Magic Cottage, Das Haus Auf Dem Land (1991) - Plot & Excerpts
My sister recommended James Herbert and decided that since she thought I'd not have the heart nor stomach for horror (as I'm a fan of fantasy and dislike seeing anything gruesome or bone chilling freaky), that starting me off with The Magic Cottage would be a good first choice. Unfortunately, I expected serious horror and was disappointed by the time I was halfway through the book and hardly anything had happened. So this is what I disliked about the book; 1. The writer spends most his time talking about renovations of a cottage, the color of the walls, the state of the flowers and the eerie feel of the forest (which would have made the reader think that something would eventually leap out form its depth and devour somewhere in future chapters, but nothing does). 2. The storyline was very slow and at times tedious to read, and with amount of times the writer states something to the lines of "but it was nothing compared to what we were to experience later", made me expect something unbelievably jaw dropping will happen, creating all sorts of hideous monsters and plots so intriguing within my mind, but sadly that was not the case. Instead, it was very predictable and my own monsters made the writers seem like little kittens. 3. The cult was a lame part of the book, not scary, not threatening, just lame. I hoped that some great evil wizard will arise from the cult leader, someone who was hundreds of years old, but nothing, just a lame excuse for a man with tricks. 4. The most irritating part of the book was the fact that the so called "best parts" were no more then 2 chapters long and ended with a bland "So there you have it, that's the story". I nearly threw the book across the room for the writers inability to create something more of the ending. 5. Lastly, does one have to say "Christ" a hundred times throughout the entire book? Does this book character have less cursing vocabulary then a foreign man learning a new language? I don't know if I should give him lessons or smack him across the head. And so from all of the negative points I've mentioned (there were more but I cannot be asked to list them all), there were a few points I liked, mainly being: The only twist in the book was an interesting one, that being Mike discovering the power was within himself and not Midge, but it was a little bit obvious he was, considering I caught on when they were in the pyramid room and smoke was coming from his hands and mouth. Yeah, I figured it out then but brushed it aside in hope of not ruining the story for myself. And also enjoyed the part Mike had viewed the painting that came to life. There were some other good points to the book, but not enough to out weight the negative and not enough for me to list here. Over all, the book could have been much better and I rate it a 3.5 for the good effort. I will read the rest of his work only due to the fact that my sister will be passing her collection of James Herbert to me for reading pleasure. I just hope he doesn't let me down after giving his writing another try :)
this is not a bad book. i don't think this is a particularly good book either. easy to read and not particularly painful to get through... i read it all through one long rainy night. Herbert is a real professional: the screws are tightened expertly, our two leads are sympathetic & realistic (although one of them is a wee bit off), the mysteries unfold at a good pace, creepy supernatural goings-on abound, some enjoyable twists & turns pop up, and of course a mysterious & possibly threatening figure lurking on the edge of things appears.here is what i did not like:(1) boring cult action. it did not agree with me and i found it be over-obvious, eye-rolling. perhaps i just don't like reading about creepy cults. i kept hoping that they would be a minor part, but oh no, it's major.(2) yep, Herbert is a professional, but he is not really a master. he has a tendency to badly overwrite certain things. for example, when he writes about Love... my stomach starts to cramp and i get a little nauseated. really, Herbert - restrain yourself, please! or perhaps i am just against Love?(3) when the horror hits... to put it bluntly: i was not scared. instead, i gave birth to sighs, many of them. sad to say, there was a lot more 'horror' in the atmosphere itself. perhaps i just have a problem with cheap horror thrills, especially of the kind that i've read dozens upon dozens of times previously. so quite a bit of fun to be had in the foreboding quality of the cottage in question, some hairs were definitely raised... but when the book tries to get me to jump, all i did was yawn.here are three books that deal with darkly enchanted residences in ways that i found to be much more accomplished, multi-leveled, and downright shivery:The House Across the Way by Brian McNaughtonSweetheart, Sweetheart by Bernard TaylorLocke and Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill
What do You think about Magic Cottage, Das Haus Auf Dem Land (1991)?
This book was very different from The Fog. It was more subtle and was a slow read at first, but began to pick up after the halfway point. The way it was narrated, like someone telling you a story was neat. The descriptions of the quaint little cottage out in the woods with beautiful scenery was wonderful to escape to. As the story progressed, I got caught up in how fast it moved. It got quite sinister, dark, and evil. I loved it! I would definitely recommend to those who like subtle horror and are Herbert fans.
—Addy
Did you get a chance to read there? Under gaslight maybe? They're a bit backwards i hear.Besides i thought i sent you that one? My old tatty copy? Think you were a bit offended! Mind you my memory never has been what it should be for some strange reason (which is probably for the best).Anyhow, back to the book... Its well worth a read.
—Tanya
Mike and Midge moves into a quaint cottage in the countryside. Right from the start, they’ve had an intuitional feeling about the place – a strange sense of recognition. Finding unexpected joy and inspiration in their new home, they push all apprehension to the back of their minds. Surely these bizarre imaginings are merely due to all the fresh country air they’ve been getting, right?I guess you could say the “haunted house” idea is a bit of a cliché, but author James Herbert himself makes no secret of this. He cleverly uses this to kick off his narration: “You’ve seen the film, you’ve read the book.” Although some events are relatively predictable, I still enjoyed the manner in which the atmosphere was build every time surrounding a “happening.” The characters were quite believable and lovable – some of my favourites were Bob, Val and adorable little Rumbo. Unfortunately, one character that really got on my nerves was Midge, although her naive, childlike foolishness was probably essential to the plot. I also felt that too many of the dialogue in the early parts of the books is made up of sweet-talk dialogue between Mike and Midge. Once again, I guess the author deemed that necessary to help the reader comprehend the nature of their relationship and the events following that.The story is easy and comfortable to read with enough light-hearted moments to balance out the gloom. Although slow at times, the pace of the story seemed suitable to me, solemnly building up to the grand chaos towards the end. However, the end is the one part that I did not feel was portrayed with that same grandeur, almost as if a stately performance of dignified events are suddenly replaced with cheap show-off tricks. In conclusion: despite the unexpected sloppy ending, it was an enjoyable read with a deserving “hero.”
—Riana
