doctor's mass experiments really didn't amount to anything horrific or shocking.
Still, Rawlik has put together an interesting read that brings together a multitude of other mythos pieces and presents an interesting storyline that any Lovecraftian fan will be sure to enjoy. The book has gotten a number of high ranking reviews, so a lot of people have enjoyed it. 'Reanimators' is a book I think will garner a lot of interest from fans of Lovecraft, though I personally wouldn't recommend it, or at least wouldn't recommend it right away. (unless the person in question wanted to know how to link their novel to other stories or real world events, then I most certainly would)
October 27, 2014
With "Reanimators" Peter Rawlik achieves the seemingly impossible: he lends relevancy and consequences to one of Lovecraft's most maligned and, admittedly justifiably, disregarded stories. Described on the cover itself as a sort of Lovecraftian "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" the book is actually more a "Forest Gump"-style narrative, with the protagonist and erstwhile narrator accidentally stumbling in and out of many of Lovecraft's stories and unknowingly triggering the events that have entertained readers for so many decades.
However, the story goes deeper than that. Each chapter serves as its own adventure - like the original "Herbert West" tales - and preserves Lovecraft's tell-don't-show style. Chapters are essentially chunks of exposition and description with dialogue exchanges few and far between. But, don't let that scare you away. Rawlik perfectly captures the feel of Lovecraft's rhythms without actually aping the Old Man's style. His narrator, Dr. Stuart Hartwell, is essentially West's better - a more morally upright and methodical scientist who intends for his own experiments to improve mankind. Rawlik takes many opportunities to criticize the carelessness of West's actions as well as to fill in the gaps of Lovecraft's story and critique his prejudices. It's quite refreshing to have the main character actually sit and talk with "Buck" Robinson and learn about his background before the grisly incidents kick in.
The book's brilliance lies in how Rawlik not only ties the stories together, but makes their relationship to one another seem obvious and inevitable. It's very satisfying to have West's story now fit snugly in with the rest of Lovecraft's canon.
My only real complaint is that the end of the book feels rushed and additional voices are introduced late enough in the game as to seem jarring. That being said, it's a minor quibble and with the second book being released, I look forward to more of Rawlik's style and characterizations.
Note: It's not vital to have read the original Lovecraft stories, but you'll definitely appreciate the novel more if you have. Also, characters from other books pop in and out, so keep your eyes peeled.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
However, the story goes deeper than that. Each chapter serves as its own adventure - like the original "Herbert West" tales - and preserves Lovecraft's tell-don't-show style. Chapters are essentially chunks of exposition and description with dialogue exchanges few and far between. But, don't let that scare you away. Rawlik perfectly captures the feel of Lovecraft's rhythms without actually aping the Old Man's style. His narrator, Dr. Stuart Hartwell, is essentially West's better - a more morally upright and methodical scientist who intends for his own experiments to improve mankind. Rawlik takes many opportunities to criticize the carelessness of West's actions as well as to fill in the gaps of Lovecraft's story and critique his prejudices. It's quite refreshing to have the main character actually sit and talk with "Buck" Robinson and learn about his background before the grisly incidents kick in.
The book's brilliance lies in how Rawlik not only ties the stories together, but makes their relationship to one another seem obvious and inevitable. It's very satisfying to have West's story now fit snugly in with the rest of Lovecraft's canon.
My only real complaint is that the end of the book feels rushed and additional voices are introduced late enough in the game as to seem jarring. That being said, it's a minor quibble and with the second book being released, I look forward to more of Rawlik's style and characterizations.
Note: It's not vital to have read the original Lovecraft stories, but you'll definitely appreciate the novel more if you have. Also, characters from other books pop in and out, so keep your eyes peeled.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
December 23, 2014
OK, I know it doesn't look like it, but I kind of enjoyed this book. "Then why'd you only give it two stars?" Well, the answer is very simple. This book begins well, but falls into a very lazy pattern common to a large amount of latter-day Lovecraftian fiction. A habit I call "cosmic name dropping". A writer concludes that in order to write a good piece of Lovecraftian fiction you must mention everything HPL ever wrote about. This author not only does this, but connects his "protagonist" to literary and cinematic characters from the first quarter of the twentieth century. The underlying idea for a story or novel is sometimes called a "conceit". In this novel, the author's conceit is actually the author's running out of ideas three chapters into the book. I would rather have seen more about the main character's plot and it's resolution or consequences. And while catatonia is not an uncommon outcome in Lovecraft's fiction, there is usually some hint of a hidden truth or an epiphany of existential ennui or nadir of despair that precedes the break. Not an "I've written it all down now, so I'll just turn off my brain now" event. Alas, good Lovecraft is hard to find.
