A great re-birthed and repackaged version of Vathek by William Beckford. I sometimes find Classics unaccessible and dreary to read, but Vathek reimagined was a stellar Classic novel.

Vathek’s a novel filled with excesses, exuberant scenes, deplorable characters, and, as the discussion questions say it at the end, there is no hero (although Joe R. Lansdale said Vathek is a hero in the introduction; I think I missed something, because I differ.) This makes it a unique novel and that surprises you at all times. A Gothic novel different to all you expect.
Full review: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2020/08/resena-review-vathek.html

Captain Vathek, eager for knowledge and power, travels to see Eblis in an effort to trade his soul to satisfy his hunger.

Such an interesting book. Magic elements, supernatural powers, dark commentary, interesting take on good vs evil, evil in the spiritual sense as well as evil in human nature sense. This was originally published in 1786 so the language was a bit of a struggle for me to understand as I was working my way through this book. There seemed to be some gaps in the plot and some revelations that seemed out of place. Although this book was just okay for me, I prefer a different type of Gothic Horror, I certainly understand why this is a classic. The novel being shorter in length prevents the book from getting slow in spots and still holds the reader’s attention.

I’m happy there are publishers that are taking older horror literature and republishing them and bringing them back to life.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

You might not have heard of Valthek, but most writers of gothic horror have been directly or indirectly influenced by this classic. The Horror Writers Association and Poisoned Pen Press have joined together to reprint a line of seminal but forgotten horror fiction classics called Haunted Library of Horror Classics.
This edition starts off with a succinct and enjoyable foreword by Joe Lansdale that delves into the life of the author, inspiration for the book and the themes presented to give the reader some context. This book was published in 1786 and it shows. The language is archaic and flowery. The descriptions are overly pompous and verbose.
Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and even Lord Byron have all claimed to be influenced by this book. Valthek is said to be the inspiration for Lovecraft’s popular outer god, Azathoth. Valthek is considered, along with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Ortranto, as an early source of Gothic fiction.
Those who aren’t interested in the significance of this novel in the role of the genre may pass on this book as it is a challenge to read with its archaic prose and overblown stream of consciousness style. Without context, I do not this the modern reader would enjoy this work. I found this book interesting but a bit challenging due to the way it is written. However, as a gothic fiction fan, I was happy to have the chance to learn about and read it. I would recommend it to the gothic fiction fanatic and horror scholar with an interest in the historical roots of the genre.

I'd say this book is best suited for analysis in a literature class, because the story aged badly. But I was interested in where the story was going as I read so not the absolute worst.

It was a fascinating and creepy read. It didn't aged well but it's still an entertaining read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Interesting read, just wasn't quite for me .It painted some great imagery but overall very bizarre. I just seemed very hard to follow, but that is most likely due to its age.

I didnt know what to expect but this was interesting to say the least. I can see that it inspired other works that came after it. Not my favorite but not bad.

I once wrote a paper on Vathek in high school during a time when I was immersing myself in horror literature. Re-reading it now, I am amazed that my English teacher allowed me to read it, given that I was a student in an all-girls Catholic school.

As Joe Lansdale says in the introduction, Vathek doesn’t exactly age well. The writing is typical of the time - flowery, overblown, and full of wonderful words one does not see in modern writing. Lonsdale also notes that William Beckford is rumored to have written this story over the course of three alcohol (and probably drug) soaked days. I can see how that could be true.

Reading this requires close attention but is well worth the effort. The story is still as sinister as I found it back in 1981. However, reading it as an adult in 2020, I found myself drawing some comparisons between Vathek and the current resident of the White House, which made this even more of a horrifying read, Vathek is, at his core, a narcissist who wants what he wants, when he wants it, and bends the truth to suit his reality. We’re all familiar with that today.

My library will likely not buy this as it still owns a copy of an older edition, and I doubt this newer version will gain much traction. However, publish a graphic novel version of this story and I think modern readers would gobble it up.