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A review by mshield
A Decent Into The Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe
3.0
A story within a story, the latter of which is unnecessary.
A man climbs a mountain to witness a devastating maelstrom - taking a pot shot at an author (real) who had described the scene he himself describes. His guide then recalls a tale of how he and his brothers wound up sailing straight into the beast.
The perils of the whirlpool are ever at the fore for the characters, yet knowing the guide's fate, while simultaneously having no connection to him or his brothers, deprives the reader of similar experience.
As nearly always with Poe, it is a solidly descriptive piece, and, as I find fairly common with Poe, sparce of character connection.
All in all a not boring, but not entirely engaging short story.
2.5
A man climbs a mountain to witness a devastating maelstrom - taking a pot shot at an author (real) who had described the scene he himself describes. His guide then recalls a tale of how he and his brothers wound up sailing straight into the beast.
The perils of the whirlpool are ever at the fore for the characters, yet knowing the guide's fate, while simultaneously having no connection to him or his brothers, deprives the reader of similar experience.
As nearly always with Poe, it is a solidly descriptive piece, and, as I find fairly common with Poe, sparce of character connection.
All in all a not boring, but not entirely engaging short story.
2.5