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ranked #120,657 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
When I first purchased this book, I had high ...
When I first purchased this book, I had high hopes when it came to seeing how Lovecraftian elements were combined with the racism of the United States. And to make make sure I had an informed review, I did go ahead and finish the entire book. There are certain things I have to give to Ruff: the pacing is decent and the variability of narratives keeps the world convincing and dynamic. However, I have to say the most "Lovecraft" part of this book is the cover. At the heart of Lovecraft's work, beyond the cults and the madness and the magic and the unseen monsters, there is a deep-seated fear of the unknown on a cosmic scale. For this sort of fiction, we are consistently reminded how unimportant we, that our lives are a mere blink amidst the cosmic horror of things we will never understand. Throwing a cult, dark magic, malevolent beings, or even the meta-reference of the Necronomicon into a book does not make it Lovecraftian. Period. As terrifying as racism is, it is something we can grasp as it does not extend beyond our world or into other dimensions of being. For that, I cannot give Ruff anything beyond the baseline recognition of his prose.
