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Top reviews from the United States

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Dr. Fishopolis
2.0 out of 5 stars A nicely produced book, but not at all clear what you're getting
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
tl;dr: The book itself I received is very nicely produced and in great condition, but it is not the book I was expecting.

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first. It is not clear whatsoever on what you're getting when buying this book. The pictures uploaded by the seller do not match what the review pictures show. When looking at the kindle version of this listing as well as the user review pictures, one is led to believe this is the penguin classics HP Lovecraft collection "The Call of Cthulu: and Other Weird Stories." That is NOT the item you receive. Instead you get something called "The Call of Cthulu: and Other Stories", which in my opinion is very deceptively titled and meant to confuse buyers.

This is doubly annoying because at no point does the seller information tell you what stories you are getting (except for, obviously, the Call of Cthulu). As I looked at the kindle version of this listing as well as the other reviews, I assumed the table of contents would be the same as the Penguin Classics version which contained 18 stories and an introduction by famed Lovecraft academic S.T. Joshi. The version I received only has 7 stories, and no introduction section.

So that's a lot of the bad, but let me give some of the good. The book is well made and very attractive looking. I love the simplicity of the cover and it goes well with the foreboding nature of the stories inside. It will look great on a shelf and I much prefer it to some other editions which oftentimes have a much more pulpy, childish design. The Old Ones are not to be taken lightly.

I also actually like the collection of stories in this edition. Even though there's only 7 compared to Penguin Classics 18, this is because it contains two of his longest stories, At the Mountains of Madness and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. These stories are often omitted from collections because of their length and rarely seen together, so I happy for that.

All in all, I don't plan to return this because I do like the quality of this book, and I've only read 2 of the 7 stories. I also like that I have a version that contains At the Mountains of Madness, the Call of Cthulu, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in one volume that will be easy to travel with.

The reasons for only 2 stars? -1 for the confusion surrounding the different versions, -1 for the deceptive title that is only one word different from the Penguin Classics version, and -1 for having no clearly listed table of contents.
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CrankTop Contributor: Rock Music
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Penguin 70th edition with French flaps.
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2019
Verified Purchase
Not going to comment on political stuff surrounding the author. I find the prose to be very well-written and detailed. I haven't read much Lovecraft, but a lot of these stories are emotive and creepy in a good way. None of them really overstay their welcome, and sometimes you almost want a full novel from some of the better tales. I have no issues here. The writings speak for themselves. I guess some people don't like the style. But to me it has a high standard and good vocabulary while keeping the tales concise and mysterious.

This new edition feels fantastic with rough-edged pages and a great typeface. Easy to read and hold in the hand. For simply reading the stories, it is the best edition available. Penguin cut all the explanatory notes about the stories that the editor included, which is a bit of a bummer as those notes were very interesting and added to the book. But I guess for a text it can get annoying with superscript numbers all over the pages. I know it kind of takes me out of the story when I see a superscript number in a text every 20 sentences. I like the 1999 edition as well, but for purely reading purposes this one is superior. If you want to know more about the notes behind some of the stories you will want to select the 1999 Penguin edition.
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Rick
1.0 out of 5 stars Editors should read the book they claim to have edited
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2020
Verified Purchase
The rating is for the publisher, an Amazon company. Horribly edited & poorly published. Why attribute your name as editor to a book you clearly didn’t read (& as such, edit) I do not know. I found countless grammatical & spelling errors. Lastly, the margins & formatting of the book are lazy & reiterate my belief that these people didn’t actually look at or read this book after it was printed. The book is simply hard to read for no justifiable reason.
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Kayla
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2019
Verified Purchase
Arrived on time and as described. Already read the first story and on the second.

Note: I feel like pointing out that a majority of the bad reviews have to do with the book itself, which is a bummer because the seller definitely didn't write the book. Ignore those. The seller was great and fulfilled their end of this bargain. The book was written a long time ago and is going to be a different style of writing. But don't judge the seller for that 🤦🏼‍♀️
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D. B. Killings
5.0 out of 5 stars Cthulu fhtagn!
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2010
Verified Purchase
You can tell that the works of H.P. Lovecraft have entered the stuffy realm of "literature" when Penguin/Viking feels compelled to produce releases of his work under their Penguin Classics banner. The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories is the first of (so far) three volumes of Lovecraft's tales to appear under this imprint, and it serves admirably as both a good introduction for those unfamiliar with his work, or as a good assemblage for those more familiar with him and are seeking a decent, comprehensive collection with annotation.