August 23, 2021
Lemme just tell you I stopped at like 17% cuz my to-read list is too long to waste time on books that bore me. So, you know. Not an actual review of the whole book.
Are you seriously going to call Herbert West an absolute crap of a doctor, just to make your OC feel superior? Getting the whole formula from a piece of blood on the wall? Seriously?
Ngl, I dont exactly remember the original story that well to remember was West a bad or good doctor. What absolutely killed me was the fact that the protagonist of this fanfiction is a literal Gary Stu. His motivation made little sense (why was he trying to reanimate? I get it, he hated West cuz boohoo parents, but why copy his work? Wouldnt you rather want to hurt West instead??), his work is oh so much better and he managed to reanimate rats and humans oh so much faster, and... Idk man.
I really liked the style of speech, I got some real nice sounding lines, but the story?
Are you seriously going to call Herbert West an absolute crap of a doctor, just to make your OC feel superior? Getting the whole formula from a piece of blood on the wall? Seriously?
Ngl, I dont exactly remember the original story that well to remember was West a bad or good doctor. What absolutely killed me was the fact that the protagonist of this fanfiction is a literal Gary Stu. His motivation made little sense (why was he trying to reanimate? I get it, he hated West cuz boohoo parents, but why copy his work? Wouldnt you rather want to hurt West instead??), his work is oh so much better and he managed to reanimate rats and humans oh so much faster, and... Idk man.
I really liked the style of speech, I got some real nice sounding lines, but the story?
February 6, 2014
This is a fun read, but it's kind of all over the place structurally - it's more like a collection of related short stories that tend to feature the same protagonist. But at some points, instead of relating his own adventures, the character stumbles across written "confessions", etc. of other people he's encountered within Lovecraft's universe, and then includes their full text as chapters. The sudden shifts in narrative voice are jarring, but not distinctively different enough to justify their inclusion. All in all, they really pulled me out of the book, and for the most part the extraneous chapters felt WAY overlong. I did appreciate the many horror/fantasy/sci-fi references throughout (including a subtle nod to both The Wicker Man and Indiana Jones).
November 2, 2015
This is a fun revisionist look into the fictional works and world of H.P Lovecraft. In it we learn that a contemporary and nemesis of Herbert West actually had his fingers tangentially in many of the occurrences in Lovecraft's stories. Much like Lovecraft's HERBERT WEST: RE-ANIMATOR, this is really all tongue poking through the rotted cheek fun. If you're not at least moderately familiar with Lovecraft I doubt you would find it nearly as appealing. Then again, who's going to read this having not read Lovecraft? It definitely makes me excited to read Rawlik's follow-up, THE WEIRD COMPANY. I hear it's even better.
September 29, 2013
Reminiscent and based on Lovecraft, it started off strong and intriguing with rich prose, but then went off on tangents with other characters. I got bored and annoyed and realized there was hardly ANY dialogue so I abandoned it.
April 17, 2014
Oh my god, I hate this book.
You know how the dead in this book often come back all depressed and feeble? I think this book might have died and been reanimated.
You know how the dead in this book often come back all depressed and feeble? I think this book might have died and been reanimated.
April 9, 2024
[Warning: there may be very slight spoilers ahead]
I discovered this book by coincidence, and the premise sounded fun enough to dig in. I expected a sort of sequel and expansion to HP Lovecraft's Herbert West Reanimator. This novel is this, and more. The author clearly knows his Lovecraft, as the book is littered with references to many of Lovecraft's works. His protagonist is a classic HPL character, a lonely, educated man whose story is a sort of confession or warning story about the unnamable and such. So far, so good. I definitely enjoyed the beginning of the book, and its many references. It was enjoyable to see how the author worked to weave so many of HPL's plotlines, and even some historical events into his narrative.
However, this strength is also a weakness. The narrative suffers because it's all over the place. Often, the protagonist forgets his whole raison d'être is his revenge plot against Herbert West, and at some point all of these digressions into all over Lovecraft country become tedious. However, there is one thing that I really disliked about the entire plot. This is something that made me feel uncomfortable, as if I was reading fan-fic with a classic "Marty Stu" insert. Somehow, the story's protagonist is responsible for a lot of what happens in Lovecraft's stories, and also a few of real events. This made me feel like the author couldn't help himself and had to steal all of HPL's protagonists' thunder, and at times things that make perfect sense in the context of the original story become quite contrived to make this point of view fit. In this book, Herbert West doesn't seem like a capable rival to our protagonist, but a bumbling buffoon who's always ten steps behind this oh, so great man who at the same time is so painfully aware of the responsibility he bears over so much tragedy.
