Editorial Review

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Reviews (1150)

The politically correct shall inherit the earth
Mr. Bradbury's prophetic work has come to pass in the politically correct world of thought controlled by political expediency and special interests.
Thought provoking, but not amazing
What made me pick up this book in the first place was everyone's fixation on how "thought-provoking" and "different" it was. I read it, and found myself agreeing with some aspects, confused by others, and downright bored by some.
read me
Fahrenheit 451 is a read rich with a delicious story and social commentary.Guy Montag lives in a world made ironic because of the stark contrast to the way we wish our society was today.Firemen don't keep people safe from fires, they bust into houses starting fires.Scholars and professors live on the outside of society because of their love for books, philosophy, and sociology where in our world professors are on the inside and the ignorant majority are on the outside because of their lack of interest for the said disciplines.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Literature - Classics / Criticism    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Book burning    6. Censorship    7. Fantasy    8. Fiction    9. Fiction / Science Fiction / General    10. Science fiction, American   

Editorial Review

A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Read more

Reviews (186)

Heartwarming Horror - No kidding... and it's great.
Well, Ray Bradbury pulled off something I never thought I'd see: heartwarming horror.Something Wicked This Way Comes is a truly frightening horror story about two boys living in a midwestern town visited by a mysterious carnival and its group of evil proprietors and "freaks."The boys see too much and become the target of the malevolent forces of the carnival.Bradbury writes these characters to be truly frightening.
Carousel music from hell
Carnivals are creepy. I have always thought they were creepy and I will not hear otherwise. My only source of confusion is whether I've always felt this way or only since reading "Something Wicked This Way Comes."
Evil Is A Soft Option
Ray Bradbury's dark novel of a mysterious carnival that strolls one night into a quiet Midwestern town has attained a deserved classic status in the forty-some years since its unheralded release. Here Bradbury's oft-demonstrated gift for recalling the mindset of childhood and returning it however briefly to a reader, is in full bloom. Two thirteen-year-old boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, each a sort of contrast of the other, exist as the heroes in this fable of good versus evil. In this book the weight of the desires of the human heart and the capacity of those desires to ensnare the soul (here, literally) merit the fullest exploration. Nowhere else in literature is a Mephistophelian bargain made so simplistically appealing, and it is a delight to see how Bradbury delivers his temptations like ripe red apples inwardly rotten to the core. And while thinking about the nature of evil, it seems certain constants have been there to bind the forces of ill in the genre of light versus darkness. One of these is that evil has universally stood revealed in the end. Can evil not hide itself? It seems it always gives its nature away. In this book at least Bradbury has the unmasking come in the form of the intuitive perspicacity of two small boys. I liked this enjoyable tale and I liked its characters, from the wickedly charismatic ringmaster Mr. Dark, to its peculiarly vulnerable wicked witch, to the town librarian, Mr. Halloway, whose seemingly dull life is truly one of secret worlds opening to him each night amid the stacks of books. And what WOULD we each give, either now or one day, to be young all over again? Stop to think about that. And if not a return to youth, do we each have some secret desire for which we would do anything, or pay any price? Under the guise of a soft read, Something Wicked This Way Comes delves deep into humanity's consciousness, and explores what lies within. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fantasy - Dark/Horror    3. Fiction    4. Literary    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Science Fiction    7. Science Fiction - General    8. Crime & mystery    9. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

Special indeed are holiday stories with the right mix of high spiritsand subtle mystery to please both adults and children--Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," for example. Or Ray Bradbury's classic Read more

Reviews (31)

I didn't see much to recommend the Halloween Tree.
The Halloween Tree has a trite and predictable storyline. The characters were one dimensional. The prose style Bradbury elected to use was hyperbolic to the point of a saccharine mania. The central theme of the story was to travel back in time to find the true meaning of Halloween. Unfortunately, the history of Halloween he presented was not accurate. Samhain was not a grim reaper-like god; rather it was a pagan festival that is the basis of the Halloween tradition. Bradbury also got the myth of Osiris mixed up with that of Ra. Bradbury either did not check his facts or, as in The Martian Chronicles, decided not to let the facts get in the way of a "good" story. While some may argue this book was written as an allegory so accuracy is moot, I would say allegories work best when their weakness are not such an obvious distraction.
Great book for young people
THE HALLOWEEN TREE is a book that is geared for younger readers (in the 10 year old range would be about right, I'd say), but is generally satisfying to anyone who picks it up. For an adult, it can be easily read in an afternoon. The characterization is not deep, but Bradbury has a way with language in the book; he is evocative and nostolgic in the way that only he can be. He effortlessly conjures up images of male youth, complete with faux bravado and the sense of mystery that surrounds events like Halloween. He gives a respectful, multicultural view of Halloween, and it's roots in many cultures. Toward the end of the story, he gives our boys a choice: will they sacrifice part of themselves for the good of another? It gives the story some moral grounding and resolves the plot nicely. But the real draw is the poetic use of words--it's a great way to get kids interested in reading, and not a bad diversion for those of us who are a bit older as well.

