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ipanzica's review against another edition
4.0
Compelling, suspenseful, and constantly keeping you guessing. I was always on the edge of my seat and it was hard to put down. While reading it we were getting clues that made me think that the supernatural was involved and was excited to see what the mystery killer was. *SPOILER ALERT (I am literally saying the end of the book)* Unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a disappointment, since the killer was dun.....dun.....dun......... nature. Since the animals and bugs were attacking because they could feel the terror the villagers had about the world war 2. Though don't worry the whole thing resolved itself since the war ended, so the people were no longer scared and the animals/bugs no longer felt compelled to kill. Does this also sound anti-climatic and kinda dumb to you too? Since I feel like I was robbed of a great ending that the book was reading up too. This feeling is amplified by the fact that Arthur Machan was an expert in supernatural lore and wrote other stores about the occult/ supernatural, so a better ending was something he could have done. If for some reason you are reading my spoiler-ridden review before reading the book I recommend reading right up the reveal and then make up your own ending. That way you will not have to read such a disappointing ending but still get to read the amazing parts before the ending.
arthurbdd's review against another edition
3.0
Decidedly second-class Machen novel, having neither the visceral shock and originality of The Three Impostors nor the philosophical, meditative qualities of The Hill of Dreams or The Secret Glory. There's a decent enough concept here, but the story takes entirely too long to get to the point. Imagine a very literary novelisation of a cheap 1970s B-movie about animal attacks or something: no matter how polished the prose, it can't overcome the goofiness of the core concept. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/machen-fairies-grim-again/
sistermagpie's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun story about mysterious goings-on in the English countryside during WWI. The Terror is explained (to an extent) in the end, but the atmosphere really comes from strange things going on here and there that don't quite seem to fit together: a glowing tree, a strange, mournful scream in the night, people jumping off cliffs, people falling down dead, explosions, shipwrecks. It's so nebulous that people stop talking about it and just live with uneasiness. Though of course when they do talk about it they assume it's some dastardly German plot.
It's tightly written and has some really effective set pieces too.
It's tightly written and has some really effective set pieces too.