The Magic Cottage

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The cottage seems able to reassert its earlier state of disrepair. On arrival in “the round room,” Mike finds himself disorientated by a heightened sensory reception of its expansive view. Shortly after their arrival, they were greeted by some human neighbors, members of some sort of cult that lived in a nearby old manor house. They seemed friendly enough, if a little strange, but the local town did not like them at all. Something is not quite right about the cottage, however. Besides the friendly local wildlife, Mike and Midge seemed to have creative spells that are unprecedented. Further, a lot of the work that needed to be done to the cottage that they noted was mysteriously fixed before the repair crew arrived. It seems the cottage is somehow a channel for magic, at first for the good, but perhaps there is a dark side as well... Herbert's latest novel begins as a rather taut political thriller/horror hybrid, but it begins to deteriorate about halfway through, becoming increasingly poorly paced and confused. The story Continue reading »

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Deadpan Snarker: When Mycroft espouses the doctrine of his Synergist creed, Mike readily deflates his pomposity.when the horror hits... to put it bluntly: i was not scared. instead, i gave birth to sighs, many of them. sad to say, there was a lot more 'horror' in the atmosphere itself. perhaps i just have a problem with cheap horror thrills, especially of the kind that i've read dozens upon dozens of times previously. so quite a bit of fun to be had in the foreboding quality of the cottage in question, some hairs were definitely raised... but when the book tries to get me to jump, all i did was yawn.

Pas op het einde wordt het verhaal echt sinister wanneer Midge de partner van Mike in de handen dreigt te vallen van een sekte. Deze sekte lijkt in het bijzondere geïnteresseerd in hun huis. Een leuk koppel verhuisd van de drukke stad naar een prachtige cottage op het Engelse platteland. Het sfeertje deed me denken aan de tv serie midsomer murder (voordat er in de aflevering een moord wordt gepleegd). Het huis lijkt een weldadig helend effect te hebben. Er lopen massa's tamme dieren rond het huis. Op een klein duister sfeertje na wat je toch op je hoede laat zijn was het een heerlijk knus verhaal. In Harmony with Nature: The cottage somehow soothes local wildlife to remarkable tameness, and has the power to heal them. Mike and Midge's sex life is enhanced as well, probably because sex is often symbolic of being "more natural", returning to our base instincts, etc. yep, Herbert is a professional, but he is not really a master. he has a tendency to badly overwrite certain things. for example, when he writes about Love... my stomach starts to cramp and i get a little nauseated. really, Herbert - restrain yourself, please! or perhaps i am just against Love? There Are No Coincidences: On seeing a newspaper ad for Gramarye, Midge feels mysteriously, irresistibly drawn to it. When their budget can't quite reach the minimum price, Mike and Midge, the next day, respectively receive a lucrative illustration commission and tour work with The Everly Brothers.We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Quaint, charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. The woodland animals and birds Godhood Seeker: Mycroft’s desire to tap the magic leyline of Gramarye is driven by the unadulterated power it would give him.

A wave of nostalgia hit me when I saw a review of James Herbert passing by, and I decided to re-read The Magic Cottage for old times' sake. 1986, and as a teenager I started to discover Stephen King, Dean Koontz and James Herbert, a taste of the strange, bizarre and unexpected in popular literature. The nightmare home. We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Quaint, charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. The woodland animals and birds couldn't have been more neighbourly. That was the first part of the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our sensing, our feelings, our love for each other - well, that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side. The Bad Magic. Healing Hands: Flora was a renowned healer. Mycroft and the Synergists demonstrate such skill on Mike although the healing is really enabled by the magic of Gramarye. Herbert's lastet horror novel is a turgid affair. It concerns Jonathan Childes, a schoolteacher with a psychic talent, who can occasionally see through the eyes of a certain lunatic during the Continue reading »feelings, our love for each other - well, that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side. The Bad Magic. What happened to us there was horrendous beyond belief. The miracles, the Magic is Evil: Averted; magic is defined an "ethereal vitality" innate to all things, which some people are able to channel. Pastoral fantasy and graphic grue congeal immiscibly in this peculiar fairy tale from British horror laureate Herbert (Others). Set on the grounds of Castle Continue reading » I totally saw everything described in this book in great detail. Herbert captured the perfect description of a magic cottage deep in the woods. I expected more things to occur inside and around the cottage and towards the end, I was just left with a wanting.