Nostalgia Reader > Recent Status Updates

The Tell-Tale Heart: 3 stars. This has always unimpressed me for some reason.

The Gold-Bug: 4.5 stars. That was incredibly fun! Even the over-explanation of the cypher at the end was well done.

The Mystery of Marie Roget: 2 stars. WTF THAT'S IT? (After perusing a bit of The Beautiful Cigar Girl, which details the Mary Rogers case, it appears the actual case was solved(?) just before the third installment of this story was set to be written. Poe had to scramble so the whole coincidence thing wouldn't end up being false [with a fictional reveal of a killer] and ended up with this futile end.)

The Oval Portrait: 3.5 stars. Predictable, but a good establishment of the trope.

The Masque of the Red Death: 5 stars.

The Pit and the Pendulum: 4 stars. ALWAYS expect the Spanish Inquisition. Still am not convinced the narrator is saved at the end. It feels like it should be shorter, but the heightened suspense works very well for this.

Descent in the the Maelstrom: 3 stars. Relatively unimpressive, but I can imagine it being more thrilling when it was published, seeing as seatravel was the norm. Also, 20K Leagues inspiration right here, so I can't exactly complain too much.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue: 3.5 stars.

William Wilson: 1.5 stars. Points for a final setting reminiscent of Monte Cristo and PotO.

The Fall of the House of Usher: 4 stars.

Metzengerstien: 3.5 stars. Honestly genre-defying, so many foundational horror tropes are included here.

Berenice: 2.5 stars. Well that was weird (as expected). I might have gotten the ending spoiled so it made it creepy, but anticlimactic.

The Utensian's subtle wordplay and puns were AMAZING.