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Darker Than You Think

Darker Than You Think

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $10.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the first and still the best.
Review: A chance encounter is about to lead Will Barbee into a confrontation with ancient evil. It will change him forever. This wonderfully inventive novel will twist your expectations, with writing that remains fresh despite its pulp magazine origins. There are many marvels to be found herein, and enough action to put most Hollywood blockbusters to shame. It remains my favorite novel of shapechangers (not strictly werewolves, since the characters can change into snakes, sabre-tooth tigers and even pterosaurs), and a book that desperately needs to come back into print. I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Well, he invented it!
Review: Don't go here looking for innovative SF ideas; the glorious invention of this story has been robbed of its lustre by decades of growth, improvement, and outright rehashing. The fact that it was surprising and new in its day hardly mitigates our familiarity. Fortunately, Williamson's creation has an immortal strength that will not become obsolete. I have never seen a story that so blurred the boundaries between good and evil, nor in such a powerful and disturbing way. Even the reader can't quite escape its psychic turmoil and hypnotic confusion, and the result is a compelling novel that is able to provoke and unsettle despite ocassional moments of triteness.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A heck of a lot of fun to read.
Review: I came to this book after reading SEX AND ROCKETS, a biography of Jack Parsons. JP was one of the founders of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and he was also a disciple of Aleister Crowley. Darker Than You Think was Parson's favorite novel, and it's not difficult to see why. Lycanthropy and witchcraft are all scientifically explained here, and much of what goes on in the book also encompasses astral projection, voodoo and paganism. In fact, many Wiccans at the time took Jack Williamson for a fellow pagan. While some people complain of the writing style, I find it nostalgically charming -- the great Sci-Fi writers of the 1960s and 1970s were yet to set the precedent -- and this early example of sci-fi-meets-horror is still quite readable today. The claim the writing is "dated" is less valid than the fact that Darker Than You Think is the work of a young man; much of the writing is amateurish and naive, and the pacing is not as well-planned as it could have been. This should not deter you from reading it, however. It is an imaginative, exciting and gripping book. Enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Meet the Child of Night.
Review: I'm very happy to see Tor return an old favorite of mine to print -- Jack Williamson's novel of shapeshifters, witches and the seductive power of evil. I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but DARKER THAN YOU THINK certainly deserves it.

Yes, the book's pulp origins are apparent. But modern readers should not let it distract them from this dynamic and highly original novel (which includes some great plot-twists that must have been very shocking in the 40's).

My only complaint with this new edition is the cover, which is pretty darn ugly. However, the book does contain David G. Klein's black and white illustrations from the 1980's Bluejay edition, which is a nice bonus.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Meet the Child of Night.
Review: I'm very happy to see Tor return an old favorite of mine to print -- Jack Williamson's novel of shapeshifters, witches and the seductive power of evil. I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but DARKER THAN YOU THINK certainly deserves it.

Yes, the book's pulp origins are apparent. But modern readers should not let it distract them from this dynamic and highly original novel (which includes some great plot-twists that must have been very shocking in the 40's).

My only complaint with this new edition is the cover, which is pretty darn ugly. However, the book does contain David G. Klein's black and white illustrations from the 1980's Bluejay edition, which is a nice bonus.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Meet the Child of Night.
Review: I'm very happy to see Tor return an old favorite of mine to print -- Jack Williamson's novel of shapeshifters, witches and the seductive power of evil. I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but DARKER THAN YOU THINK certainly deserves it.

Yes, the book's pulp origins are apparent. But modern readers should not let it distract them from this dynamic and highly original novel (which includes some great plot-twists that must have been very shocking in the 40's).

My only complaint with this new edition is the cover, which is pretty darn ugly. However, the book does contain David G. Klein's black and white illustrations from the 1980's Bluejay edition, which is a nice bonus.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An amazingly good book for the time
Review: I've avoided writing a review of Darker Than You Think for an awfully long while. My reason is that I find it difficult to separate the novel from the time I first read it and the kind, helpful man who wrote it. I read this book during the early 1950s because I admired and respected Jack Williamson as a man and a bit of a mentor for a youngster aspiring to be a writer.

During the intervening years I've read the book several times. Sometimes I've found 'mistakes' in his science distracting. Other times I've been slightly put off by implications of the plot I missed as a youngster.

I believe this book can be read and enjoyed strictly as a novel, as a demonstration of early years of SF, as a fun read to pique the not-too-skeptical imagination. As an indicator of Williamson's philosophy, of the power of 'dark forces' of the universe, a reader would be looking too far, too deep. Such thinking would be an anachronism, would have made Jack's life unbearable in the small, evangelical Christian town where we lived.

Read this book for fun and enjoy it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An amazingly good book for the time
Review: I've avoided writing a review of Darker Than You Think for an awfully long while. My reason is that I find it difficult to separate the novel from the time I first read it and the kind, helpful man who wrote it. I read this book during the early 1950s because I admired and respected Jack Williamson as a man and a bit of a mentor for a youngster aspiring to be a writer.

During the intervening years I've read the book several times. Sometimes I've found 'mistakes' in his science distracting. Other times I've been slightly put off by implications of the plot I missed as a youngster.

I believe this book can be read and enjoyed strictly as a novel, as a demonstration of early years of SF, as a fun read to pique the not-too-skeptical imagination. As an indicator of Williamson's philosophy, of the power of 'dark forces' of the universe, a reader would be looking too far, too deep. Such thinking would be an anachronism, would have made Jack's life unbearable in the small, evangelical Christian town where we lived.

Read this book for fun and enjoy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic yet timeless
Review: I've read this book at least half a dozen times, and always found something new. It has a beautiful period flavor -- sort of a noir-ish tinge -- yet hasn't dated at all. The evil presented is horrifying, yet seductive in a ghastly way; and it speaks to the divided soul of humanity, where demon and angel wrestle.

A classic!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic yet timeless
Review: I've read this book at least half a dozen times, and always found something new. It has a beautiful period flavor -- sort of a noir-ish tinge -- yet hasn't dated at all. The evil presented is horrifying, yet seductive in a ghastly way; and it speaks to the divided soul of humanity, where demon and angel wrestle.

A classic!


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