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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An immortal story of heroic men triumphing against unimaginable terror!,, July 10, 2005
_I cannot believe that I never came across this book before in all my reading. I also cannot believe that it was originally published in 1907. This is because it combines two of my favorite life-long interests: realistic sea stories and weird monster tales. In fact, this book reads like C.S. Forester meets H.P. Lovecraft. Or perhaps it is more like _Mysterious Island_ meets _At the Mountains of Madness_. In any case, I loved it. _Not only is the narrative tight and well crafted, but the technical details are fascinating and accurate. The old fashion style is charming. No one speaks English that perfectly anymore- not even the English. Plus, you can really tell that the author was a merchant seaman in the last days of sail. As for the story itself, it is set in 1757- one hundred and fifty years into the author's past. It is the tale of the strange adventures of the surviving crew of the good ship Glen Carrig after she rips her bottom out on an uncharted rock- and they have to take to the boats. Yet, that rock was the least of the unknowns to put them in peril. They happen first on the unearthly "Land of Lonesomeness" and its otherworldly denizens. Yet, this is only a practice run for the living hell and stark terror of the "Continent of Weed." This appears to be the first use of the Sargasso Sea in a horror story. And Hodgson must have actually been there, for he got too many details right- like the tiny little craps that infest the weed. _If you like this story, then seek out the author's _The House on the Borderland_. It is even more like Lovecraft- but written long before.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "classic of the first water" - strange stuff indeed, July 3, 2003
The book opens simply: "NOW WE had been five days in the boats, and in all this time made no discovering of land. Then upon the morning of the sixth day came there a cry from the bo'sun, who had the command of the lifeboat, that there was something which might be land afar upon our larboard bow; but it was very low lying, and none could tell whether it was land or but a morning cloud. Yet, because there was the beginning of hope within our hearts, we pulled wearily towards it, and thus, in about an hour, discovered it to be indeed the coast of some flat country." No hint of what fate befell the Glen Carrig - we are swept immediately into unknown lands, filled with, as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, a "variety of malign marvels". Hodgson's strengths are his personal familiarity with the sea and his ability to create an atmosphere of creeping dread, of the nearness of forces of unknown potency and hostility to humanity. He considered three of his novels ("The House on the Borderland", "The Boats of the Glenn Carrig", and "The Ghost Pirates") to be essentially parts of the same tale. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but there is a unifying thread of the intrusion into the everyday world of non-human entities bent soley on the destruction of the principle characters. In "The Boats of the Glen Carrig", Hodgson expands the territory of his short stories to novel length. Familiar elements are all there - the ship stranded in the Sargasso, the strange things seen at sea, and the eventual attack by monstrous forces. Unfortunately, also present is a mawkish romance and an attempt at "archaic" language that, while nowhere near as tiresome as that in "The Nightland", still wears on the modern reader. BUT!! Don't let that put you off! I know of NO other writer, not Lovecraft, nor Machen, nor Blackwood, who can create and sustain an atmosphere of creeping dread, the sense of horrors *just* out of sight. Very highly recommended.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Classics of Supernatural Fiction, July 6, 2003
William Hope Hodgeson had an ability to create and maintain an atmosphere of horror, dread and the unknown for the length of a full novel in such a way that you have to experience it. Coupled with the fact that he combines elements of the horror, fantasy and science fiction genre (supernatural fiction) in such an amazing way, it's no wonder H. P. Lovecraft considered him a master and acknowledges his influence on him. Just thinking about the first night they spend on the empty ship they find trapped in the seaweed, and the rasping of a tongue like "thing" on the wooden deck above them sends chills down my spine. This book is in my opinion Hodgson's shining example of his work and a must read for any horror fan.
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