Arkham Horror Novel : Ghouls of the Miskatonic

I very much enjoyed this book and find McNeill's writing style to be completely accessible. He seems to have a good grasp for the tale he is telling and doesnt fall into the familiar traps of trying to cram every idea into one story, not does he spend undue time strictly on character development. Each character is developed througout the story, and the development of the characters paces the unveiling of the plot perfectly.In this book, you find that an ancient evil (or two) is being woken from it's ancient slumber (and being summoned by madmen) to bring about the end of the world. A few people in Arkham, namely a couple professors from Miskatonic U, a pair of reporters, and the tough as nails father of another student find themselves racing against the clock to save a couple students and stop the evil from waking.This is obviously the first book in what will be a trilogy (as of now, the third book hasnt been released), so there is the primary plot of the book (suggested in the title) and an overarching storyline as well that will take us through the trilogy to its completion.Although this title draws heavily from Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, it also has a noire sensibility, somewhat akin to what you might expect in a Dresden Files novel.A very fun, fast read that I definitely recommend.Enjoy!

I wish I could give this 4-1/2 stars. It's really a very well-written, fast moving and, at times, seriously creepy first novel in a trilogy set in H.P. Lovecraft's world. Recommended for fans of the original HPL works, and for those who enjoy horror set in New England in the early 20th century. I enjoyed the heck out of it and look forward to reading the next two books.

Unique take on the Lovecraft genre, and as someone who never played the game, I found the characters were pretty unique and interesting.Great atmosphere and character development as well, along with enough mysteries and hinted at backstory to keep you guessing!

In fiction I look for books that keep my interest and not too simple-recreation which doesn't insult my intelligence. I enjoy author's writing style and the book moves along well-I read it straight through in a night and enjoyed-will keep and read again.

As always when giving a rating to something...do you give an absolute rating based on everything you have read...so that Shakespeare gets 5 stars and the rest lower?I've never bought into that philosophy so I give this book 5 stars. I bought a book based on "Arkham Horror" boardgame (by Launius and Wilson) which is a game I have played several times (and not nearly enough) and I enjoyed. The game is complicated and tough to win...attributes I love and are mostly lacking today.This book delivers in that it is well written and really feels like what the characters in the boardgame might have gone through during a game. What more can you ask? You can look at my other reviews and note I don't give 5-stars lightly :)It was a fun book to read and I value that in this depressing time. Looking forward to the next one in the series.

Being a fan of FFG interpretation of a Cthulhu mythos, I can't but be a little bit biased - therefore a 4-star rating - but I'm also a Lovecraftian fan and must say that this book delivers a quite good reading.Of course, I should warn you not to expect any Lovecraft in the story - it's completely different in approach both to the setting and storytelling. Wherever HPL would give a reader only subtle hints about the nature of the strange occurences and - maybe - describe them somewhere near to the finale, McNeill is a good deal more forthcoming. He doesn't shrug from any gruesome descriptions and isn't too shy as to write about killings and other horrors in startling detail. Though, it's the modern horror-literature and you can't deny its existence.HPL, being a kind of a pioneer in that genre, could afford himself to write as he saw fit - therefore his rather journalist-ish approach and chronicle-esque narration of events. McNeill's, on the contrary, is more that of a noir genre, with deep insights into the characters' background and thoughts and feelings. And, of course, some clichés, like the tough Pinkerton agent with his ever-present fedora and six-gun.Then comes the plot itself. As I've already said, don't expect a 'traditional' Lovecraftian tale of cosmic horrors too grand for a human consciousness to embrace and understand - it's more about ordinary people trying to fight some extraordinary, but still quite personified evil. Of course, McNeill tries to create the flavour by using smart references both to the Cthulhu mythos and the Arkham Horror table-top game, which is enough to attract fans (like myself), but not enough to recreate that utterly frightening atmosphere of classic works like Shadows of Innsmouth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dream-Quest for the Unknown Kadath, and, surely, At the Mountains of Madness. On the contrary, it's more like an action-thriller, not a horror story.But, nevertheless, the reading is quite catchy and smooth. It has some loose ends which makes me waiting for the rest of the trilogy. One can still hope that the conflict will develop into something even more sinister and truly cosmic. And this hope persists despite some logical flaws (e.g. miraculously healed sprained ankle of a major heroine). And this hope persists as I see how thoroughly McNeill has approached the epoch he writes about: every word, every reference he makes (still, sometimes it's too much, like an excursion into the background of Albert Fall, who is quite unknown outside the USA, you know) feels like it 'breathes' with the authenticity.So, I really recommend this book to anyone who is fond of the Arkham Horror game, as it is always nice to read about the characters you know (just some names: Amanda Sharpe, Rita Young, Kate Winthrop, Finn Edwards, and others), and readers outside the fan-community, I think, will still get some interesting reading out of it.

