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Tales of the Cthulu Mythos Volume 1
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About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,108 books19.3k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 7, 2024
3.5/5
Overall I generally had a fun and enjoyable time reading this book. Being able to explore Lovecraft’s work through stories by other authors was really appreciated, since I sometimes get fed up with his writing style. My top three short stories in this book were:
1. The Dweller in Darkness - Takes place at a spooky cabin in the woods that is really eerie and atmospheric. Very creepy and satisfying build up to a cinematic and riveting ending.
2. The Space Eaters - Foggy little coastal village that gets invaded by eons old unthinkable cosmic horrors that are removing human brains. Fun!
3. The Return of The Sorcerer - Crazed brother killed his twin (more crazed) brother and chopped him up and buried him around his property. Now the chopped up bits are coming back to saw off the (less) crazed brothers head!
Honorable Mention - The Salem Horror (Witch mummy, Great Old One, and Rats. Oh my!)
My biggest issue with this is that two of the stories (The Dweller in Darkness and The Hounds of Tindalos) have essentially, to me, worse versions within the book. Beyond the Threshold and Ubbo-Sathla have extremely similar plot points as their counterparts. Beyond the Threshold has many of the same exact “spooky moments” and story beats as The Dweller in the Darkness. Ubbo-Sathla and The Hounds of Tindalos have less similarities, but the main plot idea is the same and they still just had too similar a feel to me. I still enjoyed both Ubbo and Beyond, but just would have preferred a more diverse spread of short stories to read from. Additionally, I personally think that the titular Call of Cthulhu short story is one of the least interesting short stories in the novel, if not THE least interesting.
Besides that, I still thought it was a good read and I look forward to reading more of the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos series to see how the other short stories rank up.
Overall I generally had a fun and enjoyable time reading this book. Being able to explore Lovecraft’s work through stories by other authors was really appreciated, since I sometimes get fed up with his writing style. My top three short stories in this book were:
1. The Dweller in Darkness - Takes place at a spooky cabin in the woods that is really eerie and atmospheric. Very creepy and satisfying build up to a cinematic and riveting ending.
2. The Space Eaters - Foggy little coastal village that gets invaded by eons old unthinkable cosmic horrors that are removing human brains. Fun!
3. The Return of The Sorcerer - Crazed brother killed his twin (more crazed) brother and chopped him up and buried him around his property. Now the chopped up bits are coming back to saw off the (less) crazed brothers head!
Honorable Mention - The Salem Horror (Witch mummy, Great Old One, and Rats. Oh my!)
My biggest issue with this is that two of the stories (The Dweller in Darkness and The Hounds of Tindalos) have essentially, to me, worse versions within the book. Beyond the Threshold and Ubbo-Sathla have extremely similar plot points as their counterparts. Beyond the Threshold has many of the same exact “spooky moments” and story beats as The Dweller in the Darkness. Ubbo-Sathla and The Hounds of Tindalos have less similarities, but the main plot idea is the same and they still just had too similar a feel to me. I still enjoyed both Ubbo and Beyond, but just would have preferred a more diverse spread of short stories to read from. Additionally, I personally think that the titular Call of Cthulhu short story is one of the least interesting short stories in the novel, if not THE least interesting.
Besides that, I still thought it was a good read and I look forward to reading more of the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos series to see how the other short stories rank up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2025
Ich mag so 3 Geschichten von denen
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews