The Boats of the "Glen Carrig", by William Hope Hodgson: **7/8

After I gave Hodgson's House on the Borderland just **3/8, it would seem unlikely that I would soon read more of his work. Two things allowed me to give him another chance: 1) Hodgson clearly exhibits talent in HOTB, though the book totally loses tension halfway through. Despite that major problem, the first half of the book is really good - it's like a ***1/2 beginning and a * end. So I figured if 'Glen Carrig' was more consistent, it would be better. And 2) I had already bought this book, because I bought them both together in an eBay auction.

Fortunately, my action was justified. Though this book doesn't achieve the heights of HOTB, it doesn't go astray in the same fashion, and is thus quite enjoyable throughout. The tension dies a little too soon, for the last 25 pages or so, but it's largely a fun, exotic, adventure in another place somewhere out on the ocean. Hodgson adeptly creates terror in the unknown, in the things at the edge of vision or the shiny shapes moving in the dark. He sets up the book well, too, in that the reader is simply thrown into this story of a boat out on the sea. It's a long time before we begin to understand much about the character, and that learning process is also enjoyable. I loved the roughness of few characters we get to know, I like the narrative style - all told first-person, with no dialogue - and I liked the manner of the story's unfolding. The book is well-paced, and there are some very, very good sections laced between a lot of enjoyable reading. It has the vibe of an early 1900s horror story, but it's carried out for a full book.
(Spring 2005)


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