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Titus Crow #3-4
Titus Crow, Volume 2: The Clock of Dreams; Spawn of the Winds
Titus Crow and his faithful companion and record-keeper fight the gathering forces of darkness-the infamous and deadly Elder Gods of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu and his dark minions are bent on ruling the earth. A few puny humans cannot possibly stand against these otherworldly evil gods, yet time after time, Titus Crow drives the monsters back into the dark from whence they came. Volume Two contains two full novels, The Clock of Dreams and Spawn of the Winds .
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
3 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Brian Lumley
444 books1,353 followersBrian Lumley was born near Newcastle. In 22 years as a Military Policeman he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin, as well as Cyprus in partition days. He reached the rank of Sergeant-Major before retiring to Devon to write full-time, and his work was first published in 1970. The vampire series, 'Necroscope', has been translated into ten languages and sold over a million copies worldwide.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 20, 2021
I have heard a lot of negative reviews about these two stories in online Lovecraftian communities, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. The adherence to lovecraftian themes of fantastic and horrible vistas, humankind's insignificance in the face of what drifts between the stars, pulp action/dialogue, and the spiral into madness are all very well done. Additionally, the author has managed to work in a titanic struggle between good and evil with humankind as pawns that occasionally do something somewhat significant. I also really liked the journal/official report style of storytelling, it gave the tales no small element of realism in spite of the fantastic nature of the settings. Lastly, the author maintains a high level of language which is a writing quality that I really enjoy reading.
July 22, 2020
I'm having a hard time getting into the Titus Crow novels. The short stories were great, some of the best Lovecraftian horror I've ever read. But the novels, as other readers have stated, are pulp adventure and not really horror. It's more fantasy than anything else. And Spawn of the Winds isn't even about Titus Crow, although it is firmly set in the same universe, although that term is relative in this series as there are many universes.
I don't really like the "humanizing" of the Great Old Ones. It just seems like they are given too many human like qualities to get across the alien horror that I've always associated with them.
I feel like I'm slogging through these rather than truly enjoying them, but they are just good enough I'll go ahead and read the last book in the series.
Overall this is okay, but this isn't what I'd call horror. This is fantasy/pulp adventure. If that's your thing give these a shot, but if you're looking for horror look elsewhere.
I don't really like the "humanizing" of the Great Old Ones. It just seems like they are given too many human like qualities to get across the alien horror that I've always associated with them.
I feel like I'm slogging through these rather than truly enjoying them, but they are just good enough I'll go ahead and read the last book in the series.
Overall this is okay, but this isn't what I'd call horror. This is fantasy/pulp adventure. If that's your thing give these a shot, but if you're looking for horror look elsewhere.
May 27, 2012
Giving Great Cthulhu a "good" twin brother is kind of daft. Not really compelling as the tale should be considering the scope of it. Not exactly a page turner like most lovecrafts works. This is sort of Lovecraft for D&D players.
November 20, 2019
The Adventures of Marty Stu and the Super Friends versus the Forces of Evil.
May 27, 2017
Clock of Clock of Dreams
By Brian Lumley
Narrated by Simon Vance
The Story of Titus Crow Continues...
Well, it’s more a story of Titus’s friend and Titus just happens to be in it… a lot.
In my typical review style, I don’t waste a bunch of space telling a synopsis of the book, but focus on the storytelling/plot direction. Spotting spelling, word usage and typo’s should be left for the editors. (Not that there was much of a problem with that for this installment of the Titus Crow series.) The story is the thing!
I had always associated the Clock with the TARDIS from Doctor Who, but with a more intense control device/interface. With this ‘issue,’ I was surprised to see a marked change. In the past, the main character/s had relied upon their cleverness and luck, but now it seems to have an added feature. My worry that this ‘feature’ would turn into a deus ex machina filled me with dread. It did for a little bit. That said, I can say that there was enough other tense and exciting moments to curl your toes and widen your eyes to more than make up for it.
As for the characters… and the dreamers and the inhabitants of the Dreamlands the story mainly covers, I was disappointed that Lumley didn’t make more use of the abilities of the goddess Tiana (Titus’s girlfriend). Considering her background and, what should have been extraordinary abilities to rival that of even Titus Crow, she fell upon the age-old stereotype of the helpless damsel (who tends to lose her clothing). While the initial reason for the story and Titus’ best friends’ involvement was based on an unlikely event happening in Dreamland, it did make for an exciting overall story.
