366 pages
English language
Published Nov. 15, 2017
"Two decades ago the U.S. Government rounded up the people of Innsmouth and took them to a desert prison, far from their ocean, their Deep One ancestors, and their sleeping god, Cthulhu. Only Aphra and Caleb Marsh survived the camps, emerging without a past or a future. Now it's 1949, and the government that stole Aphra's life needs her help. FBI Agent Ron Spector believes that Communist spies have stolen dangerous magical secrets from Miskatonic University, secrets that could turn the Cold War hot in an instant and hasten the end of the human race. Aphra must return to the ruins of her home, gather the scraps of her stolen history, and assemble a new family to face the darkest of human politics and the wildest dangers of an uncaring universe"--
The five stars are really six stars; alternatively I should go back and rescore a lot of my past reading to make room. The empathy and sensibility in this perspective-flip of Lovecraft’s canon lends a strong emotional grip to an already captivating plot.
I cant wait to read more from Emrys!
Disclaimer: I’ve not read any Lovecraft. But that’s why I feel like I can say: you don’t need to know the mythology to enjoy this story. Ultimately, this is a classic tale of a girl going through Some Shit (tm) and building up some family along the way. She just happens to be related to the Deep Ones. 🤷♀️ Audiobook narration is excellent.
Fascinating expansion of Lovecraft.
Now this is how it's done. A pitch-perfect Lovecraft story with a lot of nuance, a lot of heart, and a healthy dose of thoughtfulness about race, gender, sexuality, morality, and where we draw the line between humans and monsters. Come for the eldritch horrors, stay for the suspense-filled race to find the right book in the library before it falls into the wrong hands!
This book was meh. It wasn't bad per se, just dull - the plot never seemed to go anywhere.
I appreciate the idea of rehabbing Lovecraft's mythology, but I'm less sure if you can be contra-Lovecraft without being contra-Lovecraftian. I don't think the cosmic horrors or mysterious cults work once they're well explained, and it begins to feel like a pastiche. Similarly, although likeable, Aphra feels like a character out of place.
This is a remarkably poignant story told from the perspective of a survival of a brutal US Military massacre. And who just happens to be a worshiper of the Old Ones. This is perhaps the best of the recent Lovecraftian works.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-little-nervous-from-fall.html
