The Black Wheel by Abraham Merritt - Fantasy - SFBookcase.com - Reference of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels/Authors.

Series: Misc
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: B0007DOHMM
Pages: 115 pages
Publisher: New Collector's Group
Reader Rating: Not rated

The Black Wheel by Abraham Merritt

Description: Reviewer: s.ferber (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
When Abraham Merritt died of a heart attack on August 21, 1943, at the age of 59, the world lost one of the greatest writers of adventure fantasy of all time. He left behind a number of novels in various stages of completion, including the first quarter of "The Black Wheel." Hannes Bok, an artist and illustrator who did almost 150 covers for assorted pulp magazines, starting with the December 1939 issue of "Weird Tales," took on the formidable task of completing Merritt's story. Bok was the first artist, by the way, to win a Hugo award, and went on to pen several other novels of his own. I must say that he does a rather good job at pastiching Merritt's style; were it not for the copyright lines at the front of the book, one would never know that Merritt's writing concludes at the end of Chapter 7, and that Bok then added Chapters 8-27. He admirably copies the densely written, hyperadjectival purple prose of Merritt's early period. Unfortunately, what he fails to do is get Merritt's feel for pace and suspense. Much of this novel is overwritten, wordy and slow moving. The story is a fascinating one, but somehow Bok, despite all his $2 words and flair for language, doesn't give the tale a sense of immediacy and creeping dread. Still, the reader's interest IS engaged, for the most part, and the book's final 50 pages or so are quite thrilling.