Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred

By Stefan Isaksson

Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred
Donald Tyson
Llewellyn Publications
269 pages
ISBN: 0738706272

This is a book that more or less only devoted fans of H.P. Lovecraft, his creation Necronomicon, the Cthulhu Mythos and so on will appreciate. In other words, unless you’ve read (and liked) the stories penned down by the Gentleman from Providence you won’t find much pleasure in reading Tyson’s Necronomicon.

Because in this book you’ll follow in the footsteps of Alhazred (one of Lovecraft’s characters who wrote the dreaded Necronomicon) and visit some of the strange places and their even stranger inhabitants he came across throughout his life.

And, well, that’s that. End of book.

To be quite honest (and I always am in my reviews, regardless of whether I like the book or not), this one turned out to be pretty boring. It deals exclusively with creatures such as Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, and others; and locations such as Atlantis, the sunken city of R’lyeh, Alexandria, and so on. So you see, if you know your Lovecraft you know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t, well, then this book isn’t really for you.

It’s true that it’s filled to the brim with useful information. But only for the ones already initiated.

And I’m sad to report that it’s never a very exciting read, since the text throughout the book is descriptive only (except for a very short passage at the end of the book, on pages 264-265 where Alhazred battles a group of murderous ghouls at a cemetery outside Damascus).

Sure, I’m a sucker for Alhazred, The Old Ones, The Elder Things, and everything else related to master Lovecraft, just like any other devoted fan. And thus I appreciated the book for the tons of information it gave me.

So don’t get me wrong, Tyson’s Necronomicon is well-written and at times extremely fascinating, but despite of all the useful data and beautifully crafted sentences it eventually did – and unfortunately, I must say – transform into a boring read.

I wish it didn’t. But it did.