Customer Reviews

In the Valley of the Kings: Stories

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This anthology offers a host of unsettling stories that is one part Lovecraft and one part Beckett. The first story, O Aoyos, is Lovecraftian in its narrative structure (crazy doctor reflecting on the horrors of an "unnameable" plague, but rich with allegory (the power of the Word, Logos, whatever). The second story, My Father's Heart, is an unsentimental reflection of the power of our parents, even after they're gone. Next comes three sci-fi shorts (Charybdis, Aurora, and Eurydike) that are eerie stories of being marooned in space (as a doomed astronaut, a probe, and an experiment gone wrong - respectively). Again, these are fairly allegorical in nature - each modern man lost in the vacuum of an unknown future. I loved the ambiance of these stories, but felt like some of the underlying themes were going over my head.

The gem of this anthology is In the Valley of the Kings. It is a great story of a modern-day Egyptologist that falls victim to his own theories and passions. Well paced and well told - this was by far my favorite of the lot.

The last 2 stories, Scylla and Apocalypse, are again heavy on the allegory. They remind us that the world often ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Overall - Holt is a master stylist and storyteller. If you are not into books that are heavy into allegory and metaphor; stay away. But if you want a dose of dark philosophy, wrapped in creepy ambient short stories - look no further!

This collection of stories is one of the more frustrating collections I have read in a long time.
The Author is capable of highly imaginative scenarios and of creating richly textured charactors BUT more often than not ends up dragging the reader through an endless dewloop of frustation.
The best story in the collection is the first one and there are few bright spots after. One story is all too similar to the plotline of the movie "The Thing" while another seems to rip a page from Poe but without adding anything except some gimmicky descriptions about a heart.
Often we find ourselves in space without knowing who we are supposed to relate to and why,not only that but there is no resolution to these random situations so the reader is left with a vague sense of frustration and dread.

Terrence Holt's works are a House of Mirrors. The reader encounters the self, the other, the shadowy discomfort of not knowing with which one to identify in order to locate the soul. A wild ride through space, science fiction, and the terrors of being alone in the universe. Unexpected twists, u-turns, dead-ends: he includes them all. If you enjoy mind games these are the stories for you.

A father's heart lives and beats all by itself in a jar that his son maintains, despite the son's desire to be set free of its care; it even sort of talks to him. Several astronauts--or are they the same guy in different settings?--become paranoid, find themselves isolated...cue Peter Schilling and David Bowie. OK, maybe I need to let this book sit for a while and then go back and reread. I really, truly want to read others' takes on it, because I think I'm missing something: read a couple stories, flip to the back and read blurbs, read a couple more, back to blurbs. I'm a late boomer, so I've been marinated in the original series of The Twilight Zone; I had a fifth grade teacher who read E A Poe outloud to us--what a discovery!; I'm not a huge Ray Bradbury/Arthur C Clarke fan, but have read enough of their stuff; and I can remember the movie precursors to the Indiana Jones stories. If the point is to write hommagen to these types of story telling, then maybe I need up my grade to four stars. Holt can write well; I'm interested in what he will turn to next.

For a moment, I was tuned in looking for my lucky pencil. Long time it has been when I agree to the writing of books, the concepts to shake a reader imagination is well given. To see it and understand is well worth a time.

If you enjoy having a well-structured beginning, middle and end to your reading materials, this collection is not for you. Rather, the content is overly abstract, ephemeral, and metaphorical. More reminiscent of poetry than staightforward narrative prose. Cannot recommend. DISCLOSURE--only the first 2 of the 8 stories were read by this reviewer due to disillusionment and disappointment.