My Kingdom for an Editor

The setting is very creatiwe and interesting, but the language is extremely tedious and the majority of the story is filled with trivial and repeditive details.

"And lo, it was that I took a step with my right food. And verily, this was followed by none other than the same from my left. And it was that mine right foot took a step again. And surely, my left did so too, as was proper. And verily, then my right foot stepped forward. And thence, the left of my two feet did move to be in front of the other.

"Then I killed ten monsters.

"And it was such that after the monsters were slain, I did to set about walking again. And lo, I took me a step with my right foot..."

-only slightly paraphrased

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

flawed but worth it.

very cool setting, love story is a little cringe at times, needed an editor but overall worth reading.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A flawed classic

Amazingly imaginative work. The narrator is very good for the difficult language and makes it flow despite itself. The misogyny of its age is very evident about three quarters of the way through the book, so be warned it is quite distasteful in some places. For those who would like to enjoy the imagination and the romance of the story without the archaic language and the misogyny, I recommend the reverent rewriting of the book: The Night Land: A Story Retold. I believe both books have their place. I read the revised book before I read this classic original and it really helped in parsing the direction and movement of the story. YMMV.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A Window Through Time; Past and Future

Love bridges millenia, endures the dying world, and saves them from the Night Land.

The Night Land is a relic unlike any other, a window into how the best and most poetic of our forebearers chose to see the future of the world they learned was finite. William Hodgson didn't accept that man would go quietly into the eternal night past the death of our sun, as he saw that even in his day men and women would endure impossibilities for the sake of love. The Night Land is a haunting tale set in our world after the sun has utterly set, and the remnants of humanity are beseiged by creatures of the eternal night. There are Monsters fallen to depths beyond Morlocks, interdimensional intelligences more demonic than mere alien, beastial abominations mocking the forms of their unfathomably distant ancestors and more, all watching and stalking the final redoubt of man.

It is in this distant, desolate, utterly dark and endlessly dangerous world that a doomed love from the past is reborn. A man dreams of a past life wherin his bride tragically died young, and uncovers tantalyzing hints that his beloved, Mirdath the beautiful, has been reborn in this new age of endless, perilous night. To reach her he will have to do what no man has survived an attempt to do in millions of years - he must leave the walls of the Last Redoubt of mankind, and venture forth to cross the Night Lands in search of his Mirdath.

Hodgson's Night Land is fantastic, haunting, and thoroughly poetic in its language, bordering on archaic. If you can imagine enjoying a story written in the vein of Milton with the influence of Lord Kelvin, this is the Night Land for you! If you enjoy the dying earth literary progeny of The Night Land, but prefer less arcane poetry in the prose, consider John C. Wright's Awake in the Night Lands as a worthy heir that captures the haunting Night Land world, but spends less time on the arcane poetry.

Every weird tale told in the past century contains at least a portion of the Night Land in its DNA, and fans of Dying Earth owe it to themselves to read this masterpiece that started it all. Hodgson, Lovecraft and Howard may get a bad rap from the mediocrities peddling sludge in today's book market, but they are the giants on whose shoulders stands every strange tale of weird fiction.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A dated, yet somewhat intriguing tale

It is easy to see why this tale stands out as a predecessor to contemporary science fiction and horror, much of it is filled superfluous commentary and dated tropes, though. The maiden is saved by the knight from the monsters. Updated with contemporary syntax and edited, this could be much better.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Tough read, but rewarding

What did you like best about The Night Land? What did you like least?

Easily, this book has one of the best concepts ever written, the idea of a future world where the sun has died and humanity holds out in a giant metallic pyramid, protected by some ill-understood force from mountain sized monsters and other crepuscular beasts is fantastic. But not only is the premise imaginative the world is full of, if not realistic detail, then at least overflows with romantic, at times sentimental, creativity. My favorite creatures being the watchers and the slugs. Truly for it's imagination it is deserving of broader recognition.

However, as much as I wanted to love this novel, the style interferes too much with enjoyment by any reader, especially a modern one. The romantic sentiment helps with the adventurous spirit and tone but weighs it down in other sections - especially the whole chapter dedicated to the seemingly insane coquettish behaviors of his beloved after he rescues her from the smaller redoubt. Those that might be inclined to the story's romantic aspect will no doubt be turned off by it's historical misogyny. The affected speech is not only foreign to modern ears but would have been ill-constructed in the period it was trying to imitate. This affected English is not only distracting, but really impedes a lot of the action, much to the books detriment.

By the end of the novel the listener will hate the phrases, "in verity" and "as you can know/imagine/comprehend/grasps etc."

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Night Land?