Haunting as Mr. Moundshroud
"Halloween Tree" recaptures the surreal spookiness of a child's Halloween with the knowledge of an adult. One of Ray Bradbury's relatively few books for children is a wildly imaginative ride, with a strong subtext about friendship and death itself.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Fiction    4. Halloween    5. Holidays & Celebrations - Halloween    6. Horror & Ghost Stories    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic    9. Space and time    10. Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic   

Editorial Review

World-renowned fantasist Ray Bradbury has on several occasions stepped outside the arenas of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. An unabashed romantic, his first novel in 1957 was basically a love letter tohis childhood. (For those who want to undertake an even more evocative look at the dark side of youth, five years later the author would write the chilling classic Read more

Reviews (241)

A Thoroughly Charming Classic Of Bygone Americana
This book is Bradbury in top form. Although not my absolute favorite title by this author, I have found a lot of joy over the years in re-reading this little book that I first picked up off a school library shelf when I was eight. It's obvious Bradbury was writing a story set in the time and place of his own childhood "as it should have been" and it makes me wonder if given time I'll think back on my own youth in similar terms. When I was little, after I read this book, all anyone had to do was say, "Watch out for Lonely One" referring to the killer who stalked Green Town's ravine at night and I was good and scared. Heck, that probably works today, too. From its unique May-December romance to its protagonist who becomes that one soul in a million to truly understand that precious gift of what it means to be alive, Dandelion Wine is simply wonderful. Read this book and travel back with the national treasure who is Ray Bradbury to the delightful world of the fantasy-powered Midwest of the 1920's (as it should have been).

Believe & Partake!or The Meaning of Life, a la Bradbury
I first read Ray Bradbury's miracle of a book, Dandelion Wine, when I was 16, and I have read it every year since.Over time I continue to gain a deeper appreciation for these lovely, strange, often magical vignettes (more properly parables, each one with a little implied moral) that explore the nature of happiness, the magic of love and, above all, what it means to be alive.To me, the overarching intent of the book is to remind all us adults that:
Not really for children.
Its protagonist may be a child, but this novel is not really suitable for a thrill-seeking, modern juvenile audience.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / Science Fiction / General    6. Modern fiction   

Editorial Review

That Read more

Reviews (190)

Great overall, almost excellent if not for...
The book is a good read with the short stories and the relevance to today's world is striking is some of those stories.The stories are mainly from the late 40's and early 50's and show a haunting look at what could be.There are, however, some stories that do drag and really don't hold the readers attention, but, thankfully, these stories are few and far between.
An Illustrated Tale . . .
This book is simply amazing!I needed to read this book as a summer reading project, and as soon as I read the first story, I found out that the book was based on Science Fiction.It's a topic that I really hate it!However, as I read further and further into the book, I decided that I loved it!Each story bases itself around science, like people living on the moon or on Mars.Also, there are some controversial goings-on in this novel.In one short story titled "The Man", it seems as though a traveler would stop by towns and heal people.The man in this story almost sounds as though he is Jesus.Anyway, this book is still amazing.If you love Sci Fi, then buy it now!!

I would give it 10 stars if I could...
I think it was first my 8th grade teacher Mrs. Forenza who introducted me to Ray Bradbury when we studied the story "The Veldt"... then it was my father who opened his bookshelves and gave me his entire collection of Ray Bradbury when I asked him if he ever heard of him.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction    5. Science Fiction - General    6. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Reviews (6)

Bradbury at his best
This is a wonderful collection of Bradbury's tales. There are stories here such as Trapdoor which I had read years ago and haven't been able to find since. It is clear that Bradbury loves his work. His stories have a certain characteristic about them that sets them apart from all other works. I would say it is hard to call Bradbury a science-fiction, drama, horror, or fantasy writer though because in truth he is all of these. In a lot of ways his work makes me think of Owen Crawfrod's work. His book The Death of Sara could be the sister of Bradbury's The October Country.
Prepare To Enter Another Dimension
Some may complain about the stories that were left out, and considering the author has penned a story a week for most of the last sixty years, there are sure to be many fine tales that didn't make the final cut. That said, this is an immensely satisfying collection of Bradbury's fiction, some of it recent, other pieces pre-dating the space age. Most of the best is here and whether this is someone's first introduction to Ray Bradbury, or this is bought by a longtime fan, this anthology is sure to provide hours of enjoyment for an imaginative reader.

