As a former resident of Manitoba, I felt a certain kinship to the settings described (COOOOLLLD!), especially to the Canadian placenames with which I am familiar. As an avid fan of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, I felt for the characters' helplessness as Ithaquoa, the main villain laughs off their vain attempts to harm him using Earth technology (Mythos critters are immune to our physics). The loss of sanity experienced by humans in close proximity to Mythos critters wasn't played through, I thought...they should all have been screaming and writhing in mindless horror! It was best in the early chapters when it read more as a horror piece, but then it became a sort of fantasy war setting. It wasn't bad as a fantasy novel, but the feel did definitely change. The use telepathy as a means to account for the recording of the story was inspired. The use of names like "Eskimo" meaning eater of raw meat would not play well in today's PC world (a derogatory Indian word, not an Inuit word in fact), but clearly Lumley is not here to give an anthropological monograph, so it is important to accept names like Oontawa (Ottawa?), and Tacomah (Washington?) at face value, and enjoy the ride. One very amusing note: a character dies outside of Regina, Saskatchewan after her motor vehicle crashes down a steep incline...fans of "Corner Gas" should get a laugh out of THAT lack of continuity...flatter than a board, my friend! I suppose there ARE river banks, though...A great, fast read! I must read more of Lumley.
