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3.5 

Who Goes There? (Filmed as The Thing)

By John W. Campbell Jr.
Who Goes There? (Filmed as The Thing) by John W. Campbell Jr. digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

"Who Goes There?" is the novella that formed the basis of John Carpenter's film "The Thing." John W. Campbell's classic tells of an antarctic research base that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien -- with terrifying results!

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158 Reviews

3.5
Surprised Face with Open Mouth
ViolenceBelievableChange and growSuspensefulThought-provokingDescriptive
“Who Goes There? is a science fiction horror story that is nowhere near as well known as its movie adaptation The Thing which proved to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made and one of John Carpenter's best. I haven't seen the movie mind you, so this is my first time experiencing the story as it were. I suppose arguably this is one of the first-ever science fiction stories to have established the base under siege formula which a great many Science Fiction shows and movies, including Doctor Who has borrowed from and used to a great effect. It also had heavy influences on other popular fiction as well. However whilst this story has certainly had a large impact on popular culture and fiction as we know it. It does suffer from similar issues I have with Dracula which I will get into later on. The story however is a simple but effective one, with a group of researchers in the antarctic discovering an alien life form that has been frozen in the ice for over two thousand years but when they decide to release it for examination, it turns out to be a mistake that will cost their lives and possibly that of the whole world. It's a neat story but what really makes it so special is the concept of the alien and how it transforms into other life forms and I'll have to admit how John W. Campbell describes it is absolutely fascinating and nothing short of horrifying (not as horrific as John Carpenter's vision I'll add but still wonderfully gruesome) but it also proves to be a sinister force that sets our characters in a sense of unease and paranoia making for some great suspense! On the other hand, though the story does suffer from a couple of issues, I found the writing at times to be slightly sloppy with it not being clear enough at times with what's happening in some scenes. The characters could also have been fleshed out a lot more I feel, so we could actually feel something for them when they eventually die, but the one thing that did annoy me about this story the most was the ending which just seemed a little weird and out of place in a story like this and it also ended really abruptly making this a huge anti-climax which is disappointing. This is the same issue I have with works such as Dracula and Do Androids Dream of An Electric Sheep, you have some really solid material for the most part until it gets ruined by a really lame ending, which is a shame. Overall: I would recommend horror book nerds like me to read this but if you're only a casual reader and more into movies, I think you'll find The Thing to be far more entertaining, but saying all that, it's meh for what it is. 4/10”

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