Instruct: Classify the given Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: Self-important & pretentious

It pains me to say anything bad about a Peter Straub book. I have been a fan for nearly 20 years. Koko still rates as one of my all time favorite reads, bar none. Mystery & The Throat were sorely disappointing, but Hellfire Club promised a return to form. A return to the horror genre by my favorite author...well, what more could I ask for? Much, in retrospect. Mr X contains more ponderous, pretentious prose than any Straub novel to date. Descriptions of places, persons, and situations drag on ad nauseum. Even the names of characters are distractingly silly. Do yourself a favor, skip this palid, self- important attempt at a modern addition to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and read the original.