Customer Reviews

The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft

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Most of the stories in this anthology adopt the trappings of Lovecraft's tales, but none of the style. The most loyal of the bunch is China Mieville's entry. The remainder of the tales drop names or refer to classic tales to remind the reader of the nature of the anthology. A few of the tales, such as "A Victorian Pot Dresser," begin well, but soon decend into stadard horror cliches, with tight little endings that follow standard movie logic. What's missing, what's forgotten, is that most of the dread that Lovecraft evoked in his stories came not from the events in themselves, but from the greater implications of those events -- the knowledge that humanity is supremely insignificant is the wider world and, despite the realization of this horror, we can never understand why, the very nature of reality being invisible to our inferior biology and intellect. Most of these stories skip such implications and head straight for the gruesome monsters and the spattering blood with a near-complete lack of subtlety.

Best to skip this one and stick with older material, if not Lovecraft himself. Most of the anthologies published by Chaosium are far superior.

The contributors, including China Mieville, avoid most of the pitfalls of Lovecraft's successors. If anything, they fall in the smae traps as he did! Writing Cthulhu mythos stories is very difficult. While no story exactly fails, very few bring you to the brink of insanity either. Some stories, like "Details", "Meet me on the other side", and "Parameters and Principles" soars. At its worst this book helps bring back memories of those magic days of terror when you could read the real thing, and for that I really like it.

It is about time that a superior Cthulhu anthology begins collecting stories from across the Pond. The stories and authors do Lovecraft proud and the fact most are set in contemporary times, is definately an added bonus. If you are a Lovecraftian as opposed to a Cthulhuian, this is the anthology for you and you are interest in updating the Mythos to near times, as opposed to the 1920s...GO BUY THIS BOOK, you will not be disappointed.

This is a superior anthology of cosmic horror, unspoiled that had me turning every page. I can only hope that we will see more.

HPL died in 1937. This book was published last year. He did NOT edit it. If he did, the contents would have been much better than the tripe contained therein.

Lovecraft may be dead for sometime now but he manages to live on through other authors who have taken his work to a whole other level. I had purchased this book as I had others just knowing that I would enjoy it. I certainly did and the stories relate in one way or another to Lovecrafts works. Sometimes you have to know what Lovecraft wrote about,others you do not so it can be for a Lovecraft fan or a horror fan. There are a few that have nothing to do with Lovecrafts work but I wont hold it against them. Ultamitly it is up to you to decide if you really like or dislike the scary, strange world that Lovecraft has opened up for us all to see.

This new anthology is one of the best of recent Cthulhu Mythos literature, 21 exceptional stories that are fresh, imaginative and most of them quite witty. These are not run of the mill pastiches. The writers attempt to provide a different approach to the material, and for the most part are quite successful. Among the best ones are: "The Cabin in the Woods" by Richard Laymon, "Sour Places" by Mark Chadbourn, "The Firebrand Symphony" by Brian Hodge, "Princpals and Parameters" by Meredith L. Patterson and (if you like a good "joke" story) "Are you Loathsome Tonight?" by Poppy Z. Brite. The last one is an Elvis Presley Mythos tale. The recent, exceptionasl new book "The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography" has a chapter on mythos tales that could be successfully adapted to the screen. Well some of the tales in this new anthology could also apply to this category as well. "Children of Cthulhu" clearly shows that the Cthulhu Mythos is not moribund, but is continuing to grow in new directions. Recommended!

Del Rey books hops on the HP Lovecraft bandwagon with this less than stellar anthology. Many big authors are present, but there is a notable lack--the feel of a Cthulhu mythos tale is absent from every single one of these tales. Lovecraft fans many want to stick to the work done by Chaosium and editor Robert M. Price--a fellow who really knows how to assemble an HPL-inspired anthology. Sadly, CHILDREN OF CTHULHU is an overpriced addition to this subgenre that doesn't make the grade.

The authors of this collection do an excellent job of using Lovecraft's themes (alienation, atavism, family secrets, the true horrific nature of the cosmos) and his influences (Dunsany, Machen, Poe) while for the most part avoiding cliched devices and plots.

While there are stories set in Arkham or involving Shub-Niggurath (to cite two examples), the stories are interesting in their own right, rather than being excuses to add new lore. Horror is a constant element, with some stories sliding over into science-fiction or fantasy, and there's variation in how the narrative is structured, in the voice of the narrator and the prose styling.

This is going to be the anthology to beat in the field of Mythos fiction.

THE CHILDREN OF CTHULHU is an engaging horror anthology written by many of the more popular genre authors of the last decade. The twenty-three contributors provide entertaining tales that would not turn HP Lovecraft over in his grave as many Cthulu "experts" do. However, though the stories engage the audience and are fun to read, they don't feel like a visit to that weird Lovecraft mythverse. As an aside to the editors: "if it ain't broke", cost it anyway because you still may find a bigger payback. This short story collection provides a big payback to horror fans, but Lovecraft fanatics will feel another let down as the original remains undisputedly the best even after seven decades of "fixing it".

Harriet Klausner