Good, purposefully 'pulpy' horror stories.

Great stories, an interesting play-off between the horror of racism and, you know, Lovecraft stuff. Purposefully pulpy, so don't expect high-brow literature. But very entertaining and enjoyable.

The narrator is great. I almost didn't buy this book because of the reviewers suggesting the 'robotic' narrator, who made it difficult to understand who was speaking. Nonsense, he's great and these people need their ears checked.

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Great collection of stories

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Both the stories and story telling was great. My only criticism would be that since most heroes are of African descent, they would probably do better with using a narrator who doesn't have to act the voices as much. Having said that the narrator did a great job anyway but it almost feels like "blackface".

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Awesome, a wonderful book

Sci-fi adventure sit in the deep south, a truly wonderful book I wish there was a sequel.

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1 person found this helpful

Many tales sublimely crafted

As a fan of Lovecraft, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this book which came highly recommended. Glad I went with it! Evocative and clever, never shying away from the realities of the experiences of the main protagonists and giving the reader food for thought as well as some great Lovecraftian horrors.

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6 people found this helpful

Different in many ways to the TV show.

I actually enjoyed the historical meandering and the harsh realities faced by African Americans during that period. loved the supernatural elements of the story.

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Amazing, Gripping, Couldnt put it down

stumbled across the book after watching the TV series and blown away. The series is good but the book is so much better and more in depth! Hopefully this introduces people to write cosmic horror stories in a new perspective

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3 people found this helpful

Wonderful

Basically a collection of short stories with an overall story arc, this is a book I didn’t really want to end. Each story fleshes out the universe the author has created using lovecraftian tropes as backdrop. It’s also a stark reminder of the systemic racism that African Americans suffered in 50s America.

I don’t understand the hatred for the narration as it sounded ok to me.

A fantastic book.

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2 people found this helpful

Sooo goood

Wonderful book, it's a ride from start to finish! I wish it didn't end. I hope there's going to be a sequel or something I want to know more about these interesting people's lives. Fictional but oh so real, truly grounded Sci fi brilliance

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3 people found this helpful

Excellent book

Brilliant book, I bought it on hearing about the TV series, so glad I listened to this first as I could not stand the direction the TV series went, but this is brilliant, chilling in more ways than one, gripping and exciting and all wrapped up brilliantly

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A purging of the shadow of Lovecraft

Inspired - think you Matt Ruff for turning my head around from somebody who grew up with those old cartoons and science fiction a b-movies and giving us a platform to explore the real horrors of our society. This is such a clever use of Lovecraftian mythos which is down played compared to the real horror of the Jim Crow years and the racism within all science fiction.
I knew about Lovecraft and his pernicious anti Semitic and racist views and consequently I felt very ambivalent reading his work as I tried to concentrate on the plot. However I felt the true horror was how people of colour and other ethnicities were portrayed and how the white Northern European male’s were the harbingers of logic and scientific thought - I think there is a bit about that in the first story of Lovecraft Country.
With this in mind and the fact that I had very little understanding in the way of abject horrendous oppression that happened before and during the Jim Crow Years in America until I had listened to this. I appreciated how Matt Ruff tunes down the horror of Yog Sothoth (the very name sounds like a racial slur whilst having a toffee stuck in your mouth at the same time!) and educates the listener to the real horror which explores the issue and attitudes of racist thinking prevalent in our Western Society. All this without being preachy. This I believe is fiction writing at it’s best because it changed my view of the world and makes me think “... it doesn’t have to be this way...” to quote Ursula LeGuin.

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