Stetsons, Dusters, Magic, and P-17 Rocket Launchers

I wish I could give Cthulhu Armageddon 10 stars! I hope that this spectacular start will be joined by book 2 speedily and that there will be many more volumes to follow.

C.T. Phipps has taken the dark essence of Lovecraft's world and melded it together with the post-apocalyptic dystopian genre. Added nuances, comparable to Stephen King's Gunslinger series or even Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, make a truly original blend of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

The book not only has delivered the lore of Lovecraft to humanity's possible future, it's a deep and discerning examination of the meaning of life, what happens after death, and what it means to be human. As deep concepts were plumbed in the writing, the author inspired and also seemed to anticipate my own questions and observations.

I feel so fortunate to have received an advance readers' copy of the book for free via NetGalley and Crossroad Press: Macabre Ink. I'm under no obligation to them or the author and this is my own honest evaluation -- I loved this book! I want more John Henry Booth and I want to know what happens next!

Combine the Cthulhu mythology with the weird western genre and you get a fun book with a lot going for it. It's more fantasy than horror, and sadly Cthulhu himself never makes an appearance (which feels like a bait and switch, given the title), but there's a lot to like here. The world building is creatively crafted with style, and the monsters and battles are brilliant. I enjoyed the heck out of this!

I’m a big fan of the Cthulhu mythos, and post-apocalyptic and western movies, so getting this book was a must for me. I enjoyed this book, I did find it to be more fantasy than horror, and I didn’t get a western feel to it.

It had a decent mix of action and humour, I was a little disappointed that Cthulhu didn’t make an appearance, but I did see that there is more books coming in the series, so maybe it will show up in one of the other books.

Overall it was good, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters, but I think a lot of people will.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*

I find this book unreadable. Emotions are painted on the characters. Even given the unnatural components of any stories of the elder gods, the progression of events and the battle scenes are clumsy and unlikely. One example is near the beginning. The team is searching for a "cathedral" that has been reported in an unlikely location. They top a hill and over there sits a huge weird building. Then they walk in the door. No transition from first view to door. The author makes strange word choices. For example, the cathedral has "insides" not an interior. Why? I put the book aside very quickly.

No, it’s not just another post-apocalyptic wasteland novel. It’s a weird western by virtue of the cowboy hats and the weird monsters. But, it’s a post-apocalyptic vision fueled by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu world where all-powerful alien monsters lay dormant for millennium beneath the earth’s surface and now have arisen. The last remnants of humanity fight each other and fight all manner of fell monster as well as half-human ghouls and a mad scientist. Magic and sorcery are alive and well in this universe which seems to bleed into others where dreamwalks exist.

Our hero is a military type and the opening salvo is Boothe leading his squad into battle against the overwhelming forces of the necromancer, his Los mad scientist buddy. This is truly an action-packed adventure with an oddly collected group. On the way, battle is joined with monsters more gigantic and slithering than Frank Herbert’s sandworms, flying creatures rivaling the biggest of Tolkien’s dragons, and a crew of virtually unkillable reanimating creatures.

What makes this fantasy stand out is how vast and rich the background is and how beyond imagination the alien beings who are beneath the earth are. There is just so much packed into this one volume.

Cthulhu Armageddon is a book that I first had the pleasure of reading a few years ago. With a new publisher giving it new life, and C.T. Phipps taking the opportunity to add an extra chapter that serves as an epilogue, I thought I'd revisit it myself.

This is a book that blends the elements of several genres, and does so with surprising success. There's definitely some Mad Max insanity to it, but what struck me most strongly was the sort of homage to two masters of the genre, Stephen King and Brian Lumley, the first with his post-apocalyptic The Stand and the latter with his take on the Cthulhu mythos. It's the story of John Henry Booth, a stone-cold exterminator of threats to the remnants of humanity. A loyal soldier and respected leader, he is forced to question his very existence when a mysterious encounter leaves him branded a traitor. Declared dead, he sets out with a disgraced torturer to find the truth, seek his revenge, and continue his mission - but only after his wife's monstrous attempt at betrayal goes awry,

There's so much to like about this story - action, horror, humor, and some heavy emotions. It's an incredibly fatalistic look at humanity's future, but it's Booth's interactions with the women around him that drives us to keep going. From the man's affection for a cursed child and a soldier thought lost, to his awkward trust for both a torturer and a cult leader, Phipps keeps the monstrous from completely overwhelming the humanity.

For those wondering about the Cthulhu aspect, it's not just window dressing but a significant part of the story. This is a book that gets very trippy at times, complete with dream world encounters, gods and old ones, magic, and inhuman power. More than once I had to stop, go back, and reread a section just to appreciate how much was going on. The opening discovery of "a genuine, honest-to-god cathedral with soaring towers and architecture" in the middle of nowhere, constructed of "stones seemingly formed from the very night itself," sets the tone for the story, and the climax deep within that same alien temple delivers on every level.

Comprised of equal parts horror, science fiction, and weird western, Cthulhu Armageddon is that rare book that delivers on them all, and which should appeal to a wide audience. It's dark, grim, and deeply unsettling, but unlike its subject matter, never entirely alien. As for the new epilogue, no spoilers, but it does tie up some loose ends and provide a little closure for the human element of the tale.

I think my memory may have been taken by the old ones because I actually bought this book 2 years ago but forgot I had read it! Still worth a second reading though