The King in Yellow (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural)

Excellent. I particularly like the first story. Some of the later ones are more romantic and less supernatural (and lengthy).

My son loves this book!

I really enjoyed these stories. Very well written and the characters are interesting. The beginning stories introduce you to the King and the remainder made wonder had read the play. Most of the stories start out all right but then the characters just lose it.

I give The King in Yellow four stars because the quality of writing throughout is fantastic, with lyrical prose and literary stories that do keep one interested. However, considering it's often touted as being a great influence upon the weird fiction of H. P. Lovecraft (Chambers’ fictitious insanity-producing play entitled The King in Yellow being inspiration for Lovecraft's Necronomicon) and possibly one of the most important works of American supernatural/horror fiction between the works of E. A. Poe and Lovecraft, as I read The King in Yellow, I often found myself wondering "where's all the weirdness and the supernatural"? I expected far more weirdness than I got. What I got was more literary than weird. Although the introduction by David Stuart Davies (in the Wordsworth Edition I read) gave me a strong hint that there would be just as much mystery and romance as weirdness and horror, I was not prepared for how low-key that weirdness and horror tended to be even in those first few tales featuring the weird and horrific. As compared to Poe and Lovecraft, I found something lacking in Chambers' tales of horror. The strong emotions often found in the works of the other two previously mentioned giants of American supernatural/horror fiction just wasn't there. As a matter of fact, the story in the collection that stirred the most emotion inside me, the impressionistic romance/adventure/historical fiction tale "The Story of the First Shell", features no weird or supernatural elements at all. Speaking of the romance stories in The King in Yellow, most also contain at least a pinch of mystery and a cupful of charm. However, while that charm remains strong up to the penultimate tale about the liaisons and romances of the American art students in Paris, it wears thin and the romance becomes tedious by the final tale featuring the same setting and a similar cast of characters. Still, as a literary work, The King in Yellow is a worthwhile read for the lyrical language alone, but maybe not as lead-up to Halloween. Works by Lovecraft or Poe may be better suited for the spooky season.

Wild

The cover is exactly as advertised! It sits, with a big pile of other thus-far unread times, on the side table next to my bed.

That's right: The King in Yellow and all of Chambers's work is available FOR FREE online, since it was published in the late 1800s. SO, bear in mind, really I only bought this book because I don't like reading from a screen. I'm not looking for a collectible book to pretty my bookshelf, just a means of reading it comfortably, and a cheap enough book for me to jot down some notes in the pages. For 5 dollars, I thought this worth the price and fit my needs well. I can understand the frustration over some reviewers with the lack of a table of contents, copyright page, and use of comic sans in this printing though.I think if you want a pretty, perfect book, definitely go for a higher priced option. Now on to my review of the writing: I will have to say, Chambers connects with me on a level Lovecraft does not. Chambers was an artist first, and many of his stories revolve around the art scene in the late 1800s. I believe he's anti-fascist as well, as he imagines a future America of 1920 under a dictatorship, complete with suicide death chambers and an inenviable arts program. His stories are simpler, easier to digest snippets of interconnected lives affected by the notorious fictional in-world play, The King in Yellow. There's plenty lacking, of course. Chambers doesn't write ENOUGH about his own lore for us to really get into it, and I say that as someone who doesn't mind vagueness in storytelling. Plus, some of the stories feel like first drafts and many are not horror at all, but bohemian love stories. Plot points don't come back as often, a few of them feel like they end abruptly before the payoff. Still, there's a lot of COOL ideas going on throughout, such as a mysterious, alchemic liquid solution a sculptor discovers that turns living creatures into marble, or the unreliable narrator perspective of some of his spiraling protagonists. His work is a quick read, he has very few stories unfortunately, and they aren't long or difficult to understand. I'm glad to know of them. Over all, for the QUALITY of Chambers's writing, I think this cheap little book worth the price, other than the free options available online. I don't know that I would want a collectible version of these short stories because, simply put, Chambers isn't the most prolific writer. Other than the novelty of The King in Yellow as the predecessor and inspiration to Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos, I don't know that these stories need more prominent bookshelf space. It is what it is!

A classic of "weird fiction" that everyone interested in that genre should read.

Existen muchas ediciones de este libro tan apreciado por el mismo H.P.Lovecraft y esta es de la mejores considerando su buena presentación,tamaño de letra y relación de costo con su calidad general. Respeta el texto original,lo que yo más aprecio. Realmente hace innecesario gastar en ediciones de pasta dura caras y ostentosa,a menos que sea lo que busques.

l'ho preso perchè incuriosito dalle citazioni in true detective. in realtà non c'entra nulla o quasi: sono storie di spettri, di amore romantico ottocentesco narrate con lo spirito del miglior poe per me una bella scoperta

Muito bom.

Enjoyable read with some memorable short stories. The repeat appearance in the different stories of a strange book that drives its readers mad was a great mechanic that makes it more than just some short tales.

The Repairer of Reputations is a freaking masterpiece. Some other stories are great too - mostly because of the intense atmosphere. Gets sloppy and repetitive towards the end. Worth buying for Repairer alone. That story is a sick, twisted gem if there was one.