- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Legend; New edition edition (16 Feb 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099491907
- ISBN-13: 978-0099491903
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,225,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Hungry Moon is very much a novel of two halves, with the reader having to plod through a mediocre beginning to reach an excellent climax. There are a number of problems with the first half of the book: the idea of an evangelist converting an isolated British village into rabid fundamentalism is fine, but by having almost the entire population convert overnight the novel loses any sense of reality; there are too many horror clichés - the isolated village no-one can escape from, the heroine with Celtic ancestry that enables her to see visions of the evil taking over the village, the mysterious old-timer who knows all the legends etc; and there are simply too many characters - Campbell seems to be aiming to build up the various inhabitants of the town, but without any clear lead character the focus is rather scattered, and we end up experiencing the same events (isolation, religious intolerance) repeatedly through different eyes.
If you can keep going through this rather flabby first half though, you will be rewarded with a gloriously macabre finale, as the malevolent creature from the moon takes over the preacher and the town. This is great stuff, with Campbell pilling on the disturbing imagery, and even managing to sneak in some subtle riffing on the werewolf genre without making it feel old and tired. It's not all plain sailing, as the heroine's ancestral visions are an all too convenient plot driver, and the dangled threat of a nearby nuclear missile base fizzles out and remains unutilised, but the quality of the writing is such that it's easy to forgive these slips.
A little too long and rambling, but once this story gets going it's a horror classic.
Format:Paperback
I came to this book curious as to Campbell's renown as Britain's premier practitioner of the horror genre, previously having read only his short stories. Frankly I came away with no little bafflement as to the grounds for this reputation.
There are several worthy aspects to this novel: Campbell's imagery is genuinely disturbing, subtle and free from cliche; the attempts (perhaps neither, unfortunately, entirely successful) to address issues of religious fanaticism and nuclear weaponry - both still timely twenty years on; he also takes the trouble to paint his scene broadly, taking on a large cast of characters, most of whom are skillfully imagined. But this wide range is also one of the problems - there is simply too much content in the book, and furthermore, the quality of writing is somewhat uneven. I felt the novel was slightly too bloated, and its pace, although never exactly slow, overall a little too pedestrian.
And although Campbell generally avoids the more tedious staples of genre convention, some of the tropes are too wooden (one of the other reviews on this site nicely enumerates these creaking plot supports). Finally, although the prose is generally well wrought - transparent in its description and so on - it does stumble at places in the middle and towards the end of the book; although Campbell complains of being over-edited in his afterword, there was sufficient clumsiness in parts of the text to suggest that quite the opposite might be true.
All in all, the novel was perfectly readable, but not quite up to the standard of excellence I had hoped for given the author's good name.
There are several worthy aspects to this novel: Campbell's imagery is genuinely disturbing, subtle and free from cliche; the attempts (perhaps neither, unfortunately, entirely successful) to address issues of religious fanaticism and nuclear weaponry - both still timely twenty years on; he also takes the trouble to paint his scene broadly, taking on a large cast of characters, most of whom are skillfully imagined. But this wide range is also one of the problems - there is simply too much content in the book, and furthermore, the quality of writing is somewhat uneven. I felt the novel was slightly too bloated, and its pace, although never exactly slow, overall a little too pedestrian.
And although Campbell generally avoids the more tedious staples of genre convention, some of the tropes are too wooden (one of the other reviews on this site nicely enumerates these creaking plot supports). Finally, although the prose is generally well wrought - transparent in its description and so on - it does stumble at places in the middle and towards the end of the book; although Campbell complains of being over-edited in his afterword, there was sufficient clumsiness in parts of the text to suggest that quite the opposite might be true.
All in all, the novel was perfectly readable, but not quite up to the standard of excellence I had hoped for given the author's good name.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
If you haven't read this, you are seriously missing out.
30 Sep 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Once upon a time, I read an interview in Fangoria magazine with Mr. Campbell, and based upon that article (and the strength of short stories I had read by the man) I went out and bought everything I could find. The Hungry Moon is one of my favorite novels from that time (the other is Ancient Images, also highly recommended)... Fantastic, well worth tracking down. I recall that interview made mention that John Carpenter was interested in making the book into a movie... That would be pretty interesting, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Still, we have this terror-ific novel, and that is already MORE than enough!!! In short: get this book, and give yourself a treat. To this day, I still buy Ramsey Campbell's books and treasure the memories of gooseflesh and shivers I got on those warm summer nights, when I first discovered his exceptional works.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Probably his best
29 Feb 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I normally find Campbell a bit over-rated relative to the other stars of modern British horror (my faves Phil Rickman and Joe Donnelly in particular) - he's a bit weak on locality description, as well as character and atmosphere development. However, "The Hungry Moon" is a goodie, and difficult to put down. Basic plot: religious nut and followers come to isolated Peak District village full of dysfunctional characters. They take over the village and ban the local pagan festival where a local cave is decorated with flowers. Unfortunately, the ritual was needed to keep at bay the Bad Thing that lived in the cave, so things go downhill from there. Several eerie twists involving tricks of memory and time-space distortion: won't spoil it by saying more, but there are similarities to Donnelly's "Bane" in places.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful
18 Dec 2003
Format:Hardcover
I haven't had a chance to read all of Campbell's work but i have read quite a few. I would absolutely rank this as one of his best pure horror novels. The creeping dread that this book makes the reader feel from the opening till the close is awsome in it's power. I am telling all of you horror fans out there to go and find a copy of this book. It isn't easy to find this so i recommend you find a used copy online somewhere. It is well worth the amount you will have to pay for it. This novel ranks up there as one of the all time scariest novels ever written. If you don't believe me simply read it you'll see
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