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Necronomicon cover art

Necronomicon

By: H. P. Lovecraft
Narrated by: Richard Powers,Bronson Pinchot,Stephen R. Thorne,Keith Szarabajka,Adam Verner,Tom Weiner,Patrick Cullen
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Summary

The only audio edition of Necronomicon authorized by the H. P. Lovecraft Estate

Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and ’30s, H. P. Lovecraft’s astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when first published. This tome brings together all of Lovecraft’s harrowing stories, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were when first released. It will introduce a whole new generation of readers to Lovecraft’s fiction, as well as attract those fans who want all his work in a single, definitive volume.

Stories include:

 “Dagon”
“Herbert West – Reanimator”
“The Lurking Fear”
“The Rats in the Walls”
“The Whisperer in the Darkness”
“Cool Air”
“In the Vault”
“The Call of Cthulu”
“The Color Out of Space”
“The Horror at Red Hook”
“The Music of Erich Zann”
“The Shadow Out of Time”
“The Dunwich Horror”
“The Haunter of the Dark”
“The Outsider”
“The Shunned House”
“The Unnameable”
“The Thing on the Doorstep”
“Under the Pyramids”

©2014 H. P. Lovecraft (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Necronomicon

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An Excellent Collection, but NOT Complete.

Any additional comments?
The book contains these stories:

Part One
1. Dagon
2. Herbert West, Reanimator
8. The Lurking Fear
9. The Rats in the Walls
10. The Whisperer in Darkness
18. Cool Air
19. In the Vault
20. The Call of Cthulhu
23. The Color Out of Space
24. The Horror at Red Hook

Part Two
1. The Music of Eric Zahn
2. The Shadow out of Time
10. The Dunwich Horror
20. The Haunter of the Dark
21. The Outsider
22. The Shunned House
27. The Unnameable
28. The Thing on the Doorstep

The numbers are the chapter numbers. The audiobook is presented as a series of chapters, some stories take up multiple chapters, but there is no indication which stories start where, so I made this list.

The review claims that all the stories are here, but as you can see, many of the most significant stories are not present, including The Shadow over Innsmouth, and Beyond the Mountains of Madness.

The stories that are here are wide ranging, excellently read and good stories. If this is your first experience of Lovecraft, then this is a perfect introduction, and a good representative of his work. If you're interested because of its claim to have all the stories, then be warned. Personally, I don't want to return it, because I'm enjoying it greatly, and I think it is excellent value for money/1 credit. I was just disappointed it was misadvertised.

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419 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Need better documentation

This audio book contains many shorter stories. It would be great if there was some documentation of which stories these are and what chapters on the audio book these respond to.

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too much

Any additional comments?

I know that Lovecraft has been very influential and is much admired by some. I liked some of it too, and most of the several narrators were competent. In the end though, this compilation is just too much of material that is too uniform. In the latter half I found myself waiting for the next occurrence of "demoniac", "cyclopian" or "unspeakable" and truth to tell, I never had to wait long. If you opt for this title, my advice would be to listen to a story then listen to a different book, then come back for another Lovecraft tale another day!

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eldtrich and unspoken horror...no, wait!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I've loved it! I assume you already know Lovecraft if you're looking at this so I'll review it with that in mind.
The stories are well read and, although it's not quite as creepy as reading them yourself, it's still great and...come on, you get about 65 stories here, for ONE CREDIT?
That has to be (at the mountains of) madness!

What did you like best about this story?

I sometimes work at night and driving around the dark, wintry streets of Glasgow, often out in the sticks, with this audiobook playing in the background....brilliant!

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

Some of the narrators are great, some not so much.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I locked the doors in my car when I was listening in the dark....who knows what lurking horror might have crept up on me?
Lovecraft is never terrifying or shocking in a 21st century way, but his writing is always creepy and sticks in your mind. This collection does a fine job of bringing that crawling chaos to life.

Any additional comments?

Considering I got this for one monthly credit I honestly can't complain. There's 60-odd stories, all professionally read and that is just great value for money. I've read the stories dozens of times myself over the years and yet still found myself wanting to listen more to this to see what happened next. And I've only listened to the first few stories so far! Can't wait until I hear the likes of "Shadow Over Innsmouth" or "The Call of Ktulu" (oops, sorry, I've got Metallica on just now, got mixed up for a sec!).
Needless to say, if the quality drops I'll edit my review but for now I just wanted to post my thoughts as there's not a lot for other listeners to go on.
Trust me - if you're a fan of HPL give this a go.

Steven A. McKay, author of the Lovecraftian histfic novella "Knight of the Cross" (also on Audible!).

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Cult classic best left to cultists

If you're a fan of HP Lovecraft, buy this! There are several narrators, with different voices well suited to their stories. The delivery is a bit flat for my tastes, but it's perfectly listenable. Stop reading this review now.

I was not an initiate of HP Lovecraft when I listened to this. I am a fan of horror and sci-fi, though, and he has a reputation. I was curious to listen to the originals. I can barely express the depths of my disappointment. While he certainly has a vivid imagination, his plots have all the complexity of a mass produced Hollywood B movie. In fact, Hollywood B movie is exactly what I see when I'm listening to his stories. They are simply awful. And the writing is bad. Everything is charnel or demoniac. These are unusual words, and to use them more than once in the same book is repetitious. To use them multiple times in every short story grates on the ears. His characters are all the same, and none have any convincing depth. His horror comes almost exclusively from a sense of 'other'. Anything alien is self-evidently evil, so no explanation is required. Ill-intention is implicit, so explanation is not required and rarely given. In short, the stories are extremely xenophobic, and this tribal fear of 'different' occasionally leaks into treatment of fellow humans.

This is nothing more than pulp-fiction. I do not understand what has elevated it above the pages of cheap horror periodicals. By all means wade into it as a cultural archaeologist, but don't expect an enjoyable listen.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely fantastic.

I listened to this while working and often found myself stopping to focus on the stories. Lovecraft is a genius and the narrators are wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably listen to again soon.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Read by robots.... American robots

Several of the voice actors used in the audio book were terrible. There was very little emotion, pacing or dramatic inflections that would have given the stories more life. They sounded like they were read by robots or, at the least, someone who had never read them before. Fortunately, Lovecraft was an excellent writer and I was able to finish and even enjoy the stories. It could have been so much better with decent voice actors.....

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Increasingly creepy

The longer you listen, the more you realise lots of the stories intertwine.
There is something exceedingly strange about the way Lovecraft shows his 'cosmic horror' that will. She you want to go back and re listen to many of the stories.
Some readers are clearly better than others but you very quickly get absorbed into their particular reading style. I particularly enjoyed those who read the stories as one large monologue.
Overall very good, my personal favourite being 'the whisperer in the darkness' closely followed by 'the outsider'

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Oracle

This is the starting point for a journey of Victorian Ethereal Horror. Beware it is old and has the terrible view on other races and cultures that the period shared. Ignoring these cringworthy moments it is an epic journey into the dark corners of our universe.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not a bad collection

Good narration - very atmospheric. If you don't yet have any Lovecraft in your library, then this is the perfect start!

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