Book Review: At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Publishing Date: 1936 (published with errors and abridgments, not corrected until 1985 reprint)
Setting Genre: Research Expedition
Narrative Genre: Horror, Ancient Aliens, Science Fiction
Themes: Hubris, Smallness of mankind

Subjective Length: A day or so

Overall 6/10 This is an excellent work, well worth reading for fans of the ancient aliens subset of horrific science fiction. Outside of that fairly narrow demographic, however, it likely has a very limited appeal. That being said, this story, and Lovecraft's body of work in general, began trends that continue into modern horror and even have their influences as far flung as Adventure Time and The Simpsons. If this, admittedly narrow, genre piques your curiosity at all, give this or, really, anything at all by Lovecraft, a look.

Controversial Themes:
Body Horror: At the Mountains of Madness deals with the horror of gore and the existential horror of its equivalent in beings not possessing bodies in the traditional sense. The imagery is disturbing throughout, to great effect, but possibly beyond what some readers can handle.
Origin of Man: Lovecraft in this work explores a fictional cosmology that, to my knowledge, is not the accepted origin of man in any scientific or religious beliefs actually held today.
The Place of Humanity: Lovecraft's mythos, explored deeply in this work in particular, emphasizes humanity's smallness as an aspect of the horror. Humanity is not seen as cosmically special or important in any way whatsoever. This is not so much controversial, as simply potentially very uncomfortable for some readers.

**SPOILERS AHEAD***SPOILERS AHEAD***SPOILERS AHEAD***SPOILERS AHEAD**

The story follows the exploration of an antarctic expedition looking to perform geological surveys. In this it references the fictional Miskatonic University, located in the fictional town of Arkham. This references other stories and places this work in the same continuity as Lovecraft's mythos; which includes: Cthulhu, The Great Old Ones, shoggoths, and other elements which have become mainstays of modern cosmic horror.

During their expeditions, they discover a mountain range beyond the reach of previous expeditions, and reaching higher than the Himalayas. Near this, a cavern is discovered with the remains of several strange and ancient creatures of a level of biological advancement not thought to have existed at the time the strata indicates they would have. Most of this is relayed to the main characters of the story by radio from a forward camp of the expedition. When the main camp loses contact with this group, they go to investigate. They find evidence of a struggle and inexplicable violence.

Two men fly over the high mountains, seeking answers, and find the remnants of an impossibly old civilization. It is discovered that some of the recovered specimens were still alive after thawing, and, in violence, escaped the camp, seeking to return to the civilization they'd known in ancient times.

Deep beneatwithin the city, the men discover these and other secrets written in a hieroglyphic language which they are able to interpret pictorally. It is here that they encounter the eldritch creatures which have taken residence in the crypts of these old ones: the shoggoths. A shoggoth, described as a vaguely made creature, intended as a slave which could shapeshift to complete various tasks, is seen briefly in the cavernous remains of the city. It chases the two men from the ruins.

The entire story is written in the past tense, by a man fearing to be called mad for his claims, but who came forward because of the urgency with which he feels he must prevent a future expedition from attempting to delve those same depths into the realm of things man was not meant to know.

This story explains the history of earth and space in Lovecraft's mythology more than many others which he wrote. Nevertheless, Lovecraft possesses a talent for keeping the monster scary after the reveal that is rare in the genre. As Orson Scott Card said, (paraphrasing) dread comes from an unseen menace, terror from a threat, and genuine horror is in the gory aftermath.

Most offerings of the horror genre are disturbing in the horror, startling in the terror, and only truly frightening in the dread: that is, in the time before the monster comes to light. The unknown frightens. Lovecraft, as seen in this work in particular, has a skill for explaining everything the human mind can grasp of his monsters, and placing the thing in vivid color in the reader's path, and still, through some rare talent, making it so other that it cannot help but have an aspect of the unknown.

The added horror of the piece, and of much of Lovecraft's writing, is that these things of other dimensions are not beyond veils of death or through gateways to fantastic realms. They are not on other worlds or other planes of existence. They are beneath the thin scraping of the earth's crust. These things that shouldn't be, whose mere presences are the precursors of madness, lie beneath a few feet of rock, or just around the next corner. Earth, to Lovecraft's mythos, is not the sole dominion of man, and the senses and knowledge of man is not sufficient to know our place in this world we thought we ruled. This is the true terror of what lies beneath the Antarctic ice.

Happy reading, all.