The Night Land: Amazon.ca: William Hope Hodgson: Books

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It was the Joy of the Sunset that brought us to speech. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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5 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Flawed Gem, April 8 2008

By	M. Lynn Walker (Ritzville, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Night Land (Paperback)

Hodgson is like David Lindsay ("A Voyage to Arturus"): a terrible writer of leaden prose whose vision is nonetheless so astoundingly overpowering that it compels the reader despite the actual words in which that vision is expressed.

Hodgson dealt in horror, I am tempted to say "plain and simple", but Hodgson's horrors are anything but. "The House on the Borderland" is possibly his most distilled essence, though some of the Carnacki tales are also thoroughly shuddersome. But here, in "The Night Land", he has tinctured the sheer horror with that element of anomie and ages-long regret that Jack Vance later so successfully used in his masterly "Dying Earth".

If you carry on past the witless (and needless) "dream" opening, the florid language settles in and you can see past it to the monstrous world being painted. The effect is stunning. Had Hodgson's prose been only moderately better, he'd be remembered today as a master.

But make no mistake, flaws or not, this is indeed a masterpiece.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant..., Mar 21 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Night Land (Paperback)

Everyone raves about "The Lord of The Rings", but this is the real "grand-daddy" of the "modern" epic adventure. I read this for the first time when I was a young teen-ager (admittedly skipping the more "flowery" bits), and the book's dark and frightening imagery has haunted me ever since. I recently picked up an old copy and re-familiarized myself with it more thoroughly. Yes, the prose is repetitive, and Victorian in style, but it's all part of the experience. It takes a bit of discipline to plow through this tome, but it's worth it - knowing that you've completed reading so difficult and rewarding a book makes you feel good. Think about all the folks who have given up trying to wrestle with it..?! There are very few books written which are able to convey such senses of atmosphere and desolation. This is a book that you either like immensely, or hate completely. Hodgson was brilliant - what a shame that he died so young. Imagine if they made it into a film...WOW!

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3.0 out of 5 stars best setting ever, April 8 2003

By	jan erik storeb� (norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Night Land (Paperback)

the setting in this book is the most powerful in horror. the perversity of mankind's survival, a bleak image of itself, after the sun has died. the description of the land without sun. the intensity in man's life, forever surronded by monsters in a surronding land man has no chance in ever getting back. nothing in horror has affected me more than these horrible descriptions. the morbidity of man's survival. a world without sun. how can you destroy such a story? well, Hodgson can. a love story described in the most stupid way, endless repitions. i walked for two hours. i ate a tablet. i walked again for two hours. ate another tablet. i slept. please. this could have been the best book ever. sigh

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Dark Future
Disgruntled English students usually think they are suffering when they are made to read William Golding's "Lord of the Flies". Read more

Published on Feb 3 2003 by Greg Hughes

3.0 out of 5 stars Great premise but horribly written...
Hodgson's The Night Land (published in 1912) is frequently cited as one of the great masterpieces of horror and fantasy fiction. Read more

Published on April 26 2002