The Weird of Hali: Kingsport

The Weird of Hali #2

by John Michael Greer

Like other students at Miskatonic University, Jenny Parrish worries mostly about passing her finals and getting a graduate assistantship. Then an unexpected letter arrives from her great-aunt Sylvia, inviting her to spend the holidays and celebrate a mysterious Festival at the family mansion in the old port city of Kingsport, where Jenny has never been—the home her mother fled at the age of eighteen, never to return.

Once she reaches the ancient mansion, Jenny finds herself in the midst of a tangled web of archaic secrets, eldritch lore, and hidden struggles that pit the servants of the Great Old Ones, the ancient gods and goddesses of Earth, against a terrifying and relentless foe. At the center the web stands the treasure Jenny's family has guarded for centuries, a talisman of supreme power forged in the lost land of the Ring of Ebon. But the Ring is lost—and the quest to find it and keep it out of the hands of the enemies of the Great Old Ones will send Jenny on a journey beyond the borders of the world to dread Carcosa, the city of the King in Yellow...

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2018

About the author

John Michael Greer is an author of over thirty books and the blogger behind The Archdruid Report. He served as Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. His work addresses a range of subjects, including climate change, peak oil, the future of industrial society, and the occult. He also writes science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife.

Reviews

[AustenFan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me say up front that I'm never happier than when curled up with a Sarah One Jewett book or a country house mystery from the golden age of mystery fiction, so Weird of Hali: Kingsport is my cup of tea. The protagonist is a lonely young woman -- a grad student who is bright but not pretty and too poor to be fashionable -- who stays with extended family in an old mansion in Kingsport. There are antiques, closets filled with vintage designer dresses, a library filled with old books about sorcery, a kind and interesting great aunt, a few strange relatives and hangers-on, and mounting evidence that Things Are Not All As They Seem. It all comes together to create a delightful and satisfying novel.

[Sergi Morraja · Rating 4 out of 5]

M'ha agradat més que el primer. La recreació de l'ambient de la mansió i els personatges està molt ben aconseguida. Dona un regust a època victoriana molt fort i agradable. La descripció dels moments de contacte amb divinitats i l'ús de màgia estan descrits d'una manera que interpreto com a realista.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series when it came out, and hated it. I'm not sure if it was just my expectations of a Cthulhu Mythos story, or that, along with subverting tropes of the mythos, he's subverting a lot of modern ideas about fiction. But, I hated it.
Since then I've read Star's Reach, his occult detective books, and I have a better handle on what he's trying to do. JMG has definite ideas about what he wants to write about and it's not the things that drive most modern fiction. Now that I'm on board I am really enjoying these, and the good thing about coming back to them later is I have quite a few to read.

[Chthe’Ilist · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked the first book, this will not disappoint !! Eagerly waiting for the following books to this series !!!

[Eric Gilbeertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A luminous inversion of the Cthulhu Mythos by the learned Mr Greer. I eagerly await the next volume of this epic tale

[Ganesh Ubuntu · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is much less action in 'Kingsport' compared to the first book of 'The Weird of Hali' series - 'Innsmouth' - and somehow it doesn't make the book any less captivating. The story is full of intrigue and the role of it's characters is opened one little bit at a time leaving enough room for a reader to wonder about between reading sessions. It also feels that the first book was doing a lot of work to set the world up which made it feel a little artificial at times. 'Kingsport' doesn't require as much worldbuilding and due to that feels more organic and believable.

This second book also goes a little deeper into the occult dimension. Author, being a well recognised occultist himself, weaves some aspects of mystery work into the story and leaves it up to a reader to decide where to draw the line between what's actually possible in our world and where it departs into the land of imagination. The magic used in the world of 'The Weird of Hali' is not of 'Harry Potter' kind - it is actually quite believable even when it's somewhat exaggerated. The way a relationship may be established with a deity is also very much on a realistic side albeit it might take a little longer to get anywhere with that in real life.

By the end of it, I enjoyed this second book more than the first, both as good fiction and as an educational material.