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The House of Fear, a novel
Contents:
Book I : Peter
Book II Pascaline
Book III : Hector De Marsac
Book IV: Spirelli
Book V: The Trial
Book I : Peter
Book II Pascaline
Book III : Hector De Marsac
Book IV: Spirelli
Book V: The Trial
408 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1927
14 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Service
236 books119 followersThis author is the the British-Canadian writer of Yukon poetry. For the British historian of modern Russia, see Robert Service.
Robert William Service was born into a Scottish family while they were living in Preston, England. He was schooled in Scotland, attending Hillhead High School in Glasgow. He moved to Canada at the age of 21 when he gave up his job working in a Glasgow bank, and traveled to Vancouver Island, British Columbia with his Buffalo Bill outfit and dreams of becoming a cowboy.
He drifted around western North America, taking and quitting a series of jobs. Hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, he worked in a number of its branches before being posted to the branch in Whitehorse (not Dawson) in the Yukon Territory in 1904, six years after the Klondike Gold Rush. Inspired by the vast beauty of the Yukon wilderness, Service began writing poetry about the things he saw.
Conversations with locals led him to write about things he hadn't seen, many of which hadn't actually happened, as well. He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush, but his renown as a writer was already established.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Service.
Robert William Service was born into a Scottish family while they were living in Preston, England. He was schooled in Scotland, attending Hillhead High School in Glasgow. He moved to Canada at the age of 21 when he gave up his job working in a Glasgow bank, and traveled to Vancouver Island, British Columbia with his Buffalo Bill outfit and dreams of becoming a cowboy.
He drifted around western North America, taking and quitting a series of jobs. Hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, he worked in a number of its branches before being posted to the branch in Whitehorse (not Dawson) in the Yukon Territory in 1904, six years after the Klondike Gold Rush. Inspired by the vast beauty of the Yukon wilderness, Service began writing poetry about the things he saw.
Conversations with locals led him to write about things he hadn't seen, many of which hadn't actually happened, as well. He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush, but his renown as a writer was already established.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Service.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 17, 2025
Yes... finally finished! This is not uncompelling... i mean i was into it at many places but all of its good aspects tend to be in contrast to its basic nature.
The dna, heck the entire skeletal structure of this book is that of a turn-of-the-century dime-novel. Even though it was written and set after world war I. So everytime its a bit more gruesome, or more suspenseful, when it uses the press in a neat way or when its morality seems a tad more modern.. the mind is constantly comparing these to the expected and finding them better.
Of course since its not a dime-novel or at least not an early one much of that comparison is false. If compared to anything contemporary to it, it would do much worse.
Despite good parts it also hits every dime-novel trope you can think of. I don’t know if this was serialized but i hope so, as if not there is no excuse for its absurd length and structure.
The entire opening section has nothing to do with the House of Fear story which comes up later. A bit like Psycho or From Dusk till Dawn, the characters are getting away from one situation only to stumble across this bad place, (but handled much worse of course).
So to reiterate, a lot of good moments and twists, which however kind of even out with the more cliche and/or confused parts; and then the sheer length brings it down a star for me.
Made available by the Merril Collection.
The dna, heck the entire skeletal structure of this book is that of a turn-of-the-century dime-novel. Even though it was written and set after world war I. So everytime its a bit more gruesome, or more suspenseful, when it uses the press in a neat way or when its morality seems a tad more modern.. the mind is constantly comparing these to the expected and finding them better.
Of course since its not a dime-novel or at least not an early one much of that comparison is false. If compared to anything contemporary to it, it would do much worse.
Despite good parts it also hits every dime-novel trope you can think of. I don’t know if this was serialized but i hope so, as if not there is no excuse for its absurd length and structure.
The entire opening section has nothing to do with the House of Fear story which comes up later. A bit like Psycho or From Dusk till Dawn, the characters are getting away from one situation only to stumble across this bad place, (but handled much worse of course).
So to reiterate, a lot of good moments and twists, which however kind of even out with the more cliche and/or confused parts; and then the sheer length brings it down a star for me.
Made available by the Merril Collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review