The Imago Sequence and Other Stories

The Imago Sequence and Other Stories is the first collection I've read by Laird Barron, and overall I enjoyed these tales of cosmic horror. In these pages Barron tells rich literary stories loaded with ancient gods and cosmic terror. Some of these stories are very dark, even by the standards of someone who has read dozens of horror books this year. Some of these stories contain elements that could be considered sacrilegious or even blasphemous. Some characters in these stories use language or express attitudes that are not “politically correct.” Barron's stories find the darkness, both within humanity and imagined in the universe around us, and pose it to the reader to see, contemplate, wrestle, and perhaps cower before. There is no denying the quality of Barron's prose, it is excellent, but the content and themes did seem a bit repetitive between a few of the stories in this collection. My favorite entry in the collection was the title story, and I also particularly enjoyed Old Virginia, Hallucigenia, Parallax, and The Royal Zoo is Closed. I listened to this book on Audible (it's in the Plus Catalogue as of posting this review) and it's read by one if my favorite narrators, Ray Porter. Despite Porter's consistent brilliance, I will acknowledge that this is a book that required my full attention to follow. I chalk that up to Barron's prose, which is more literary than my standard audiobook fare. I might not recommend this book to a casual reader or someone new to the genre, but I think fans of H.P. Lovecraft, John Langan, and Philip Fracassi would probably really enjoy this collection. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)