The King In Yellow

by Robert W. Chambers

eBook

English language

Published Jan. 19, 2017 by Standard Ebooks.

(9 reviews)

The King in Yellow is a fascinating, almost two-faced work. The first half consists of five legendary weird tales, loosely tied together by a fictional play—the eponymous King in Yellow—that drives those who read it mad. Celebrated by authors like H. P. Lovecraft and Lin Carter, these stories are classic tales of madness, despair, and strange happenings.

With the fifth tale the reader finds a sort of palate-cleansing collection of short prose-poems leading into the last four stories, which take a sharp turn away from the weird and into the romantic. The concluding tales are set in the Parisian art world.

In modern times The King in Yellow enjoys a reputation largely due to the strength of its first half of macabre tales, but by no means does that make the second half less enjoyable. Both halves are written in a quick, light prose style that demonstrates why Chambers was …

2 editions

mikerickson reviewed The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

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3 stars

R.I.P. Robert Chambers; you would've loved House of Leaves.

It was interesting to read something that so strongly felt dated (women kind of exist as tools to push the plot along with no agency of their own) and yet simultaneously contemporary (freaky, difficult-to-describe events that go beyond just a simple monster or threatening individual; kinda reminded me of China Miéville). Having already sampled some of Lovecraft's works, I could clearly see the influences in this book. Also the audiobook version narrated by Peter Yearsley was sufficiently creepy and nailed the unsettling tone.