Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Have for HPL Fans
Review: If you're a die-hard fan of H.P. Lovecraft's work, and the Cthulhu Mythos that grew from it , then you MUST add this book to your collection!The book is composed of essentially two sections. The first is a collection of stories, by various authors, concerning the Necronomicon, that blasphemous occult tome invented by HPL. The second part of the book has several versions of sections of the Necronomicon, and commentaries about the tome. Even if you do not find the stories of interest, this book is well worth having for the latter material alone! Most notably included are Fred L. Pelton's "The Sussex Manuscript," Lin Carter's "The Necronomicon: The Dee Translation," Robert M. Price's "A Critical Commentary Upon The Necronomicon," and H.P. Lovecraft's "History of The Necronomicon." Fear not the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods! Get this book!
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: This collection offers the reader a very mixed bag. Pulling off an anthology like this is extremely difficult because the stories threaten to be repetitious, tedious, or both. Robert Price has only moderate success here. The stories are remarkably varied; Price has taken a good cross-section of stories about the Necronomicon and has avoided the repetition problem for the most part. Despite this, some of the stories are quite predictable. The strength of this collection indeed lies in its variety. When was the last time you read a Mythos story by John Brunner? His story is one of the best of the book. For that matter, Silverberg and Pohl are not well known for Mythos contributions, but they make contributions to this volume. The real tedium in the collection comes in the versions of the Necronomicon. There's only so much archaically-written gobbledygook a reader can stand. After a page of it, the rest looks like more of the same. Thus, "The Sussex Manuscript" and Lin Carter's contribution are of little interest to the reader. Carter's repeats the same themes again and again, showing some creativity but soon losing the reader's interest. The value of this collection, then, is limited. Some of Price's other collections present a much more interesting read. This book is one for the dedicated Cthulhu Mythos fan.
Rating:
Summary: Half of this book is a Must Have
Review: This is a book which I most highly recommend. That is, for the second half. Over the first hundred pages of the book are devoted to "Obscure Tales" in which the Necronomicon plays a part. Truthfully the only ones I enjoyed were John Brunner's "Concerning the Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Translation of the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred", Robert Lowndes' "Settlers' Wall", and Fred Chappell's "The Adder". All of these are fine Lovecraftian pastiches. The other six are about what you expect from most Lovecraftian pastiche. But on to the good stuff. The next two hundred pages were loving tributes to The Necronomicon, with the exception of Fred Pelton's "The Sussex Manuscript" which should have rested in the obscurity from which it was wrenched. But let me outline what you'll be getting here. (Picture the following as if it were a Penguin Classics edition of Al Azif by Abdul Alhazred.) "Preface to the Al Azif" by L. Sprague de Camp, a hilarious tongue-in-cheek introduction. "History of the Necronomicon" by H.P. Lovecraft (enough said). "The Life of the Master" by David T. St. Albans, supposedly a translation of Abdul's life by one of his disciples. "The Necronomicon: The Dee Translation" by Lin Carter, which leaves a little to be desired but if read as a later reconstruction of the fragments (see Bob Price's piece at the end of the list) you can still enjoy it as more tongue-in-cheek pastiche. John Dee's Necronomicon: a Fragment" by Frank Belknap Long, kind of goes along with what I said about Lin Carter's entry. "Why Abdul Alhazred Went Mad" by D.R. Smith, supposedly the last chapter of the Necronomicon and actually a very poor piece, but its message of Mankind triumphant reminded me of Robert E. Howard's similar treatment of Cthulhu-type themes. And lastly, "A Critical Commentary Upon the Necronomicon" by Robert M. Price with its biblical analysis type treatment of the Necronomicon comes very close to convincing you that it is a real work and also addresses the Derlethian element in Lovecraftian fiction in terms that are so reminiscent of the Reformation/Catholic debate that it may make you squirm (depending on your own personal psyche of course). It is the best thing in the book and worth the price by itself.
Rating:
Summary: Just A Fun Read For Both Mythos And Non-Mythos Fans Alike
Review: With interesting stories,John Dee's version of The Necronomicon itself,and even H.P. Lovecraft's own essay concerning The Necronomicon,this makes a great read for anyone that might be a believer in The Necronomicon,a Cthulhu Mythos addict,or just an ordinary fan of horror stories. A great edition to any fantasy library and a good companion to other versions of The Necronomicon that the reader may have.
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