The House on the Borderland
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Product Description
Product Description
On holiday in a remote part of Ireland, two men discover a manuscript in the ruins of an old house, on the edge of a great pit. The manuscript describes the story of the recluse who was the last occupant of the house, believed by the locals to have been built by the devil, and the strange and terrifying experiences that befall him. After defending the house against an attack by evil swine-like creatures that appear from the pit below the house, he is transported through time and space to witness the end of the solar system, before returning to the house to face the final horror.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Arguably a classic,
By
This review is from: The House on the Borderland (Paperback)
I thought this was a great read, I'd never heard of the author before but had seen it included in a horror listmania on Amazon which I'd tried other books from and enjoyed.
This edition is an Echo Library edition (www.echo-library.com) and includes the authors introduction, the introduction and chapters themselves, a short poem called grief and endnotes. There is also a page about the echo library itself which are making sought after books available in a mass published format again, it is a slim volume and has a cheap and cheerful appearence, like a facsimile edition. The story itself is written in a great olde style, combining reflection and description brillantly and giving a clue to a time which is long vanished, including its norms and values (when menaced by strange creatures our protagonist doesnt seek to summon the authorities, he simply reaches for his amply stocked gun rack and gives fight, in a literal sense his home IS his castle). The main body of the book is a discovered and half destroyed journal recounting strange battle, unworldly or other dimensional travels and coming unstuck from time itself but the beginning and finish of the book are accounts of the discovery of the book itself in a strange ruin on a cliff above a big pit. Comparisons have been made with H. P. Lovecraft, which is perhaps fair, the style of a first person narrative contained in a discovered journal, of spooky unexplained placed bordering another unworldly place, scant explanation for fantastical experience or bewildering creatures are all present. However, the book is very much a story in a number of parts, he first in which the protagonist defends his home from invading pig creatures (which may be a figment of his imagination somehow) could be considered comparable to Matheson or Philip K. Dick, the incidence of the house and protagonist becoming unstuck from time itself are actually like HG Wells and along side the time machine are probably the best time travel narratives I've read. I'm not surprised that there are such mixed opinions give the different styles and story telling that are included in a single short volume but I felt there was a nice olde "take heart and have no fear" adventure styling all throughout. The ending was a little disappointing and I was ready for a much greater expansion of the tale into something else but I understood how it had to end as it did in order to fit with the discovery of journal and return to that point.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
try a bit of edwardian spaciness,
By
This review is from: The House on the Borderland (Paperback)
Most of William Hope Hodgson's stuff has badly dated by now, to the point of being unreadable, which is a great shame as he was possessed of a truly amazing scope of imagination. I am pleased to say his greatest work, (in my opinion anyway) "The House On The Borderland", has aged very well though. It is an enthralling, hallucinogenic read which, once you get into the story, will have you gripped right to the end.Set in a remote part of Ireland it concerns a man, who seems to arrive out of nowhere with his downtrodden sister, to take up residence in a depressing country house. From the moment they arrive strange, bizarre, highly surreal things begin to happen. The narrator becomes obsessed that demonic pig-like creatures are trying to break into his house. When his sister tries to escape from this gloomy madness he locks her in her room. He eventually confines himself to his own room where he descends into a very trippy nightmare in which he envisages the end of the Universe and time itself. This is an incredible read as you get swept along on the psychedelic ride of the narrator's tortured mind. You won't come to the end any wiser than you were to start with as to just what happened, but that doesn't matter. You will be baffled for ages by exactly what is this place, who is this person, what on earth was going on?!!! If you want an ultimate fantasy read then I recommend you get caught up in the pages of this.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Visionary Work,
By A Customer
This review is from: The House on the Borderland (New English library) (Paperback)
William Hope Hodgson (killed during WW1) was the writer that inspired HP Lovecraft. At his best his cosmic visions of what lies beyond this earth are truly staggering. House On The Borderland is no exception. It begins as a siege story but ends in a mind-bending trip through the cosmos.
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