This novel is a testament to the profound global influence of H.P. Lovecraft, for it is nothing less than a Japanese Cthulhu Mythos novel. It differs greatly in style and focus from the Mythos stories of western authors, incorporating its Lovecraftian elements of cosmic horror into Japanese mythology and culture, but its roots can be traced clearly back to Lovecraft's work -- specifically, a story called "The Mound," which Lovecraft ghostwrote for Zealia Bishop in 1930. The story wasn't even published until 1940, three years after Lovecraft's death, so it is even more obscure than most of his revisionist works.

The mound in the original story stands as one of the entrances to a vast and heretofore secret underworld called Xinaian (in Spanish) -- or K'n-Yan. Prior to the advent of mankind, K'n-Yan was a spectacular civilization built by non-human extraterrestrials, but that once-thriving culture has by now devolved into decadence and the worship of Cthulhu.

The "Queen of K'n-Yan" in Asamatsu Ken's novel is a perfectly preserved young female mummy discovered in the wake of devastating earthquakes in northern China. The story itself is presented from the viewpoint of Morashita Anri, a young but well-established molecular biologist who is called upon to help study the mummy inside a foreboding leviathan of a building housing project headquarters. Anri is astounded to discover that the mummy's DNA is reptilian, despite the body's human appearance. She is also unsettled by a series of hallucinations in which she finds herself in the body of a young Chinese girl being held in a World War II Japanese internment camp being used for research into biological warfare. The hallucinations ultimately begin to make sense when Anri discovers that "Project Yin" is much more than a research project.

Unfortunately, this refreshingly original Cthulhu Mythos novel oftentimes makes for awkward reading. Knowing something of Asamatsu Ken's reputation in Japan, I'm inclined to believe that much of the fault lies with the translation. The book is absolutely littered with sentences that do not sound natural in English, and a number of the protagonist's words and actions don't make contextual sense from one sentence to the next. As such, the novel perpetually holds you at arm's length and makes it impossible for you to fully immerse yourself in the story -- or to adequately understand or sympathize with the protagonist. Any Mythos story as original as this is worth reading, but I can't say that Queen of K'n-Yan makes for a particularly enjoyable reading experience.