On a side note; there is what I assume is a logical error in the book, as Dr Muñoz ("Cool Air") is mentioned as both a European physician whose theories influenced West... and also, later, with no connection or acknowledgement, he's a cuasi vampire/zombie who becomes one of several of the main protagonist's partners in crime.
I am left with a strange aftertaste, having just finished this book. Still, I valued its good part, enjoyed the references and some of the cleverness in it. I am seriously considering the idea of taking a look into its sequel, though I sort of know what to expect. I don't know if I would recommend this, but I also would not warn potential readers not to try it. Hence, I think 3 stars is a perfect rating for this.
I discovered this book by coincidence, and the premise sounded fun enough to dig in. I expected a sort of sequel and expansion to HP Lovecraft's Herbert West Reanimator. This novel is this, and more. The author clearly knows his Lovecraft, as the book is littered with references to many of Lovecraft's works. His protagonist is a classic HPL character, a lonely, educated man whose story is a sort of confession or warning story about the unnamable and such. So far, so good. I definitely enjoyed the beginning of the book, and its many references. It was enjoyable to see how the author worked to weave so many of HPL's plotlines, and even some historical events into his narrative.
However, this strength is also a weakness. The narrative suffers because it's all over the place. Often, the protagonist forgets his whole raison d'être is his revenge plot against Herbert West, and at some point all of these digressions into all over Lovecraft country become tedious. However, there is one thing that I really disliked about the entire plot. This is something that made me feel uncomfortable, as if I was reading fan-fic with a classic "Marty Stu" insert. Somehow, the story's protagonist is responsible for a lot of what happens in Lovecraft's stories, and also a few of real events. This made me feel like the author couldn't help himself and had to steal all of HPL's protagonists' thunder, and at times things that make perfect sense in the context of the original story become quite contrived to make this point of view fit. In this book, Herbert West doesn't seem like a capable rival to our protagonist, but a bumbling buffoon who's always ten steps behind this oh, so great man who at the same time is so painfully aware of the responsibility he bears over so much tragedy.
On a side note; there is what I assume is a logical error in the book, as Dr Muñoz ("Cool Air") is mentioned as both a European physician whose theories influenced West... and also, later, with no connection or acknowledgement, he's a cuasi vampire/zombie who becomes one of several of the main protagonist's partners in crime.
I am left with a strange aftertaste, having just finished this book. Still, I valued its good part, enjoyed the references and some of the cleverness in it. I am seriously considering the idea of taking a look into its sequel, though I sort of know what to expect. I don't know if I would recommend this, but I also would not warn potential readers not to try it. Hence, I think 3 stars is a perfect rating for this.
August 8, 2025
Reanimators has a killer premise--one of the victims of Herbert West's necromancy crimes decides to get revenge on him by becoming a reanimator himself (why he doesn't just shoot the guy is never very convincing)--but absolutely abysmal follow-through. There's a good hundred pages that have nothing to do with Herbert West or the undead, just "worldbuilding." You know, like how in a Captain America movie, someone might mention Iron Man, or how all of Stephen King's novels seem to take place in Maine?
Now, imagine a book focusing on someone just living in Maine and running into the various characters or hearing about all the crazy exploits going on without actually DOING anything himself. "That was when I bumped into Annie Wilkes, who was carrying a sledgehammer for some reason, but I paid her no mind, as I was too worried about my buddy Jack Torrance who was caretaking the Overlook Hotel with his family. I hoped he was okay!"
On and on like that, for page after page, NOTHING ELSE but this wink-wink, nudge-nudge about other stories where interesting things happened. I suppose if you're the type to watch Youtube videos all day, all this stuff where the reagent is *eerily similar* to the blood of the Innsmouth Fishmen might be fascinating, but it's all fan theory stuff, fit for a forum of likeminded nerds, not an actual story. Even the worst Marvel comic will at least have Hulk and Thing fight, not just be mentioned in the same breath.
The author doesn't even restrict himself just to the Cthulu Mythos. Charlie Chan shows up, as does the Phantom of the Opera, and to borrow a phrase from another reviewer, it's just no fun to watch some random schmuck Forrest Gump his way through the Edwardian Age.
The narrative gets ever more scattershot and muddled as it goes on, jumping back and forth in time, being told by multiple narrators (all of whom speak in the same faux-Lovecraft voice), making it unclear where everything fits in with the original story the author is 'revamping' or what is even going on beyond a naked sequel tease at the end. For the die-hard Howard Phillips fan only, and you'd still probably have a better time just reading the canon.
ETA: Hilariously, it sounds like said sequel just goes all out and becomes a Lovecraftian Extraordinary Gentlemen superhero team. Cosmic horror, everybody!
