The Investigators of Arkham Horror by Katrina Ostrander

The Investigators of Arkham Horror Reviews

• 
  Shadowdenizen

  3.5 stars. An aesthetically pleasing, eye-catching book. For players of the Arkham Horror board game, here's a look at some of your favorite investigators backstories.
  
  The stories contained within are brief snippets of the Mythos while primarily focusing on the environs/ locations of Arkham as depicted in the game.
  
  As a media tie-in, this is an entertaining diversion for amateur/new Mythos fans, but for a better overview, I'd recommend most readers start with HPL and work out from there.
• 
  Dana Bolink

  The Investigators of Arkham Horror is a collection of fifty-two short stories with full-color art by several authors and artists. Each story revolves around one of the investigators known - or unknown perhaps, if you're not a player of boardgames - to the lore of the Arkham Horror series of games (Arkham Horror, Arkham Horror: the Card Game, Mansions of Madness, etc.) all based on H.P. Lovecrafts supernatural horror stories.
  
  Each story reveals a bit about the lives and motivations of the investigators - those (un)fortunate souls that try to fight back when faced with unspeakable evil: why do they risk their lives, going up against impossible odds? How did they come to learn of the evil that lurks beneath the veil of reality? Or even, how did they end up in Arkham, Massachusetts, the fictive city that serves as a staging grounds for the 'ancient ones' to break through into our reality.
  For me though, the most interesting by far was to find out how the different investigators are connected to each other. How does Amanda Sharp (the student) know Rita Young (the athlete)? And what is the link between William Yorick (the gravedigger) and Jim Culver (the musician)? Honestly? The book made me want to start a chart to show who's linked to whom and what place and which particular ancient one. I'm silly like that.
  
  Is it, however, "an essential tome for all the most daring fans of our Arkham Horror Files games" as game company and publisher Fantasy Flight Games states? Well, no. You're perfectly fine to play any and all Arkham Horror games without the book, obviously. The games are described as RPG-like and you're encouraged to play them 'in character' and with that, the book would certainly be helpful. But I play the games without any RPG elements and I enjoy them thouroughly anyway. I've played the games before I read the book and after, and trust me when I say: there's not a lick of difference.
  
  Can the book then hold its own as a good read? Yes, it certainly can. While the stories are written by different authors, in different styles and from different viewpoints, they have one thing in common: they're without exception high quality writing. Entertaining, thought-invoking, emotional, every single one. And all are beautifully illustrated.
  Of course, the stories are based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos, so don't expect any happy endings. All of the stories breathe the same dark hopelesness. The battle against all odds that is not heroic, but realisticly written. The book reads as the games play: a struggle for survival, with little to no chance of defeating the ancient evil threatening Arkham and the world.
  
  If you're already into the Cthulhu mythos, The Investigators of Arkham is yet another great way to enjoy it more and keep it alive. If you don't know the world of H.P. Lovecraft, I daresay this book is a friendly way to get aquainted. It is - put simply - a great collection of darkly entertaining stories about people hopelessly struggling to survive their encounter with ancient evils not of this world. Frankly, the only thing that should stop you from reading it, is the price. Although perhaps that's not entirely true, for in Arkham knowledge can be dangerous...
• 
  Eric

  Even if the stories are not all that great, this is a usefull book for the rpg Call of Cthulhu. It depicts Arkham perfectly with evocative stories and awesome illustrations. This is one of the most beautiful book I ever read for sure!
• 
  YourLocalEdgelord

  Exactly what I hoped for:
  
  
  
  Expectations are important for this book. It's half art book, half gateway drug and half short stories. Three halves cause I can't tell which is the most important aspect.
  It provides background, motivation and characterization for most of the 55 arkham investigators. I say most cause 5 or so stories are deadly dull and contribute little to nothing to the character (the journalist) or the characters themselves are just uninteresting (both college professors, the secretary...).
  Most stories are good to great, with highlights such as the Lawyer, the Expedition Leader and the Gangster. It sets the tone and expectations for the games expertly and therefore it's a great contribution to the Arkham universe. It did exactly what I expected and I'm really glad I got this one.
  
  4'5/5
• 
  Scott Frank

  A fine book, within the limits of what it is: a collection of very short (3-4 pages) stories about specific characters - more character types, really - in an adventury, pulp-like Cthlhu Mythos world. I picked it up because I'm running a Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG game and wanted some good characterizations and references, and it's great for that. As a work of literature, people would probably find it very repetitive. Also, since these character presumably would go on to figure in the game, the stories are mostly about the barest touches of their encounters with the Cthulhu mythos, rather than full-blown descents into madness, action, and terror.
  
  The art, it should be added, is GREAT. Very atmospheric, works fantastically well with the stories; likewise the general artistic design and execution of the entire book.
• 
  Tri Le

  I've always been a huge fan of Fantasy Flight Games and the world of Arkham Horror. This book is a nice showpiece to supplement the Arkham Horror Universe. I enjoyed the short backstories of the various investigators that inhabit Arkham and I really liked the artwork. The quality of the stories is a bit uneven, but mostly enjoyable. Great for any fan of the board games tied to these characters!
• 
  Elise Jensen

  My brother sent me this as a birthday gift this year. Appropriate, as he’s the one who got us hooked on Eldritch Horror a number of years ago. Since then, he’s moved on to the Arkham Horror Card Game and we’ve moved on to Mansions of Madness, but whichever one(s) you play, these stories add some fun background flavor to your favorite investigators.
• 
  Byron

  I thoroughly enjoyed this. A fun short story for each investigator in the Arkham Horror games? What a great idea! It did leave me wanting more. It would be really cool to have a volume 2 with another story for each investigator!
• 
  Donal O Suilleabhain

  I did expect a bit more from an expensive book. The artwork is pretty good but the investigator stories are a bit weak and did not give me any additional insight into their characters. There was no attempt to link the narrative in any way either.
• 
  Kory

  Really great insight into all the Arkham investigators. Most stories were done well to set the tone, though some were perhaps a tad too short, and a couple ran a bit long. A few that also had novellas, like Jenny Barnes seemed to fit perfectly, where this story lead right into the novella.
• 
  Dev Sodagar

  taking from many of the ffg stories this compendium really helps build the characters of the games and looks amazing
• 
  Nathan

  Some stories were better than others. The art is great, most stories a at least good.
• 
  Renee Wiedmeyer

  The illustrations are excellent and the stories suck you in!
• 
  Felipe Gallardo Ivanović

  Bueno para los fanaticos de los Arkham files que no quieran ahondar en los Mitos pero si en los personajes del universo de Fantasy Flight.
• 
  Jefferson

  While the idea of getting the back stories for all the characters in the game is interesting, this book ended up being pretty dull. Since the fate of the characters is in the hands of the people playing the game, none of these stories has a resolution - its a ton of stories with no endings, which makes for a frustrating read.