What do You think about The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath (1976)?
~The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is like "reading a painting", so vivid, yet so unreal.~There is something odd about this book, making it almost impossible to categorize it as "good" or "bad", since it defies so much the common way fantasy literature is perceived. It is of short volume, but of perfect size for the story it is to portray. The main character is on a quest which purpose is difficult to fully understand, of background that is not fully apparent and of determination which drive is hidden from a reader. It is possible for one to identify with his persistence to find what he is looking for, regardless of dangers that lie ahead in this world of dreams, and his efforts can be so rewarding for a reader, taking him to places not many would dare travel alone. The "world", so to speak, but more to say nightmarish universe that is portrayed, is so hauntingly beautiful, regardless of the horror quality to most of the beings that inhabit it. Yet the story is not frightening, but mesmerizing and appealing in its dark beauty. It is an excellent portrait of Lovecraft's creativity, regardless it being a book he found not to be among his best works.
—Myriad
I think Lovecraft often gets a bad rap. People read that he influenced the modern greats, everyone form authors like Stephen King and Clive Barker, to movie makers like John Carpenter and Wes Craven, and then dive into his books expecting the same fare. He wrote for a different era. His mind-bending, first person surrealistic approach to a creeping, nameless horror stunned and fascinated huge segments of early century America. The America that read, that is, which wasn't nearly what it is today. I enjoy his approach, even if some of it is a bit florid, but his ideas are dauntless. They broke conventions and rearranged the way a future breed of horror authors would look at the world. Even today, I find them stunningly original, and well worth the read. If any sound familiar, it is only because they have been copied, usually far less efficiently, by later day authors.
—Dan Henk
I must admit, at first I thought that this was going to be yet another pointless and imballanced pure fiction story, where the author rolls out his private trips and fantasies which could be interesting and mean a lot to him subjectively, but are mostly boring and lacking any real interaction for the readers. It truly started off like that, with Randolph Carter traveling around the Dreamland, through forests, cities and high seas, meeting a lot of strange creatures in the process, escaping numerous dangers, and befriending an army of cats (among other accomplishments). But somehow, as his quest went on, this utterly silly story started to grow on me, and by the time Randolph's reached the rumored land of gods on the far north, facing more and more horror elements and antagonists, I was completely hooked up on his adventure.There are so many examples of pure creativity and imaginative genius in this story, from Lovecraft's epic introduction of gigantic mountainous guardians in forbidden lands, through his almost Stephen Hawkingish description of how space and time bends the closer you get to the end of the world, to his casual fairytale-like explanation of how the cats actually jump from the roofs directly to the dark side of the moon. Unfortunately the ending was a bit confusing and rather predictable, and the story was considerably slowed down by Lovecraft's super long and descriptive sentences without any dialogue, so I cannot give this more than 3 stars overall.But after finishing The dream quest of unknown Kadath, it becomes easy to understand why is H.P. Lovecraft arguably the most influential fiction writer of all time. The worlds he created, with all of their simple beauties and insane terrors, suddenly look just like invitations, they are just seeds planted for future readers and authors, to expand the original works, to freely look deep inside for their wildest fantasies, and never stop dreaming.
—Bookhode
