I'll admit, however, that this is not a story for everybody. So much more I can say about this story but I'm still trying to settle down since this story gave me way too much to think about. It was one of those very poignant Lovecraftian moments that impose an incredibly heavy feeling of existential dread-reminding us that we are insignificant in the grand scheme of the cosmos and that we live in a universe that is indifferent to us. Lastly, when Dyer and Danford first came upon Leng my mind was absolutely blown away. I also did not expect him to talk about the Old One's furniture. I didn't expect such a comprehensive description of the history of the Old Ones as well as the Mi-Go and Cthulhu, which was a pleasant surprise seeing as how Lovecraft tends to prefer the more vague and evocative route. As the story went on and touched upon the origins of mankind-possibly being kin with the shuggoths-I began seeing very strong thematic similarities between AMOM and Prometheus. On top of that, the idea of Shuggoths destroying their makers was very reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Alien (or vice versa if you prefer), in that this is also the relationship between the xenomorph and the engineers (space jockey).

I am very excited to start The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath now.Īfter having watched The Thing for the first time a couple weeks ago as well, the beginning of this story gave me some major Thing vibes. and Kadath being on the pinnacle of mountains even greater than the mountains of Madness. Having already read DIWH prior, my eyes widened as I made the connection that Lake's description of the Old Ones was exactly that of Gilman's in his dream-creatures I have wondered about constantly, since. A couple of notable connections are when our protagonist, William Dyer, makes constant mention of his folklorist colleague at Miskatonic's English department, who is obviously Albert Wilmarth from The Whisperer in Darkness as well as the Old Ones also having made an appearance in the dreams of Walter Gilman in The Dreams in the Witch House. Seeing the way Lovecraft connect AMOM with his other stories was very fun.

After reading Lovecraft non-stop over the past several months I started getting a little weary of the New England setting (with the exception of most dream cycle stories) so getting to go and visit Antarctica-probably one of the most enigmatic places on earth-was quite the thrill. Finished it for the first time last night and came in with absolutely zero clue about its premise.ĭidn't expect the story to take place outside of New England, which was an awesome surprise.

At the mountains of madness summary