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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but disappointing, June 28, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Nightmare's Disciple (Paperback)
It seems like a winning idea: combine the serial killer novel with the Lovecraftian horror story. But the author may have been a bit too ambitious in writing his first book as a 400-page novel with a wide variety of viewpoint characters. One of the key failures is the title character, the serial killer driven by his belief in Lovecraft's Old Ones. We're told that he commits his murders without leaving a scrap of evidence. But the character comes across more as a raving nutbar than as a cold and calculating killer. It's hard to believe that this character could have so easily eluded capture. The dialogue is also weak. The characters infodump at each other. (Not actual quotes, but close: "Have you heard of this book?" "Yes, it was written in 1569 by a Jesuit priest, Guillermo O'Brady. Jorge De Nada, in his masterwork De Rerum Spatula, discusses O'Brady's retelling of the arrival of G'Brish and the cult activities performed in its name. Few copies still exist of the book; its contents are summarized, though in censored form, in the Acta Studia of Peccata Mundi," he replied.) The in-jokes are also occasionally obtrusive, knocking the reader out of the flow of the story. When I stop to notice that a couple of cops are named after members of the MC5, I have to make an effort to get back into the story. There are some intriguing characters in the book, and some reasonably well-written passages. It's enough to make me wish that Pulver could have had the help of a sympathetic but merciless editor to make a leaner, more powerful, less comic-bookish novel from this story. As it is, it reads like promising but unpolished fan fiction.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cthulhu's new honey, August 17, 2001
This review is from: Nightmare's Disciple (Paperback)
I liked this book alot, because in many ways it put a more palpable spin on the whole Cthulhu Mythos. Where Lovecraft's protagonists were, in part, pallid and sort of ponderous---and almost always male---Nightmare's Disciple was a story with sterner, stronger heroes. Characters with flaws and believable virtues. The tale's villain is singularly vile, though also sympathetic only in the sense that he believes himself to be a messiah with a genuine cause. The introduction of a new Mythos entity, Kassogtha, I also liked, though she struck me as a kind of alternate identity for Shub-Niggurath. And, moreover, I was able to experience the evil majesty of the monster, as opposed to obscure references and last minute passing glimpses. Others, such as Cthulhu and Ithaqua and Yog-Sothoth, were of course mentioned, which was also very cool. All in all, though, the writer viewed his tale through fresh eyes. I think H.P. would have been proud. My only complaint was the overabundance of uneccessary references to music and movies and even other writers that shared little or no connection with the Mythos. Less deadwood and more monsters---that's my motto. Still and all, I recommend the book highly. It'll grab you and keep you until the last page, whether you're a Lovecraft buff or not.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Finally Another Full Length Mythos Tale!, August 25, 2000
This review is from: Nightmare's Disciple (Paperback)
As a fan of longer fiction as opposed to short stories (and also a fan of Lovecraft's Mythos tales) it's always great to find full length stories like this. Nightmare's Disciple is a great tale about a Mythos-mad serial killer in the present day. It was fun guessing throughout the whole novel: 'Is Lovecraft's Mythos real or is it just this killer who thinks it is?" The only thing I had a hard time with and disliked more and more as the novel progressed was the amazing amount of space dedicated to pop-culture. As a Lovecraft fan I am used to his references of ancient texts and so forth. However, in Pulver's novel he seems to use it as a showcase for everything he knows about pop-culture. Characters discuss for page after page about Lovecraft and his disciples, authors like Lumley, Howard, even Rice and King. All kinds of music and musical styles (even lines from songs are used as prose in the novel, while cute at first, it becomes a major distraction later on in the novel) horror movies, models, posters, art, comics, just about every little thing you can imagine. Sort through all of that and you have yourself a good novel that I really enjoyed. An excellent debut story from Mr. Pulver whom I hope continues on with more full length Mythos work. It appears the publishers 'Chaosium', while not accustomed to publishing full length Mythos work should have assigned a tougher editor for this novel. If some of the redundant information was cut it Would have made a much tighter and suspenseful story. It should not have been left up to Pulver alone on his first major work. Overall Mr. Pulver should be commended for his work on his first full length novel! Hopefully as he produces more work, he will stick with fewer topics and not branch off into all of his interests.
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