🎃🎃🎃 3/5 Stars – a bit of Halloweeny fun!
Format: Print
Read: October 2026
I confess I’d never heard of Roger Zelazny before, and apparently there is a yearly tradition among his fans of reading a chapter a day A Night in the Lonesome October in the lead-up to Halloween. My husband heard about it and suggested we do a little buddy read.
It lends itself well to this because the story takes place over the 31 days in October, one chapter per day. Set in Victorian London, it is told by Snuff, the faithful canine companion to a knife-wielding gentleman named Jack. They are there to prepare for The Game, an ancient supernatural rite.
There are many players, each with their own animal familiars. These are recognisable figures from classic horror stories and legends (Dracula, Frankenstein, a werewolf, a witch, Rasputin etc.) and a Great Detective with a penchant for elaborate disguises. Snuff’s job is to gather information on all the players, work out the location for the rites, and which side everybody is on, before the 31st.
The characters were fun, but there are a lot of them, and most we only meet briefly. Reading only a short chapter a day made it difficult to remember who they were and which familiar they were paired with! I also found it hard to remember what animal some of the familiars were. My favourites were Crazy Jill and Graymalk the cat.
The context for what is happening and the rules of the game are very slowly revealed over the days, and it’s not clear exactly what is going on until the last few chapters. This meant it took a while to get going, and there were also some days where nothing happened. I wonder if I’d read the whole thing over a week instead of a month; I would have taken it in better and found it easier to follow.
This was largely entertaining and just a bit of light Halloween fun; I understand why it’s so popular. I think I will reread it one day; I might enjoy it more now I have the full picture!
For Law of Fives, this was published in 1991, and it’s Horror (though not really scary!).
REVIEW SUMMARY
I LIKED
- Spooky but also keeps things light and fun.
- I loved the Great Detective character.
- Loved Snuff and Graymalk’s friendship.
I DIDN’T LIKE
- The pacing is a bit rough, and if you do read just one chapter a day, it takes a while to get into.
