BOOK REVIEW: The Gods of HP Lovecraft, Edited by Aaron J French
The Gods of HP Lovecraft
Edited by Aaron J. French
I’m not quite sure if this is a book I should have physically read in print rather than listened to. That’s sometimes the trouble with audiobooks. I think, as well, it’s not the best way to experience an anthology, at least not with one single narrator. Eventually, I’ll maybe pick up a physical (or digital, at least) copy of this, as reading it might be a different experience. The print version, too, has illustrations with the stories, which could have an impact.
Considering the names involved in this, I was expecting it to be much, much stronger, and it’s mainly the number of excellent authors that drew me to it. One touch I did like were the descriptions of the various gods. The narrator was David Stifel, and though he does a great job with the small sections about the gods his actual story narration was…a bit too dry.
There’s a weird habit some narrators seem to have, too, of trying to force a more ‘feminine’ voice for women characters, and most of the time it comes out sounding strange, usually a bit whiney. It can get distracting.
There were a small amount of stories that stood out to me as being particularly good, but overall I found this anthology to be a bit middling. “Rattled” by Douglass Wynne, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” by Jonathan Maberry and “A Dying of the Light” by Rachel Caine were all really solid stories.
Again, it might be because I listened to the audio version I didn’t quite connect as deeply to this, and for those diehard Mythos fans I think it’s still worth checking out. Still, overall not a great experience, so reach for the print or digital rather than audio version.
Grade: C
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
I purchased this book on Audible.
