Very original well written story

Nice surprise! Really good thriller, enjoyed more than Stephen’s King latest novels, not very though. Looking forward to follow up.

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Masterpiece of cosmic horror

A masterpiece of story telling that fuses grief, cosmic horror and awe in a wonderfully captivating way.

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1 person found this helpful

exceptional cosmic horror

atmospheric, frightening, and engrossing. This Stoker prize-winning novel is well worth a listen. the pacing of the story is a little off, telling a split narrative over many years. it would have benefited from interspersing each narrative with the other but this minor quibble only slightly detracts from the perfect Halloween listen.

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A fantastic contemporary Weird Tale

I've not read or listened to any John Langan before, but the sample held enough to capture my interest.
This story concerns a man who turns to fishing at the loss of his wife, and his bonding with another man in similar straits. This story is about grief, and loss, and the bonds we make with others. About a third of the way in, the story becomes the tale of an area, and an immigrant family, and the weird goings on at the heart of the creek. This story is just as fascinating as the frame narrative, and doesn't waste the reader's time, but fully dives in to the tropes of the weird tale (unknown languages, eldritch knowledge dark places beyond, inexplicable happenings, scholars of unknowable tomes etc) in ways which feel fresh but familiar. I was worried the pace would suffer going into and coming out of this tale, but it ties into the main narrative satisfyingly, giving much needed context. The audiobook performance was also matched to the narrator's voice well, and added to the feeling of verisimilitude. Good fun; recommended!

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Struggled

I got quite invested at the start of this book and liked the characters but as the story went on and became a story inside a story I kinda lost interest. I'm not the biggest fan of ghosts and I never found this book remotely scary. I can see why some reviewers enjoy it, it's definitely a unique story and might appeal to lovecrafts fans but just wasn't for me. Narrator was good but pacing felt a bit off during the middle section.

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Best modern Lovecraftian tale I've read/listened.

Best modern Lovecraftian tale I've read/listened to, and really well read.

Gonna be seeking a book copy, and listening to it again in the meantime.

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A beautifully written Lovecraftian story that offers more than just a glimpse at the horror.

*possible spoilers*


The structure of the novel threw me initially. When I realised we had moved entirely into the ‘past’ storyline and were not coming out of it until that was finished, I was worried that it would when felt like two short stories put together to make up a novel. And while it somewhat is, the writing is so beautiful and the world so interesting, that you almost come to not mind it.

While most stories would infer or allude to the ‘explanation’ for the horrors occurring, The Fisherman explicitly gives you the reasons but doesn’t get bogged down with the inner workings or intricacies of it. It still feels allusive and mysterious by the end but satisfying nonetheless.

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A fantastically creepy story that stumbles in the middle with its pacing

There's a nice amount of set-up, and you really get engrossed in the characters. Then right as you expect the horror of the story to pick up it switches gears to a story-within-a-story, and you're back to more chapters of set-up. then when you return to the main narrative again you're hurtling towards the conclusion.

Either story on its own is fantastic, but combined as they are the main narrative is robbed of its pacing as you scramble to remember details you listened to hours before, and the story narrative is robbed of your interest as you struggle through its first third.

If you get over that though this is an excellent story, and I'm going to be thinking of that last chapter for quite a while.

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“People’s memories are short for any sorrow that isn’t theirs,”

The Fisherman by John Langan is a surprisingly tender study in grief and resilience. Part folk-horror, part Lovecraft, it’s a haunting tale filled with dread, and strong character work which heightens the scares. Not what I expected, and all the better for it. A modern classic.

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Geat lovecraftian story

If you like lovecraftian stories this is a book for you! It has all the elements and I loved it.

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