FriedEgg

This is very much a book of two halves. The first half contains a set of stories linked by a vague connection to the "King in Yellow", a book within a book, that seems to invoke madnes in those that read it. Or does it just attune the reader to madness already in the world?

The second half contains stories that appear to have no bearing on the King in Yellow whatsoever and I recall having read somewhere that these stories were not in the original edition. If true, one can only wonder why they were added because they are so different. Where the first five stories are classic weird fiction at it's best with elements of horror, the later five are more tales of friendship and romance.

I would rate the first half five stars and the latter only three. Hence the four stars overall. All in all I would say this collection is worth reading if only for the first half.