Reviews

Pigeons from Hell by Robert E. Howard

cagebox's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Pigeons from Hell is a pretty good short story (though not as brilliant as Stephen King describes it) but it is effectively creepy and boasts enough action to keep the reader entertained.

mabusecast's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

scrooge3's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I read this story because it was nominated for the Retro-Hugo Award. It is a genuinely scary tale of a man trying to avoid a voodoo curse in a creepy old house. One of the things I particularly liked was when the man eventually finds the sheriff, the sheriff doesn't just dismiss his claims, and eventually even believes something weird is going on. I would probably give this story a 5, but the persistent racist language is hard to handle.

mossberg's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Could easily have been a short story by Lovecraft, the right balance of horror and building dread along the way.

readr_joe's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

A good concept, regrettably undermined by constant racism. Just a tiny bit too complicated for a really good horror story, but otherwise very similar to the writing of the infamous [a:Edgar Allan Poe|4624490|Edgar Allan Poe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1454522972p2/4624490.jpg].

pjgilmore's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

hollyevaallen's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark

5.0

erinthelibrarian's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Sorry to say that while I found the story interesting and definitely frightening as always with dark illustrations in many graphic novels I couldn't tell what was going on in all the action shots - I confess I would prefer to read a description rather than try to discern several pages of small boxes. Fans of horror comics will definitely enjoy this! I haven't read anything by Howard, but became fascinated with him after seeing the movie The Whole Wide World staring Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio as Howard and Novalyne Price - also a writer. Very interesting!

phantomphalanges's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

dantastic's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

While on vacation, two men decide to spend the night in an abandoned plantation house, ignorant of its terrifying past. Can they survive the darkness that dwells within the Blassenville house?

From the creator of Conan comes this creepy haunted house story. It tosses the usual horror formula out the window, going for quick shocks rather than building suspense. It got a little tense at times. However...

Much like H.P. Lovecraft's, I find REH's dialogue to be pretty wooden. Also, I thought some of the characters' actions and thought processes to be pretty illogical.

Since I don't want the review to be longer than the short story, that's about all I have to say. Pigeons from Hell is fun in a pulp horror sort of way but it's in no way Howard's best work. We can look to a certain Puritan adventurer and a barbarian from Cimmeria for that. Three out of five stars.