Ebrietas’s Reviews > Let the Old Dreams Die: Stories > Status Update

Majken was another memorable and interesting story in the collection, possibly my favorite so far. I think Eternal/Love is a good example of Lindqvist's knack for subdued supernatural horror and Majken is moreso a demonstration of character exploration and the banal horror of reality itself.

Read Itsy Bitsy and The Substitute. The Substitute is another worthwhile read among this collection, but Itsy Bitsy feels half-written.

I just finished Equinox and so far it's the best story (out of the first three).

I just finished reading Village in the Sky and it feels like an inside joke that I haven't quite caught onto yet. That's the only good explanation for why I found it laughable that doesn't feed my disappointment.

I finished reading The Border and feel bemused. Though its concept of a humanoid race of insects and body horror is interesting, I'm ultimately ambivalent. The genderbending aligns with the use of an ovipositor as reproduction but it remains unclear to me why the choice of having the gender presentation be swapped was made -- is this gender non-conforming supposed to add to the horror?

I'm still on the first story and already appreciating the character-driven escalation of the uncanny. A focus on the human experience in which the weird, uncanny, and horrifying is embedded is part of what I love about Lovecraft's work.