Guy de Maupassant, the English Version
It may very well have been a novel by Ray Bradbury, though it could have been one by Zenna Henderson, Isaac Asimov, or any one of a dozen other authors, that I was holding that summer, long ago, when I heard my father mutter as he stomped out the door with the hoe in his hand, "You read too much!"Suffice it to say that I am no stranger to Ray Bradbury's longer works, but this was my first exposure to a collection of his short stories, and I was not disappointed.
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Subjects:  1. Bradbury, Ray - Prose & Criticism    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Literary    5. Science Fiction - General    6. Short Stories (single author)    7. Fiction / Short Stories (single author)   

Editorial Review

From "Rocket Summer" to "The Million-Year Picnic," Ray Bradbury'sstories of the colonization of Mars form an eerie mesh of past and future. Written in the 1940s, the chronicles drip with nostalgic atmosphere--shady porches with tinklingpitchers of lemonade, grandfather clocks, chintz-covered sofas.But longing for this comfortable past proves dangerous in every way to Bradbury's characters--the golden-eyed Martians as well as the humans.Starting in the far-flung future of 1999, expedition after expedition leaves Earth to investigate Mars.The Martians guard their mysteries well, but they are decimated by the diseases that arrive with the rockets.Colonists appear, most with ideas no more lofty than starting a hot-dog stand, and with no respect for the culture they've displaced.Read more

Reviews (287)

A Wide Variety of Commentary by the Sci-Fi Master
The Martian Chronicles are a mixed work by the Science Fiction master, Ray Bradbury, sometimes functioning just to entertain, but at most times functioning to comment on the inhumanity of man.
The Martian Chronicles is great reading!
This is really one of my favorite books.I pick it up every year and reread it purely for the pleasure.If you like fantasy, this one's for you.I hope that someday, Peter Jackson will make a movie of this story.After what he did with Rings, I know he could do it justice that the old TV mini series did not.Check this one out.It was written a while back, so add some years to some of the dates mentioned and remember, it's a fantasy...for now!

School Book Review
The Martian Chronicles is actually a collection of stories rather than a novel.Each story is separate from the others, with different characters and different conflicts.Though they are all different they all concentrate on the same subject, mars, and its exploration by the people of earth.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. Literature - Classics / Criticism    4. Science Fiction    5. Science Fiction - General    6. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Ray Bradbury's first short story collection is back in print, its chilling encounters with funhouse mirrors, parasitic accident-watchers, and strange poker chips intact. Both sides of Bradbury's vaunted childhood nostalgia are also on display, in the celebratory "Uncle Einar," and haunting "The Lake," the latter a fine elegy to childhood loss. This edition features a new introduction by Bradbury, an invaluable essay on writing, wherein the author tells of his "Theater of Morning Voices," and, by inference, encourages you to listen to the same murmurings in yourself. And has any writer anywhere ever made such good use of exclamation marks!? ... Read more

Reviews (33)

A small collection of varied worlds
I liked this book.Some of the stories veer a little too far into fantasy for my taste--with vampires, et cetera--but many of them are very original, and very memorable.Ray Bradbury, as anyone who's read "Dandelion Wine" can tell you, is not just a hack writer with good ideas: he's also a terrific writer, period.His prose is lovely; he could write any genre he wanted to.He could write about nothing and it would probably have good enough tone, style, sound, and metaphors to pull it off.But he doesn't.Instead, he crams his stories full of the weird and the unusual: a jar full of something that everyone obsesses over, a baby that kills, a man who finds himself becoming the grim reaper.
What in the country?!?!?
I only read two stories: The Small Assasin and The Dwarf. If I wasn't required to read them, I would have put this book down weeks ago. I have to admit the Bradbury does have some excellent imagery, but in no way is the writing interesting at all. I tried to keep an open mind as I read this novel...but I really could not bring myself to enjoy it. Don't read this unless you HAVE to...or you are extremely bored.

