Reviews

The Novel of the Black Seal by Arthur Machen

qalminator's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable work, which clearly influenced some of Lovecraft's oeuvre. It shares with Lovecraft the near-passive observer, the things man was not meant to wot of, and the oddly abrupt ending, but does them all much better than Lovecraft usually managed.

We have Miss Lally, about to let herself starve to death rather than tax her brother's thin resources, oddly rescued by Professor Gregg (who intimates something more than chance in their meeting, but this was never satisfactorily addressed), and initiated into the mysteries of the Black Seal. Partially, of course, because someone needs to survive to tell the story.

Be warned that there is some casual racism here and there. "Sallow" changelings, a mysterious child (implied to be the result of rape) has olive skin and dark eyes, "gipsies" with connections to the mystery. It's mostly the sort of in-built cultural assumption you might expect from a white Englishman of the time period, and no where near as bad as Lovecraft's, but it is a bit off-putting.

alishaforeverev's review against another edition

3.0

I suspect, in fact, that most of this story will slip out of my head within a couple of weeks, leaving only the image of a half-transformed slime fairy changeling flailing with his tentacles to plague my snail-phobic brain.

nooker's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

You definitely should read this if you like Lovecraft.