Mare Somniorum

“At the mountains of madness” is our first encounter with the C’thulu mythos as we know it today.  It’s also the second longest story written by H. P. Lovecraft.  As such it has several qualities to it that alone make it worth a read.  We’re off to the antarctic to find long lost remnants of the “Old Ones” and their foes — amongst these we find the spawn of C’thulu.

Essentially, the work consists of three fairly distinct parts, even though the work isn’t separated into chapters of any kind.  We’ve got a setup, a reality disconnect and the full blown mythos unchained. I’ve read the story quite a few times and in many ways it does, at times, feel like three different works.

The first third, which is the main setup, is very well written and paced by a master.  Mostly every bit of this part of the book is spot on, the mixture of reality and the C’thulu mythos blends into a true Lovecraftian tale that delivers the hook deep into your bite.  Superb stuff.  You’re not sure where this is going and you’re guessing at every solution and every corner.  In my opinion this bit is as good as anything Lovecraft has ever written.

The second part takes us beyond reality and takes shows plays on our curiosity of the discoveries.  This bit is a fair bit repetitive in its descriptions, even beyond drilling the point home, and the writing in general doesn’t quite live up to the first part.  It’s also a bit premature, even if we’ve moved into the second third of a story of this length — Lovecraft doesn’t manage to entice enough, the bits that peek our curiosity are mushed into submission by the descriptions we’ve already read.

Part three is mostly a retelling of the proponents understanding of the C’thulu mythos.  For mythos buffs, this is  the mother load, it truly is the mythos unchained.  It’s direct, it’s graphic and it’s pretty much word for word a long stare into the mythos as it has come to be known.  This is without a shadow of a doubt interesting, it’s a look at one of the most fascinating imaginations in the 20th century. However, it is also far from what Lovecraft does best.  Lovecrafts greatest strength are the holes he leaves for the reader to fill in. Here, the are no such holes.

The whole work then feels a bit, well, off.  The first bit is Lovecraft true and through.  The second part comes off as “padding” ensure that the last bit isn’t oversized relative to the work itself.  In many ways it feels as if  Lovecraft tries to write an encyclopedia in the form of his normal stories, with the intent to present his mythos.   The latter part succeeds without hesitation, the former isn’t as obviously successful.

In the end though, it doesn’t really matter.  If you wish to read anything connected to the C’thulu mythos, this one is well worth reading.  It’s not his best work, but it has obvious values that makes it easy to gloss over the rough spots.