the-king-in-yellow-by-robert-chambers

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The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers

Finished: 2025-07-26 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Thoughts: Stylistically (and chronologically) halfway between Poe and Lovecraft, a collection of short stories about a forbidden play whose second act drives people mad. The first story, “The Repairer of Reputations”, was the strongest and most memorable - a cosmic horror take on the unreliable narrator. After that they get less interesting as the book progresses, replacing the “weird” supernatural aspects with more typical themes. Obviously, the reason to read this is the primordial connection to Lovecraft’s later works and for that purpose I did enjoy it. I can’t help but agree with this contemporary critic’s quote from Wikipedia:

“So much of Mr Chambers’s work exasperates, because we feel that he might so easily have made it better.” — Frederic Taber Cooper

Only the first four stories are worth reading and the rest can be skipped.

Highlights

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it’s time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda) No mask? No mask!