This collection contains a mixture of tales from both his early and later periods, both long and short works, with several lesser known and harder to find stories thrown in for good measure. Most of the stories directly concerning Cthulu or its followers are here collected ("Dagon", "The Call of Cthulu", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"), as well as many other tales that have long been considered classics in the Lovecraft corpus ("The Colour Out of Space", "The Whisperer in the Darkness", "Herbert West - Reanimator", "The Rats in the Walls"). What's more, the collection also contains extensive endnotes by editor S.T. Joshi, who not only provides insights into the writing of these works but also explains obscure references and even points out how many of Lovecraft's stories directly relate to one another; even those reasonably familiar with Lovecraft's work will find new insights and connections that they hadn't realized existed.

Overall I think this is a very good collection, among the best Lovecraft anthologies currently in release. I would recommend it to anyone interested in H.P. Lovecraft with absolutely no reservations.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Im happy but i dont believe its a genuine penguin print
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
I dont think its a genuine print by penguin but the book is more than acceptable, good condition and fresh.
Im not dissatisified, I will read it and leave it on a shelf all the same but some folk might be.

Reasons i dont think its an official print is i knowingly bought one once while backpacking and this has the same feeling to it...

The cover of the book is not the normal type of smooth card penguin has used on other 'modern classics'.

On the edge of the pages you can clearly see the cut where the stack of paper was cut.

And the inks used appear a little more washed out than id expect, its not an issue reading the pages and everthing is clear but it seems slightly off.
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Catherine
5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to Lovecraft. Amazing short stories
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
My first Lovecraft book, i think it is the perfect introduction. Some short stories, average around 10 pages each. Some old fashioned language but easy enough to understand. Very atmospheric and scene-setting and some really interesting, thought-provoking themes to the stories. Great mix of sci-fi, horror and just as the title says "weird".
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James Orwell
1.0 out of 5 stars ITS A DAMN FAKE DOG
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Its fake? Is that even a thing? Full price for a fake book?

Felt strange as soon as I took it out the package, very flimsy and cheap feeling. The cover has a really strange photocopied look to it and doesn’t quite fit right.

Avoid at all costs wow.
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1.0 out of 5 stars ITS A DAMN FAKE DOG
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2020
Its fake? Is that even a thing? Full price for a fake book?

Felt strange as soon as I took it out the package, very flimsy and cheap feeling. The cover has a really strange photocopied look to it and doesn’t quite fit right.

Avoid at all costs wow.
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Temple Phoenix
5.0 out of 5 stars The Finest Edition You Can Own
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2011
Verified Purchase
There have been dozens if not hundreds of Lovecraft editions since the author's untimely death, and this is the one that I would recommend as definitive to either hardcore HP devotees or newcomers to the Mythos.

Joshi, probably the most respected Lovecraft scholar around, gives a concise and detailed runthrough of the author's often tragic and bizarre life; it's a great and helpful resource for newbies as a lot of Lovecraft's fiction was informed by his experiences.

Joshi also adds full annotations for the stories themselves, and on the Kindle they are all properly linked, allowing you to jump to or ignore them as you wish. The notes are well-researched and never less than informative, especially on the subect of some of HP's more esoteric references.

The stories themselves are some of Lovecraft's finest, including brief but unsettling gems like Dagon, the skincrawling unease of Arthur Jermyn and of course the justifiably famous and celebrated Call of Cthulhu. Those that know them already will need no further encouragement, while those who have always wondered what the fuss is all about can have no better place to start.

This is the brilliant, blasphemous and mindblasting heart of the Mythos, and this book, together with its two companion volumes, finally gives it the treatment it deserves.
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing content but poor book material
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2020
Verified Purchase
This particular edition has amazing content but the books condition was poor, with odd material quality and blue watery smudges on the pages and a rough/blurred cover. Hmmmm. There is another edition by Penguin out there that has the expected material quality.
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