Yes, there were some underpowering of the Cthulhu family. As speculation on my part, this might be due to the strictures put on the actual mechanics that the Dreamlands are built upon. Victories came just a tad too easily against some of the power powerful of their types. But the most disappointing part was the final encounter became the ultimate of deus ex machine (not related to the ‘the feature’ mentioned). Again, I can only point a victory given because of the fabric of the Dreamlands and the physical presence of the Clock. Otherwise, the battle there would have gone on for another book. The next book, ‘Spawn of the Winds’ seems to be somewhat of an answer to the dilemma above.
Now, a quick word about the audiobook version of this book. Simon Vance. Honestly, I’m thinking he could make any book sound amazing. I know he’s been doing this for years, but Wow (notice the capitalization)! Pronunciation King! These are some of the most difficult words to say and he breezed through them like they were part of his everyday vocabulary. Everything was clear and distinct and there was never a question of intent or chosen word. Very Classy Gent.
I’m looking forward to reviewing more by this amazing team of Lumley and Vance.
By Brian Lumley
Narrated by Simon Vance
The Story of Titus Crow Continues...
Well, it’s more a story of Titus’s friend and Titus just happens to be in it… a lot.
In my typical review style, I don’t waste a bunch of space telling a synopsis of the book, but focus on the storytelling/plot direction. Spotting spelling, word usage and typo’s should be left for the editors. (Not that there was much of a problem with that for this installment of the Titus Crow series.) The story is the thing!
I had always associated the Clock with the TARDIS from Doctor Who, but with a more intense control device/interface. With this ‘issue,’ I was surprised to see a marked change. In the past, the main character/s had relied upon their cleverness and luck, but now it seems to have an added feature. My worry that this ‘feature’ would turn into a deus ex machina filled me with dread. It did for a little bit. That said, I can say that there was enough other tense and exciting moments to curl your toes and widen your eyes to more than make up for it.
As for the characters… and the dreamers and the inhabitants of the Dreamlands the story mainly covers, I was disappointed that Lumley didn’t make more use of the abilities of the goddess Tiana (Titus’s girlfriend). Considering her background and, what should have been extraordinary abilities to rival that of even Titus Crow, she fell upon the age-old stereotype of the helpless damsel (who tends to lose her clothing). While the initial reason for the story and Titus’ best friends’ involvement was based on an unlikely event happening in Dreamland, it did make for an exciting overall story.
Yes, there were some underpowering of the Cthulhu family. As speculation on my part, this might be due to the strictures put on the actual mechanics that the Dreamlands are built upon. Victories came just a tad too easily against some of the power powerful of their types. But the most disappointing part was the final encounter became the ultimate of deus ex machine (not related to the ‘the feature’ mentioned). Again, I can only point a victory given because of the fabric of the Dreamlands and the physical presence of the Clock. Otherwise, the battle there would have gone on for another book. The next book, ‘Spawn of the Winds’ seems to be somewhat of an answer to the dilemma above.
Now, a quick word about the audiobook version of this book. Simon Vance. Honestly, I’m thinking he could make any book sound amazing. I know he’s been doing this for years, but Wow (notice the capitalization)! Pronunciation King! These are some of the most difficult words to say and he breezed through them like they were part of his everyday vocabulary. Everything was clear and distinct and there was never a question of intent or chosen word. Very Classy Gent.
I’m looking forward to reviewing more by this amazing team of Lumley and Vance.
June 29, 2024
This is the second Volume of Lumley's Titus Crow series and includes Titus Crow # 3 and 4 in the series.
I was not a fan of these two When I decided to try the Crow series it was for 2 main reasons: 1) I love Lumley's Necroscope Series and I am about 12 books deep into that and 2) I was very curious about the direction Lumley would take regarding HPL's Cthulhu mythos.
The first book in the Crow series was GREAT. it was exactly what I wanted. It had the cosmic horror I was looking for as well as an expanded universe of Cthulhu and his minions while all taking place on Earth with human lives in the balance. However, since then it seems that this series isnt so much connected to the Cthulhu mythos as it is HPL's Dreamland mythos So, its not something I am getting into.
Book 3- The Clock of Dreams- Finds Titus Crow and his goddess/lover Tiania in the Dreamlands . they have been captured by an Entity of Cthulhu followes, Fly By Night. Crow's friend Henri manages to use the Clock to travel to the dreamland. he saves Titus and Tiania and they all save the Dreamland inhabitants from Fly By Night and his followers the Men of Leng. We also see Randolph Carter here who is a highly respectable member of the Dreamlands now.