More Lovecraftian fiction; but only Book 1. I am going to follow the further adventures of Professor Grayson and friends as they try to keep Cthulhu from awakening. This novel is set just after WWI and the war had an effect on all that transpires. If you like Lovecraft, ghouls and adventure novels, this book is for you.

I really liked he characters and the period setting. He encluded little bits if history to flush out the setting. I was eager to get the second in the series. The story had Lovecraft's themes but was fleshed out into a longer narrative with an ending that was more than Lovecraft's usual, ..."and that's why I went mad..."

I approached this book with trepidation. A long time fan of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, I'd read a lot of spin off tales by a multitude of authors that were nothing more than pulp press. Though I hoped to be wrong I feared this would be more of the same. I was wrong.This is the kind of book Howard Phillips Lovecraft would have written had he been a good writer. He couldn't write dialogue to save his life and was guilty of the most horrendous purple prose imaginable. Graham McNeill CAN write, however.This story perfectly captures the very essence of the mythos spirit. His character's are well drawn, their dialogue flows well, the story is well crafted and the pacing is excellent.The tale ranks as highly as those by August Derleth, TED Klein and other writers of Arkham Horror, and I certainly look forward to the 2nd in this series. And, no doubt, the third.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, though I can see why Lovecraft purists might hate it; as it reads to me much more like a rollicking pastiche of a good game session of the classic Call of Cthuhlu rpg, rather than an attempt to replicate or imitate the forbiddingly dense and baroque style of Lovecraft himself.Telling the stories of an appropriately squeamish though kind hearted academic at good old Miskatonic U, and several other colourful characters, who are drawn into dark deeds and -ahem- ghoulish goings on in the shadows of Arkham, the book rattles along at a brisk pace, and is full of blood, gore, cosmic horror and oodles of twenties flavour. Indeed, though a big fan of the old rpg, I personally never really liked Lovecraft's stories partly because they read as if they are set in the eighteen hundreds, rather than the roaring twenties - when they were written. Lovecraft of course being a man who didn't like the new and modern fads of the twenties. So, I really enjoyed Graham's use of lots and lots of twenties slang and historical references - ranging from side plots involving bootlegging and prohibition, to references to bizarre laws of the day such as it being illegal for universities in 1926, when the novel is set, to teach evolution.The book is not great literature, but it does what I think it set out to; tell a mythos story set in the roaring twenties, in the style of the rpg, though I do wish that having brought the disparate band of 'investigators' together that Graham had treated them a bit more harshly. Part of the joy of the rpg was slaughtering the player characters or driving them mad, and I wish we could have seen some of that here.The novel is happily the first of a trilogy, and there is a plot thread left hanging to be picked up presumably in the next book (which I have sitting ready to read on my to-be-read shelf), so I look forward to seeing what happens in book two.

Don't try to search anything else behind 'Ghouls' than pure fun. Ok, it's not really 'literature' but it's good stuff anyway. I don't really understand why people read an entire book that they hate anyhow, and than trash it to the ground. English isn't my native tongue, but I sure love to read books in English, also as an exercise to keep up with the language. So now and than I enjoy a little light reading. 'Ghouls' is perfect for an 'in-between': fun, well written and not at all difficult. Looking forward for the next part.

Very Lovecraft like in making the horror in the mind and not just blood and gore. Plenty of suspense and atmosphere

This gets off to a slow start but the pace picks up quickly and there are elements of suspense. Which make this difficult to put down. As the book is a trilogy it doesn't have the same 'futility impending doom' feel of a Lovecraft tale but is definitely worth a read.