Review: The Masque of the Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Okay, I read this quite a long time ago, but when I read it, I honestly had no idea about what to write for a review, besides, it's too short, and it's always really difficult for me to write reviews for short stories.

Well, anyway, this story starts telling us there's a plague spreading and a prince locks himself and some other people in a castle while everyone else is left outside to die. In there, he throws parties and whatnot. There's a particular one that is a masquerade party. Where the party took place are seven rooms painted all in different colors--one of them is black, but no one dares to enter it.

This is the point when things start to give you chills up your spine: Someone plays the brave and enters the room just to see something that was better lest unseen, and everyone is doomed for that reason.

My brother read this story last year in school, and this year, when I got Poe-maniac (Definition: A person who gets obsessed with no particular reason with either Poe as a person or his works), he told me that he had read this one and The Premature Burial (which, as all of Poe's stories, is really good, IMO) many, many times because he had liked them a lot.

Listen, my brother hates to read. In my family, I'm the only bookworm, so of course if my brother decides to read a book on his own, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing is happening. Now imagine if he re-read a book. That's something scary and never to be seen again!

You may have noted that I've rated all of Poe's stories 3+ stars. Well, that's because I simply love Poe. I love his voice in the books, the writing, the storylines, the messages he leaves with each story... everything. He's not what I call my "literary god," or my "life-changing" author, but I admire all his works all the same.

Needless to say, this is a must-read. I feel I've written more than what I should, given the fact that this is a short story, but that, I'm going to take the liberty of saying, is a good thing.

Do you like horror? Then this is just for you.

Tick, tock; tick, tock. The red death has come for you, and you can't escape her. Beware, my friends.



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