1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pulp Adventure set in HPL's Dreamlands, March 1, 2001
This novel is a series of action-oriented stories set in H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands (which themselves are largely inspired by the work of Dunsany).
The characters, adventures and pacing are very reminiscent of the sort of thing you'll find in Burroughs novels, Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, or some of the less gloomy fantasy books by Moorcock. The protaganists are out of the "loveable rogue" mold, guys who are selfish and a bit shifty, but with good hearts, who wind up doing the right thing when their backs are to the wall.
Lovecraft's Dreamlands provide an interesting setting for all the action. HPL's own stories in the setting are usually more about exploration, with nary a fight scene to be found. However, the setting suits an action story well.
So, overall, it's entertaining in the same sort of fun mindless way that a Sinbad movie is. Fans of the kinds of fantasy stories I mentioned above will enjoy the novel, and may find the setting interesting enough to interest them in HPL's dreamlands stories. Or, if you're an open-minded Lovecraft fanatic, you'll be fascinated by the little extensions and additions to the original Lovecraft setting.
Yes, it's self-indulgent; yes, it's not terribly original; yes, it's somewhat shallow. But, if you're willing to accept all that, it's great fun.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Lovecraft, but a fun read, March 14, 2007
Lumley has the wonderful talent to make Lovecraft more commercial. This series is no different. It's about two ne'er do wells in our world who die and now live in Lovecraft's Dreamland. There, when they are not drinking or wenching, they help the people in Dreamland fight off the denizens of the Cthulhu mythos, up to and including Cthulhu him or her self. It's fun, but if you are REAL Lovecraft scholar you probably won't like it. I really love Lovecraft's writing and his concepts of horror, but these are just so much fun to read that I think even HPL would love it.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Offspring of Lovecraft and Edgar Rice Burroughs, September 16, 2006
If you were to cross H.P. Lovecraft' with Edgar Rice Burroughs the end result would probably be Brian Lumley's HERO OF DREAMS. Add a dash of Conan the Barbarian and you get the picture. The story takes place in the Dreams of the two main characters, David Hero and Professor Dingle, known as Hero and Eldin in the Dreamlands. The dreamlands are the same ones described and created by H.P. Lovecraft in his novel The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and the monsters encountered by Hero and Eldin are from the same cloth. This is where the resemblence to Lovecraft ends and the pulpish sword & sorcery reminicent of Howard or Burroughs begins. The protagonists of this story are your typical good-hearted rouges who do the right thing in the end although their motives are not always pure.
Altogether an enjoyable tale if you are into sword & sorcery and pulp fiction type adventures.
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