Great even decades later
Creepy.The stories stay with you long after you put the book down.Certainly one of the best short story collections I have read in a long time and I try to read 'em all.Enjoy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy - Dark/Horror    2. Fantasy - Short Stories (Single Author)    3. Fiction    4. Horror    5. Horror - General    6. Literary    7. Literature - Classics / Criticism    8. Science fiction    9. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (2)

Was this a Foreshadowing of Today's Society?
Thought provoking, intriguing and disturbing in its time Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" seems to have foreseen and foreshadowed what is occurring in our current society. We live in a push button society, a world where a constant onslaught of audio and video information has engulfed our senses. Children graduate school and are not even able to read. And nobody really seems to care. Nobody cares because we live in a world full of the mundane and emptiness where we just want instant gratification of whatever will fill our empty lives. We are without substance. We are empty souls without higher aspirations for the ability to explore the capabilities of our minds. We seek not to nurture our appreciation for nature or the mind's ability to create visual associations to stimulate thought through the written word. We are doomed, each of us, to see the same vision on a tube and not think beyond the surface. We are doomed to conformity trapped in a visual nightmare where the mind's eye will evolve into oblivion.
Written in the basement of the UCLA library
I do not want to tell much of the story, as the unfolding is part of the intrigue. However now that houses are fire proof the purpose of firemen is performing a service by burning books to maintain the happy social order.
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Subjects:  1. Bradbury, Ray - Prose & Criticism    2. Fiction    3. Nonfiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Spanish (Language) Contemporary Fiction    6. Spanish: Adult Fiction    7. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Reviews (5)

Critic should see the movie before they pan it.
I for one liked the movie well enough to come hunting for the short story. By this time next year I will have used both in my Language Arts class.

Bradbury: Common Man's Star Gazer
Ray Bradbury is one of the greatest American Science Fiction writers of all time.Yet he does not portray huge battle scenes and alien invasions.He rather, achieves something unique by enthralling the reader without the traditional flash of Science Fiction.Bradbury wrote the story "R" is for rocket about a familythat has little money and dreams of one day riding in a rocket ship.It is the future and rocket travel is a reality, yet a large expense.The father knows he will never be able to give his children this gift.So he instead buys a broken old rocket and puts on an elaborate hoax to give his sons the gift of space travel.This is a very realistic style of science fiction.Bradbury takes you and gives you the common mans perspective from another age.This perspective is then used to drive home the moral of his sorted little tales.He uses low diction and familiar settings to allow the reader to bond with the characters.Then the reader is shown how the characters' lives are drastically different then theirs.The result isof this difference is usually technology.Now the reader experiences the effects first hand due to the relation to the characters.Relatable characters are the strong point of Bradbury's writing and it is what gives him the ability to entertain with simpler shorter stories.

An excellent book, but a dirty trick
This is indeed a wonderful collection of some of Bradbury's best short stories, but as pointed out by other reviewers, it is exactly the same collection as "The Golden Apples of the Sun", simply reissued under a different title as a movie tie-in (reputed to be one of the worst movies ever made).
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Subjects:  1. Bradbury, Ray - Prose & Criticism    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    5. Science Fiction    6. Science Fiction - General    7. Science Fiction - Short Stories    8. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

If you could have only one anthology of dark stories, this would be the one to have. Having observed that "fans of horror fiction most often restrict their reading to books and stories given a horror category label, thus missing some of the finest pleasures in that fictional mode," David G. Hartwell assembles here 56 important tales within an insightful critical framework; his purpose is to "clear the air and broaden future considerations of horror." Several well-known classics are included, but there are also dozens of lesser-known horror tales, including many by science fiction and literary writers. Get one copy for yourself. Get another for that friend or relative who doesn't understand why you like to read horror. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A fine anthology for the horror afficianado
This huge, (topping out at just over 1000 pages!) collection of some of the finest tales from the masters of horror has it all.It was wonderful to read works I had not encountered over the years, along with some of the classics of the genre.Some personal favorites were the Lovecraftian "Crouch End" (King), a truly bizarre and unclassifiable tale, "The Swords" (Aickman), a masterful work of understated horror, "The Summer People" (Jackson), and a classic ghost story, "The Beckoning Fair One" (Onions)A one stop shop for the fan of all things scary.

