"I was Thomas of old, condemned not to believe, lest I see. Alas time would come when mine would see and mourn because of it." It's that line that I held to because while its beginning was solid, the middle tried what little patience I had. I wanted to see what Carter saw and see I did... eventually. Talley writes with images in mind. He makes That Which Should Not Be dark and scary and confusing and new (at least to me it was.) The problem is it got too much at times even if the beginning piqued my interest. Starting with the MC shoved right into the action with little preparation, the 'thereafter,' was another matter. The middle tried me sorely because I wanted more of Carter, only what I got were stories within a story. A good deal of this is a couple of broken men telling their tales to an untested young man. Taken individually said stories ran along the lines of that fantasy/horror/sci-fi TV show, Amazing Stories. So it's horror, old school style; a lot of waiting and thinking and imagining less the blood and gore.I suppose what bugged me was the waiting. Waiting for the connection to be made. Waiting for Carter's role to become clear. Only, if I'm absolutely honest it was precisely the same waiting that built it up and had me considering, thinking about how those stories would connect. Were they connected? Could they be connected? Take Jack's Wendigo; Daniel scholomance, haunted abbey; William and his asylum; Captain Gray and his book; and finally, Carter and his search. Each bit was very easy to envision given the attention to detail. I mean, just consider this line, "Even with the blinding snow and darkened skies, some unknown glow illuminated the oily sea as it boiled and undulated under the ever gathering barrage." But all that said, the final 'reveal' was simply interesting, ala- Amazing Stories. Too bad about the cover, because scary as it may look, it does look a teensy bit cheesey. And this book is not cheesey...a bit slow at times but after a while, there really is a good story (a couple of stories) in here. What I liked most: it doesn't mess about, but simply throws Carter into it. I will even admit to liking the back and forth between the then and now. I suppose considering this isn't a book I would typically read it really isn't bad. Heck, it's actually pretty interesting. Interesting enough that it had me making up theories and looking for connections. 2.5/5
