At the Mountains of Madness book review: A Cold Day in Hell

My review of H. P. Lovecraft's short classic cosmic horror novel At the Mountains of Madness, which tells of an ill-fated Antarctic exploratory expedition which uncovers evidence of an ancient alien civilization which predates history, and one that might not be wholly dead.
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[@lukagacio4103]

I‘m pleasantly surprised by this video since I just finished the story myself and had to watch some content about it. I think it’s definitely one of his best stories, even though it’s a bit to long and descriptive for my taste. I loved the last third and the ideas of the book but I still think that „the shadow out of time“ and „the haunter of the dark“ are his best stories.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Unfortunately, the Lovecraft box set that I have, of which this volume is a part, lacks those stories. :( Which is a shame, because I've heard good things about The Shadow Out of Time. As for At the Mountains of Madness though, I can see why this is one of his most prominent works. :)

[@SmallSpaceCorgi]

One of the first Lovecraft stories I ever read, and still a favorite. I loved the whole history of the Old Ones-- that part was wonderful. And this did send me to read Poe's "Arthur Gordon Pym".

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

This was truly quintessential Lovecraft. And kind of a focal point for his body of work overall.

[@SmallSpaceCorgi]

@@TH3F4LC0Nx You're right. This is the story that crosses over most of the main streams of his universe-- and it makes his work more sci-fi than simple horror.

[@SmallSpaceCorgi]

I hope that you'll also review Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"-- maybe his longest work, and set in part in 18th-c. Providence. An old favorite. It's been done in 2 films-- "The Haunted Palace" from the 1960s, and another (less campy, more modern) version in the late 1980s, but it needs to done in a version that takes the source material seriously.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I really would like to read that, but that book, probably because of its length, doesn't usually come in most Lovecraft collections that I've seen. But I'm definitely game for giving it a go someday. :)

[@someobserver844]

Ngl, from the Lovecraft stories people actually know and like, this may well be my least favorite. As usual with Lovecraft, the build up is very good; but to me, the story basically drops dead at the point where we get this giant info dump from the reliefs they find. The pacing grinds to halt, but what's even worse is that the entire section is an insane break from the scientific realism that characterizes the preceding parts of the story. I mean, it took decades (if not centuries, depending on how you want to look at it) to figure out what egyptian hyrogliephs actually mean. But this guy can decode the art of an alien species (that was puportedly way more advanced than humanity will ever be, mind you) in such a precise way because he read the Necronomicon once? Seriously? This backround information also humanizes the aliens, ironically. Isn't there even some short aside about their preferences in home decoration or something? Clark Ashton Smith was the better writer who was published in the pulps, as Lovecraft himself would have agreed. CAS has his flaws too, plenty of them; but he never overreached himself and turned out a really confused end product the way HPL did with this novella.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Lol, I was thinking the same thing when the narrator just happened to decipher the extensive alien history. XD Yeah, that was definitely reaching, but I did find the backstory pretty cool, personally. I haven't read any Clark Ashton Smith though, but I may have to give some of his work a go sometime. Maybe next Halloween season. ;)