Multitudinous tome for the horror and preternatural aficionado
This publication rivals most of the horror/ mystery compilations printed elsewhere.Some of the most consequential and prolific ink slingers of the creepy and the dreary are featured here, and they don't disappoint.
Alone in the Library---with Spooks.
Disaster! That super-secret hush-hush Project the military was supposed to have under control has torn a rift into another dimension just ten miles from town, and maniacal flesh-hungry monsters are pouring through by the score, tearing their shrieking victims apart and turning the world as you know it into a charnel house. You've got to pack up and get outta Dodge quick---but what to take? Clothes, boots, food, hunting knife, guns and ammo, extra fuel cans, chainsaw---oh, and if you're a horror junkie like me, you've gotta have reading material during the Siege, right? And since you'll be holing up a long time---maybe forever---the tome you choose had better be a good one.
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Subjects:  1. Anthologies (multiple authors)    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Horror    4. Horror    5. Horror - Anthologies    6. Horror Fiction    7. Horror tales, American    8. Horror tales, English    9. Fantasy    10. Fiction / Horror    11. Science fiction    12. Short stories   

Editorial Review

High on a hill by a forked tree, the House beckons its family homeward, and they come--travelers from the lyrical, lush imagination of Ray Bradbury.Read more

Reviews (49)

Pure poetry!
This is the first Ray Bradbury book i've read. *cringes* But it was the most beautiful story i've heard in a long time. Mr. Bradbury knows how to paint the most vivid pictures in ones mind with his words. The dream-like atmosphere is enough to lull one into a mind-set where truly, a family such as this, can exist. It is a quick read, but so worth revisiting. Overflowing with imagery and poetry, this book is just amazing....

Probably not what you are expecting, but worth checking out
I purchased this book having heard nothing about it, but knowing much of its author, the legendary Ray Bradbury.
I Mourne The Trees That Died To Create This Book
After reading a book I was so looking forward to, I feel violated as if Mr. Bradbury himself wanted to rip out my fondest memories of his brilliant tales and replace them with raw sewage. (See, I can write arty farty rubbish just like Ray did with this book!!) My sole comfort is that I purchased it on the secondary market so Mr. Bradbury procured no money from it. Shame on you, Ray!! What a waste of a Charles Addams art work!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - General    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Fantasy    5. Fiction / General   

Reviews (12)

Strong Collection, but Not Extraordinary
I've read mostly all of Bradbury's lengthier fiction repretoire, and have only begun dipping into his collections of short stories. As a writer during the "Golden Age" of science fiction, Bradbury is unsurpassed: All at once, he manages to show the reader a future of hope, of surprise and of brightness. His writing style is simple and terse, and it takes some time to get used to the cadance with which he writes. Another Bradbury Treat
I'll admit I haven't finished this book but what I've read has taken my breath away.The writing is classic Bradbury, poetic and enticing. The stories themselves surprised me a little since I don't think I'd yet read a Bradbury story that wasn't science fiction or fantasy."The Fruit at the bottom of the bowel" is one of these and is fantastic.Of course, it seems to me that Bradbury's preoccupation has always been with people rather than magic or technology.Thus it makes sense that his "realistic" fiction would be just as effective as his other.In any case, Bradbury is a masterful storyteller and anyone would deprive themselves if they didn't read his work, including this collection.

great book!!!
i read this book so many times by now and i still fall in love with it every time i read a story in it!!!Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Literary    3. Literature - Classics / Criticism    4. Science Fiction - Short Stories    5. Science fiction    6. Short stories    7. Fiction / General   

Reviews (13)

Not Bradbury at his Best
I would like to note, as have some other reviewers, that I am working from the 18 story collection. It saddens me to say this, but these stories are a far cry from some of Bradbury's other material, and hardly worth the time for modern readers. Bradbury has an unnerving tendancy in his short stories to be one-dimensional, hokey, and heavy-handed; all these characteristics are on display in this collection. Also, I am willing to forigive his portraits of women in some of his earlier work, but these stories date as late as the 1960s, and Bradbury has to learn to write women in ways that are not hysterical or conniving.
Ray Bradbury -- untalented, or merely incompetent?
In the fifth edition of "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians", the article on Rachmaninov affirms that the popularity of his works is proof they aren't very good. By that reasoning, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms must be even worse composers.
"I Sing The Additional Grip/Electric!"
(Please note that the edition I am reviewing is the older publication that contains only the original 18 works that make up I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC!.)Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction - General    4. Science fiction, American    5. Short Stories (single author)    6. Fiction / General    7. Science fiction   

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Reviews (14)

Fables From The 20th Century
This collection of 50 short stories and fables won the International Fantasy Award in 1952.Many of the stories were from much ear