A nicely constructed book: sturdy and printed on good quality paper (take that, e-readers!). The illustrations match the stories excellently, for the most part, and in any event are well executed and atmospheric. The stories are themed around Lovecraft's eerie New England town of Arkham, Massachusetts:Herbert West - Reanimator: One of my favourite Lovecraft stories, and a good opener to the collection. There is a certain degree of repetition, which I assume is due to it having been serialised in a pulp magazine, thus being furnished with regular recaps. That aside, it's a fine piece of ghoulish work. It also seems that Herbert West anticipated the use of embryonic stem cell therapy by about 80 years or so! Hopefully, nobody will be foolish enough to seek to recreate the research of the frightful Dr West! 5/5 stars.The Unnamable: The narrator of this short story is a writer whose friend criticises his overuse of words such as "unmentionable" and "unnamable" as a puerile device when referring to the horrors of which the author writes. I guess that Lovecraft may have had this criticism levelled at him, and here he pokes fun both at himself and his critic. Typically, this debate about the ineffability of cosmic horrors takes place in a graveyard, atop a shattered tomb, next to an ancient, abandoned house in the derelict outskirts of Arkham. Needless to say, indescribable horror pays a call.The story is accompanied by a great illustration, let down by its quite easily describable subject, so while it's a nice piece of art, it doesn't really complement the narrative. 4/5 stars.
