The Night Land: A Story Retold

De: James Stoddard, William Hope Hodgson

Narrado por: Jason Mills

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

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

romancing the abyss

Ultimately a romance story, with handfuls of passages that wouldn’t feel out of place in a 70’s Better Homes and Gardens series, drawn across one of the bleakest and terrifying landscapes imaginable. You can really feel how novel thes ideas in this book are. Fearlessly weird and dreamy and scorched. I loved every minute of it. I’ll probably crack the original if I read it again, in its original tongue. I wouldn’t guess it suffers much loss in translation, though. Well worth it.

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.

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.

Very nicely done!

Never read the original but the retelling is very well done. It has a classic sci-fi feel which is a refreshing change of pace from contemporary stories. Some have noted issues with the narration but I thought Jason Mills did a great job. His accent (IMHO) adds to the classic feel. Like watching/listening to an old Hammer Films movie. Thumbs up from me in all categories.