Now, imagine a book focusing on someone just living in Maine and running into the various characters or hearing about all the crazy exploits going on without actually DOING anything himself. "That was when I bumped into Annie Wilkes, who was carrying a sledgehammer for some reason, but I paid her no mind, as I was too worried about my buddy Jack Torrance who was caretaking the Overlook Hotel with his family. I hoped he was okay!"
On and on like that, for page after page, NOTHING ELSE but this wink-wink, nudge-nudge about other stories where interesting things happened. I suppose if you're the type to watch Youtube videos all day, all this stuff where the reagent is *eerily similar* to the blood of the Innsmouth Fishmen might be fascinating, but it's all fan theory stuff, fit for a forum of likeminded nerds, not an actual story. Even the worst Marvel comic will at least have Hulk and Thing fight, not just be mentioned in the same breath.
The author doesn't even restrict himself just to the Cthulu Mythos. Charlie Chan shows up, as does the Phantom of the Opera, and to borrow a phrase from another reviewer, it's just no fun to watch some random schmuck Forrest Gump his way through the Edwardian Age.
The narrative gets ever more scattershot and muddled as it goes on, jumping back and forth in time, being told by multiple narrators (all of whom speak in the same faux-Lovecraft voice), making it unclear where everything fits in with the original story the author is 'revamping' or what is even going on beyond a naked sequel tease at the end. For the die-hard Howard Phillips fan only, and you'd still probably have a better time just reading the canon.
ETA: Hilariously, it sounds like said sequel just goes all out and becomes a Lovecraftian Extraordinary Gentlemen superhero team. Cosmic horror, everybody!
April 26, 2019
I was disappointed when I eventually realised this was, as another review put it, a kind of Forrest Gump set in Lovecraft's cycle of Cthulhu stories. Each chapter generally corresponds to a different Lovecraft short story, with the narrator being a third party of some sort.
It has been many years since I read any of Cthulhu's stories and I have only the vaguest of memories of a handful of them. A few names ring a bell but I couldn't tell you what they did in their respective stories. So I was immediately at a disadvantage. Imaging watching or reading Ready Player One but being born in 2000 and growing up in Mongolia. When a book is almost entirely about the references, you lose quite a bit if you're not pretty familiar with the references.
For the first part of the book there is a somewhat tenuous "plot" tying everything together of the narrator wanting to get revenge. It isn't quite clear exactly how he plans to carry out this revenge...even as the years stretch on he just kinda "researches" and instead is mostly carried along by events.
I actually didn't finish the book. There is a chapter where nothing happens except the narrator reads some post cards from a guy who is actually doing things. It felt like the weakest tie-in to an existing Lovecraft story yet. Worse, I had grown to realise that the narrator had...no friends, no acquaintances, no loves, no hobbies, no interests, nothing. He was a bit of a cardboard cutout whose sole purpose was to offer a plausible reason to string together a bunch of Lovecraft stories.
Since the references weren't resonating with me and the only real character was a shallow cipher, I found it harder and harder to begin each chapter. Eventually, around the 20% mark, I realised it had been a week or two since the last time I had tried to pick up the book....and that's when I threw in the towel and moved on to something I would enjoy more.
If you're more of a diehard Lovecraft fan who gets all the references, you'll probably enjoy this more.
It has been many years since I read any of Cthulhu's stories and I have only the vaguest of memories of a handful of them. A few names ring a bell but I couldn't tell you what they did in their respective stories. So I was immediately at a disadvantage. Imaging watching or reading Ready Player One but being born in 2000 and growing up in Mongolia. When a book is almost entirely about the references, you lose quite a bit if you're not pretty familiar with the references.
For the first part of the book there is a somewhat tenuous "plot" tying everything together of the narrator wanting to get revenge. It isn't quite clear exactly how he plans to carry out this revenge...even as the years stretch on he just kinda "researches" and instead is mostly carried along by events.
I actually didn't finish the book. There is a chapter where nothing happens except the narrator reads some post cards from a guy who is actually doing things. It felt like the weakest tie-in to an existing Lovecraft story yet. Worse, I had grown to realise that the narrator had...no friends, no acquaintances, no loves, no hobbies, no interests, nothing. He was a bit of a cardboard cutout whose sole purpose was to offer a plausible reason to string together a bunch of Lovecraft stories.
Since the references weren't resonating with me and the only real character was a shallow cipher, I found it harder and harder to begin each chapter. Eventually, around the 20% mark, I realised it had been a week or two since the last time I had tried to pick up the book....and that's when I threw in the towel and moved on to something I would enjoy more.
If you're more of a diehard Lovecraft fan who gets all the references, you'll probably enjoy this more.
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