At the Mountains of Madness

By: H. P. Lovecraft

Narrated by: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot

Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

FNH Audio presents a complete and unabridged reading of H.P. Lovecraft's famous story "At the Mountains of Madness". The story is related by one of the two survivors from a polar expedition. Unlike other polar explorers who may have died from cold, starvation or simply getting lost, in this story things are somewhat different.

The survivor is desperate to prevent a new polar expedition because there are "beings" there, strange murderous beings. There are things that man should not see beyond the recently discovered mountains at the pole. Scientists listening to the story told by the survivors have assumed that the teller has gone mad because what they describe just cannot be. Or can they...

©2010 FNH (P)2011 FNH

Enjoyable story!

Would you consider the audio edition of At the Mountains of Madness to be better than the print version?

I think many listeners will enjoy the stories of HPL even more when they are read by a good reader. Some of his style is hard for people to read compared to modern writers that they may like better at a first read. I've had more than one person that I have tried to turn on to his work tell me later that he too difficult to keep interested in long enough to finish the story. Especially some of the Cthulhu stuff can be very tedious to read, but if someone reads it to you it seems to go much faster and is even more enjoyable.

What other book might you compare At the Mountains of Madness to and why?

It's pretty tough to compare HPL to anybody else from his era. His style of writing wasn't always the most polished, but his creativity and originality was in a league of his own. I am surprised there haven't really been any modern filmmakers that have been able to nail any of his ideas on film. Most of the films inspired by his stories have been pretty lame which is sad because he really was ahead of his time in many ways.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

FNH does a pretty good job, especially with all the difficult to pronounce names, etc. His vocal style is a bit monotone, but other than that I enjoy his reading very much.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I think I'll stay away from trying that...I'm better at criticizing than coming up with my own ideas!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to download more HPL.

good story bad reader

The monotone British accent killed me. It sounded like the reader was going to sleep rather than recounting a brush with the supernatural.

wonderful and thrifty

This reading of at the Mountains of Madness is far superior to HPL society's. Very professional.

Wonderful

The reader was perfect, story is of course great, but the strings overture between each chapter could be annoying, more so because there were 2, one for the end of one chapter and another to introduce the next

Great story

H.P. Never disappoints! A well narrated excellent tale of suspense. The music in between chapters is an unnecessary distraction, but One can live with it.

Starts strong but goes downhill

Would you try another book from Howard Phillip Lovecraft and/or Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot?

Possibly. This is the second Lovecraft book I've tried and while the stories show great promise with their ideas, the actual telling of them makes them fall short of the mark. Lovecraft uses seven words, when two will do. This makes for an extremely frustrating listen as I wanted him to do was get to the damned point and go on with the story. The look started out strong. The plot moved forward at a nice pace and had me glued. However when Dyer and Danforth start their exploration of the lost city, the pace grinds to a crawl as Lovecraft tells us the history of the Elder Ones and the Shoggoths. While this information is welcome and necessary, it goes on for ages. The whole second third of the book focuses on this and there are whole chapters that consist of Dyer musing on these facts as he and Danforth move from room to room. By the time the book approached the end, I just wanted it to be over.

What was one of the most memorable moments of At the Mountains of Madness?

The discovery of the Elder Ones and the mystery surrounding them. I particularly enjoyed the sense of foreshadowing they gave as the dogs couldn't stand to be near them. You knew something was going t go terribly wrong.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot?

Maybe. I found Herriot to be very underwhelming. Perhaps this is due to the way the book was written. But there was hardly any emotion to his performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Most definitely. Guillermo del Toro has been trying to make this movie for over a decade. I firmly believe that it would be far more entertaining as a movie, and if del Toro made it, you could be assured of brilliant creature design and effects. He also knows how to create that sense of the weird and disturbing.

Any additional comments?

I would have liked to hear more of the monstrous beings in the higher mountain range that even the Elder Ones were afraid of. The mystery surrounding these hardly-mentioned horrors intrigued me greatly.

A great book and fine performance

This has been my favorite Lovecraft story ever since the first time I read it around 40 years ago. It provides the range of Lovecraft’s world in an extended composition.

Also, I think Herriot nails the reading again. There is something about his voice that does it for me, on some but not all, of his Lovecraft recordings that I have listened to. None are bad. It is just that some don’t have the chemistry to make them exceptional. But, this one has the chemistry. It is exceptional.

I think he has learned some things while doing these readings. He is better at providing appropriate breaks between chapters. In other recordings he rushes it to much, to often..

He has music between sections. It is okay but the selections are starkly cliched.

Wow

Would you listen to At the Mountains of Madness again? Why?

This is the genisis of all those stories like The Thing, Alien vs Preditor. There is nothing like discovering where all the great sc-fi horror has come from. This is the seed of so much of what I have read in the last 20 years. In the begining there was Lovecraft.

Wow! What a creepy story....

This is the first work by Lovecraft I have ever read. I enjoy Ambrose Bierce and M.R James and I was looking for something in the genre. This was a bit more science fiction but I really enjoyed it. It got off to a slow start, but picked up and has great atmosphere. Great cold, windy night read.

very enjoyable

If you could sum up At the Mountains of Madness in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing, captivating, spine tingling

Who was your favorite character and why?

William Dyer

What does Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

excellent narration

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Come see this movie even though it has Tom Cruise