Arthur Machen (1863–1947)

A couple of times does that thing where it builds up and then when you think it's going to finally describe something, just cuts out. It's pretty pathetic, although I know a lot of people are cool with that sort of thing. To me it kind of blew the atmosphere. Which is a shame because it IS a very good atmosphere and it's pretty suspenseful. Even with that, though, it was enjoyable and I thought the ending was pretty alright considering it was of that style. Despite myself I was kept in suspense and if you don't mind anti-climaxes like that you'll enjoy this quite a bit I think. Good stuff slightly marred by a bit of poor writing.… (more)

A rather odd book. Lots of telling rather than showing, and lots of dialogue (especially expository dialogue), so that it feels like a drama half the time. I'd guess it was easily three-quarters dialogue.
This book felt as though Machen kept starting new stories and couldn't get anywhere so he pasted them together, or alternately it felt like the Chinese boxes mentioned in the story, like rooms within rooms.
On the whole interesting but a letdown of the first order. What exactly happened? We don't know because Machen left out all the good parts, so to speak.… (more)