The Night Land and Other Romances

Is it science fiction? Is it fantasy? Is it romance? Is it written in a weird fake archaic English? It's all this and more...

Seriously, The Night Land is a marvelous but flawed apocalyptic novel, flawed through its over-reliance on repetitious and dated romantic sequences and its quasi-archaic language (you get used to it after awhile). It also will offend those who cannot put aside its treatment of women.

It is truly very weird and creepy in parts particularly during the "outward" half of the book. It shows a unique perspective and and imagination on a post-apocalyptic world. The protagonist is engaging although tends to be repetitive.

The rest of the "romances" in this book are of their time but I found them more interesting than I show more anticipated. In any case they are easy reads. show less

DNF. The quasi-archaic style is reminiscent of Lord Dunsany or William Morris. I got about halfway through the novel (The Night Land) and lost interest. The journey of the protagonist just went on and on, the same things happening over and over. I skipped to the short stories which were included at the end. They weren't bad, but they weren't particularly memorable. I prefer Hodgson's nautical fiction, or The House on the Borderlands.

His terrible writing style is a challenge, but his imagination is totally unique.