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A review by gothlithoe
The City of the Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith
4.0
This collection is my first dive int Clark Ashton Smith and I am hooked on his writing after devouring these stories. It compiles a few stories from each of his worlds and it makes me want to explore the anthologies of those worlds.
The writing is definitely some of the most unique I’ve read and his prose is addictive. It combines dark themes with a lushly beautiful color pallet that evoke worlds similar to the French animated film “Fantastic Planet”. The worlds, creatures, and narrative structures, in these stories are wildly imaginative and the word choice is dense and intimidating.
My favorite story in this collection are the titular story, door to Saturn, and the Hunters from beyond. There were a couple stories that were less than impactful but that hardly detracts from the overall package of this collection.
Definitely read this if you are into dark fantasy and can stomach some dense and grotesquely poetic writing.
The writing is definitely some of the most unique I’ve read and his prose is addictive. It combines dark themes with a lushly beautiful color pallet that evoke worlds similar to the French animated film “Fantastic Planet”. The worlds, creatures, and narrative structures, in these stories are wildly imaginative and the word choice is dense and intimidating.
My favorite story in this collection are the titular story, door to Saturn, and the Hunters from beyond. There were a couple stories that were less than impactful but that hardly detracts from the overall package of this collection.
Definitely read this if you are into dark fantasy and can stomach some dense and grotesquely poetic writing.