Reviews for Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

The average rating for Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-01-13 00:00:00 Richard Young The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia is a reference book detailing the works of HP Lovecraft and his contemporaries, as well as those influenced by them in the ensuing decades, relating to the Cthulhu mythos. I've been on the periphery of Lovecraftian fandom for a couple decades, starting with Black Seas of Infinity: The Best of H.P. Lovecraft. With the amount of material out there, it's hard to know where to start. With this book, I finally feel like I have a guide. The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia is an exhaustive exploration of the Cthulhu mythos, detailing such mythos staples as Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and Randolph Carter, to tangently related characters like Conan, to later derivative works like Titus Crow. Throw in creatures like the Nightgaunts and books like the Book of Eibon, and you've got a ton of material to digest. The best part is sources are mentioned. If you want to know where the information from the Dagon entry comes from, the book has you covered. If you want to know where The Blasted Heath is mentioned, ditto. This book has quite a bit of depth and there must have been a staggering amount of research going into it. What other reference book has multiple origins of Abdul Alhazred, the mad Arab who penned the Necronomicon and the origin of the word Tekeli-Li? The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia isn't really a book you want to read from cover to cover. However, if you don't know Fthaggua from the Fungi from Yuggoth, you'll find this invaluable. Four out of five Fhtagn stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-03-11 00:00:00 Brandie Fowler Okay I will have to admit that if you already have the Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana 1st edition this is not really one for you - (I had the chance of picking the second edition up cheap). However so not for a second think that this is a rehash or at best a simple update. NO - the book is far more than that. First the update - the entries have been updated and some small errors (I could not find them the author declared them) have been corrected but there are also totally new sections and a rethink of the whole project. As the author admitted that the CoC role playing material has been suppressed not because it does not deserve to be there but because they felt it was a repeating material and meant that the encyclopedia could be used as source material in the games itself. There was also symbols and other artwork added although no renditions of the beast. So why would I advise against the purchase of this book if you had the first edition - the answer is more complex than the fact that the bulk of the material is present in both books. No its the ethos of the book. As the introduction explains the work of Lovecraft and his subsequent collaborators is that its all about the allusion. The idea that the reader is given the pieces but it is up to them what they create with it. And that is the same for this book. Yes there are more entries but the fun is really what the reader makes up between the entries - so this to certain extend is a case of "less is more". Now is great to follow certain entries and I do enjoy following one reference to the next to the next and so on but after all while it gets exhausting and that is where the two editions start to blend in to one. This is a mine of information just its a little too much to take in in one go.