Book 4- Spawn of the Winds- is a adventure / romantic fantasy that does not Include Titus Crow or his Friends at all. Instead it does show us the Wilmarth Foundation duo of Hank and Juanita who communicate telepathically. Hank and his friends, along with star stones, take a plane to hunt down Ithaqua. They find themselves transported into a world that is run by Ithaqua. They make friends with an uprising of people led by Ithaquas daughter. Hank and Ithaquas daughter fall in love. A war ensues against both parties, complete with weather weapons, giant bears and wolves ridden by humans fighters and star stones. Hank relays the story by to the Wilmarth Foundation through Juanita. in the end, Juanita wasnt warned in time.
3 stars
I was not a fan of these two When I decided to try the Crow series it was for 2 main reasons: 1) I love Lumley's Necroscope Series and I am about 12 books deep into that and 2) I was very curious about the direction Lumley would take regarding HPL's Cthulhu mythos.
The first book in the Crow series was GREAT. it was exactly what I wanted. It had the cosmic horror I was looking for as well as an expanded universe of Cthulhu and his minions while all taking place on Earth with human lives in the balance. However, since then it seems that this series isnt so much connected to the Cthulhu mythos as it is HPL's Dreamland mythos So, its not something I am getting into.
Book 3- The Clock of Dreams- Finds Titus Crow and his goddess/lover Tiania in the Dreamlands . they have been captured by an Entity of Cthulhu followes, Fly By Night. Crow's friend Henri manages to use the Clock to travel to the dreamland. he saves Titus and Tiania and they all save the Dreamland inhabitants from Fly By Night and his followers the Men of Leng. We also see Randolph Carter here who is a highly respectable member of the Dreamlands now.
Book 4- Spawn of the Winds- is a adventure / romantic fantasy that does not Include Titus Crow or his Friends at all. Instead it does show us the Wilmarth Foundation duo of Hank and Juanita who communicate telepathically. Hank and his friends, along with star stones, take a plane to hunt down Ithaqua. They find themselves transported into a world that is run by Ithaqua. They make friends with an uprising of people led by Ithaquas daughter. Hank and Ithaquas daughter fall in love. A war ensues against both parties, complete with weather weapons, giant bears and wolves ridden by humans fighters and star stones. Hank relays the story by to the Wilmarth Foundation through Juanita. in the end, Juanita wasnt warned in time.
3 stars
May 19, 2023
If there is one thing I have to say about Brian Lumley, it's that his imagination is limitless. This continues on with the legacy of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos Dreamlands, where the titular Crow adventures through said Dreamlands. I knocked this down a star because the second book didn't have de Marigny nor Crow himself, but was just a tale of Ithaqua. Where I found it interesting, the other star was taken away because Lumley tends to make things a little "too" much his own. There is too much humanization of the Elder Gods in these books, and a little too much diversion from their original intent. Still they are fun adventures, and I'm interested to see how Lumley finishes off the Crow series.
January 15, 2025
Titus Crow and his faithful companion and record-keeper fight the gathering forces of darkness-the infamous and deadly Elder Gods of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu and his dark minions are bent on ruling the earth. A few puny humans cannot possibly stand against these otherworldly evil gods, yet time after time, Titus Crow drives the monsters back into the dark from whence they came. Volume Two contains two full novels, The Clock of Dreams and Spawn of the Winds.
July 7, 2021
Much better than volume 1. I did not mind The Clock Of Dreams, as it toned down the Whovian elements of the grandfather clock, and was an okay Dreamlands story. I really liked Spawn of the Winds... was more like something R. E. Howard would write.
December 29, 2015
Whereas Lumley's hero Titus Crow features in what I would classify as horror short stories, when Lumley brought Crow into novels, the tone shifted quickly from horror to pulp adventure fantasy with occult touches. That trend continues strongly in this volume.
So, if you're looking for horror, you need to look elsewhere. But it you want to read some fantasy action pulp adventure, then The Clock of Dreams and Spawn of the Winds fit the bill.
So, if you're looking for horror, you need to look elsewhere. But it you want to read some fantasy action pulp adventure, then The Clock of Dreams and Spawn of the Winds fit the bill.
June 19, 2013
Great Cthulhu Mythos read in an August Derleth vain. If you like the mythos, a must read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews