The Night Land: A Story Retold

By: James Stoddard, William Hope Hodgson

Narrated by: Jason Mills

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

An adventure of both science-fiction and fantasy - one of the great love stories - this is William Hope Hodgson's masterpiece, rewritten for the modern listener.

Penned in 1912, The Night Land is considered by many to be a work of genius, but one written in a difficult, archaic style that listeners often find impenetrable. As a labor of love, James Stoddard has rewritten Hodgson's book to bring it to a wider audience.

The story opens in the 19th century but quickly moves to the far future, where the sun has gone out, leaving the world in a darkness broken only by strange lights and mysterious fires. Over the ages, monsters and evil forces have descended to the Earth, compelling the surviving humans to take refuge in a great pyramid of imperishable metal built in a miles-deep chasm. The monsters surround the pyramid in a perpetual siege lasting for eons, waiting for the moment when its defenses will fail.

But one man, born out of his time, must leave the pyramid to seek his long-lost love though all the perils of the Night Land.

©2005 James Stoddard (P)2012 James Stoddard

An amazing journey

A tremendously faithful retelling of a classic tale of endless horror and eternal love and triumph. All the same wonder and splendor of the original, but with modernized and cleaned up grammar, actual dialogue, and much stronger characterization.

Absolutely recommend.

A truly infuriating performance… Can’t get past it.

How did this happen? I mean, the book is interesting and all but I won’t finish it because for the first time I detest this reader’s performance so much that I can’t get past it. Number one rule of any audiobook reader is to be understood, enunciate, use diction and inflection, DON’T drop off sentences or speak so fast that you’re unintelligible. It’s not even that I mind the thick accent; what I mind is the utter lack of dramatic emphasis - it’s as if he had no director and no experience as an actor or reader of any kind. They just picked a dentist off the street and said, “Here. Read this.” It doesn’t help that it all sounds muffled, like it was recorded on a tape recorder lost under blankets in the 90s. The dreadfully negligent production made this a total waste of a credit. Bummer because the story was fascinating! Please get a new reader pronto, because in its current state, this audiobook can’t be endured.

A decent retelling.

It does a good job of cleaning the book up and developing the characters however I feel like it losses somthing the the description of the world. I really do not like the narrator, he reminds me of a Southpark Canadian.

Disappointing

A unique premise and active story line spoiled by a totally unsuitable presenter who seemed in a great hurry to get to the end and who was unable to proide the necessary emotion in his dialogue.

Hands down better than the Original.

No info lost but so much less frustrating, stuffy, and sexist than the original text.

Wonderful sci fi/fantasy - recommended

This version of the book will go down as one of my all-time favorites. Remarkable imagination that makes me think it is a precursor of the accounts of Mordor by Tolkien, although actually more horrifying. And I thought I was not into love stories, but how wrong I was! The authors carry it off and I found myself incredibly moved and believing the story of ideal love by the last half of the book. The philosophy of nobility paired with a tenacity and unconquerable human spirit that can only succeed because love drives it relentlessly is inspiring, and if we can accept creatures of nihilistic dark intent operating in the world, surely we can also see legitimacy in glimpses of a force of good as well. I will have to dig up the (allegedly nearly unreadable) original to see what I think of the comparison, but I will always recommend this version as a work of art in and of itself. The idea of the rewrite will no doubt (understandably) offend purists but with a result like this the revision itself seems to me a true classic. There are plenty of classics not nearly as precious and enduring to heart and soul as this version of this work could be, IMO.

Awesome story

A glimpse into the dawn of sci fi . I could not get through the original I’m glad this is out there.

A must read for fans of the genra

Into the night land

I'm a big fan of the works of William hope Hodgson, I remember plowjng through Hodgson's verbose and difficult original text, so it's with some relief that James Stoddard's excellent retelling exits at all. He's managed to make an unfortunately extremely unreadable book palatable for the masses, which is a good thing as hidden in the originals meandering script in a truly fantastic story. I did initially have reservations regarding Jason's narration however, I eventually warmed to his "accent " Well done all.

Captivating!

I was skeptical of a 'retelling' but I'm a big fan of Dying Earth so thought I'd give it a go. Was surprised by the imaginative story and ended up listening almost in one sitting! Best audio book I've heard so far this year.

terrible narrrator

The narrator's voice is totally inappropriate. I couldn't get through 5 minutes before I had to give up.

fascinating period piece

I really enjoyed the reader, and the author's retelling to make this work more accessible is a triumph. It is a very simple story (only a few named characters) with an interesting framing device. My only reservation is that the hero's interactions' with the beings and monsters of the night land always take the form of physical violence or wordless spiritual conflict, which can get a bit boring. I started to yearn for more satisfying encounters... Definitely worth a listen though.

A master work improved.

W.H. Hodgson's strange and quirky book has been made more readable in this re-written effort. This takes nothing away from the original story, which is a tremendous work of fantasy.
The reader is taken along on a quest through a dark and horror strewn world, where, against all the odds, a lone man ventures into the night land, guided only by premonition and hope, in search of his re-born former wife of an earlier time. No other work of fiction or fantasy is even close to this one, and whether you read this re-told version, or the original, you will be taken along on a journey through a nightmare land which will surprise and delight you.