The opening scenes in the the Night Lands, chapter 2-3, where the world of the the Night Land is set down for you. Certainly there are cool monsters and journey and vistas, seas of fire and such, but for me at least, the initial introduction was the best.

Would you be willing to try another one of Drew Ariana’s performances?

Hard to tell it was hard to listen to the whole story, the voice sounds a bit monotone, but I feel a lot of that was more the text, and that there was very little anyone could have done to liven it up. At any rate he got me through the whole book, which I could never finish on my own so that is worth something. I supposed I might give him another shot.

Could you see The Night Land being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Unknowns, these characters belong in a romantic and adventurous period that most major actors would look out of place in. Best you could maybe hope for is a Sean Bean type character but even he wouldn't really fit.

Maybe Ray Winstone?

Any additional comments?

Definitely for fans or students of weird fiction, not for the general consumption. It is a very tough read, and at time may make you drowsy, but if you can stand the monotone and try to re imagine what is at times poorly described, it becomes very impressive and rewarding.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

A perfect example of audio benefits

This would have been a more challenging book to read. Written when it was and in the style it was - the language used was odd to this modern reader. Hearing it read was far more interesting and, once past a couple chapters, both understood and enjoyed.

A classic book that is oft cited as an influence on Lovecraft - this story is about a journey through a horrific future land for love.

Obviously dated - some elements might be tough for today. Especially attitudes and action between the sexes. In that regard, it’s not a very enlightened perspective of the future. The woman is still portrayed as weak, in need of protection, and generally as property to be managed - sometimes using violence.

Historical context aside, the portrait of the nightland is nightmarish and horrific. With a little imagination, listening to this book will transport you to a place you do not want to be! Yet - you want to join the protagonist in the journey once invested.

For some reason, in addition to Lovecraft - I kept thinking this read a little like a Conan novel. With an archetype hero, helpless maiden, and monsters in all directions.

Fun book to listen to. I’m glad to be safely back.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

A good idea, not a good book

What would have made The Night Land better?

There's no plot, and the style is clumsy. It would need significant editing (like The Dream of X), and more than the single character that exists now.

Would you ever listen to anything by William Hope Hodgson again?

Probably not. There's too many accomplished, artful writers in the world for me to be in the business of giving second chances to a man who squandered 500 pages.

What about Drew Ariana’s performance did you like?

It was articulate, even, and as smooth and responsive as the text allowed. He wasn't given a lot to work with.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The book's historical significance is its redemption, and the reason I read it. H.P. Lovecraft has inherited an unearned reputation of having given birth to "cosmic horror" from nothing. In reality, you can see all the best elements of his work in "The Night Land," and "The Gods of Pagana." To the extent anyone's interested in Lovecraft, either of these would be rewarding reads.

Additionally, there's something satisfyingly bleak about the dead world, the "House of Silence," and the Watchers that seem to exist and react along geological time scales.

Any additional comments?

It's impossible to discuss the book without noting, at least in passing, the incredible misogyny animating its internal morality. This is unfortunate. If I remember correctly, there are more uses of the term "maid" than there are pages in the standard publication.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

With natural language this may have been a favorite of mine

There are parts of this book that are absolutely brilliant. There are setting details that make me marvel and want to visit this world and see it more closely. If only all the excess fat of this book wasn't there.
This book is more experiment than anything. The author chooses to write in a purposely alien way of speaking emulating an old fashioned but unique way of speaking and while this works okay when describing alien features of the world, most of the book is describing the romance between the protagonist and his love.
I think they are horrible to and for each other, and if I could speak to them I would advise both to break their romance off immediately and go work on themselves, but that is not really the point.
The point is the experimental use of language gets irritating after a while and doubly so when the protagonist is expressing his undying love.
If the author was to take most of the romantic plot out, use a more natural writing style with perhaps small snippets of the experimental language here and there I think this book would be a favorite of mine, but as it stands, I did not enjoy it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Monstrous Meandering Unfathomable Obscurity

I have never come across a book of this sort. It is essentially a meandering account of one man’s quest to recover a lost love set in an incomprehensible future where the sun has been extinguished. Told in a sing-song prose and using language evocative of Shakespeare it sounds like an epic poem. Personally I did not find this to be a successful attempt at relating a quasi-Science Fiction tale is the format of an Elizabethan love poem. The repetition of many terms takes on the quality of poetic meter at times but to me revealed the lack of imagination of the author in selecting more descriptive words.

The narrator, Drew Ariana, is well suited to this material. He has a quaint accent that is not quite English in character but resonates with the echoes of a past era and is the sole reason that I persevered until the end. In whole, this is a bizarre listening experience that I can find none else with which to compare.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful