Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: I tried to read this book several times when I was about thirteen (the age of the two boys in the story). Although I was a Bradbury fan, and found the tone and premise intriguing, I could never get past the opening chapters, usually setting it aside about the time the carnival pulls into town.35 years later, I finally read it. I didn't lose anything by waiting, because I'm sure my younger self would have been disappointed. This story has a lot to offer in terms of its philosophical mood, and has a haunting quality to it, but it's told in a surrealistic style that is not always clear, and Bradbury's prose is clotted with numerous tangled metaphors and sentences that make no literal sense. It's still not what I'd call a difficult read; I whipped through it in a few days. Bradbury maintains an element of suspense(more by suggestion than by clearly describing anything) and the conclusion, although slightly heavy-handed, is satisfying. "Something Wicked this way Comes" reminds me of two books: "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle, a children's novel which made a tremendous impression on me when I was nine years old; and Stephen King's "Needful Things", which has a similar theme. There are probably dozens of stories using this theme; since this one was published 40 years ago it's not fair to call it derivative, but I'm not sure if it's genuinely original. None of that really matters, though, since it's Bradbury's feel for the time and place, and his accurate depiction of the adolescent point of view that make this story effective, in spite of its frequent wordiness, obscurity, and overwriting. Sometimes the best writers can get away with bad writing --- or what would be bad writing in the hands of a less capable author --- and that seems to me to be the case here. As others have observed, it's not a horror novel; more of a dark fantasy with a positive underlying theme. I find it encouraging that so many young people are reading and enjoying this book; although I'm not wild about it, it's likely to whet the appetite for further reading. If you haven't read Bradbury before, I recommend the short story collections such as "Illustrated Man" or "October Country"; or the novel "Fahrenheit 451", and the collection of linked stories that forms his masterpiece "The Martian Chronicles."
Rating: 
Summary: Too Cryptic to Be Understandable, Let Alone Scary
Review: I don't get it. This book is supposed to be a classic of the horror genre. Just about everyone agrees on that point. The negative reviews stick out like sore thumbs. Well, here's another sore thumb. The premise is great. An evil carnival comes to town and preys on the emotional and spiritual weaknesses of the residents. The problem is that the story gets lost in the enigmatic writing style that Bradbury chose for this book. Half the time, I didn't really know what was going on. Maybe I'm missing something. If I am, I'm missing it by a mile.
Rating: 
Summary: Wicked Fun
Review: Long recognized as the master of the short story and science fiction, Ray Bradbury is most at home in the October country, the land where beauty and terror walk side by side. He ushers us into this land in his novel,"Something Wicked This Way Comes", and almost poetic rendering of two boys coming of age and a man dealing with his own mortality.
It is October, the season between warm summer and the chill of winter, and a carnival is coming to town, blown in by the same winds that make two young boys wake in the morning hours and gaze out their windows, full of unspoken longings. A handbill flies across the street promising a thousand and one wonders on its way to the quiet country town and a library's janitor feels the stirring of the boy he was fifty four years ago as the sound of a calliope comes closer.
Too late in the year for a carnival,"Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show" arrives with something for everyone, the sweetness of cotton candy and the fascination of the freak shows, mirror mazes and merry go rounds and, master of it all is the Illustrated Man, who just might have your picture tattooed in the pal of his hand.
Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are fascinated by the secrets the carnival hides and are drawn steadily deeper into it's dark secrets and fantastic promises, but the line between the wonderful and the terrible is a thin one and it is up to Will's father to make sense of the wonders the carnival has really brought and to try to save the two boys from its' lies.
Although I am not a fan of the horror genre and did not believe I would like this book, I soon became fascinated with this novel and it's beautiful imagery. I often found myself re-reading Ray Bradbury's expertly crafted phrases which propel the reader from this world to Bradbury's own like the magic he loves to write about. He touches on our past experiences of sound and taste, memory and desires, hopes and fears and wraps them into a fantastic story that appeals to all ages. This is more than a "horror" novel.,it is a life-affirming story of foolishness and bravery, wisdom and the miracles of love between a father and son, and between two friends. Though "Something Wicked This Way Comes" has been made into a movie, there is no substiture of Ray Bradbury's genius for description and his mastery of the English language. He reminds us of the children we were and reassures us of the future when he writes. This book will leave you smiling and looking at the world with eyes more attuned to the wonders around us.
Oddly enough, this book has been dedicated to actor/dancer Gene Kelly whose artistry, says Bradbury, "changed my life". This book and its sweet message will also touch lives and leave them changed. I highly recommend the experience.
Rating: 
Summary: My all-time favorite novel...no work of fiction compares
Review: I've been in love with books since I was old enough wander around by myself in libraries, eye-balling their spines and yielding to their siren song. So powerful was the spell some of these delicious tomes cast that I can still remember how I felt when I read them. I can picture where they rested on the book shelves. Even their covers have been burned into my mind's eye. And that's saying a lot. Because I'm 41 years old. And some of these books were devoured some 30+ years ago. And in all that time I have never found a book to equal Something Wicked This Way Comes. I read this book yearly, sometimes twice a year. Always in October (my favorite month) and sometimes whenever I need an infusion of wide-eyed wonder. I can't explain what this book does to me. All I can tell you is that each page crackles with electricity. And magic. And all the joys, smells, sounds and feelings of being a boy in a small midwestern town. I doubt anything I say is going to convince you to read this book. After all, it's only my opinion. And you don't even know me. Yet, I can honestly make this prediction. If you have an imagination, a yearning for the days of your youth, a love of night-time thrills and an appreciation for how a master craftsman plies his trade, this book stands a chance of holding a very special place in your heart. Oh. And let's not forget the mournful sound of train whistles and calliopes. You'll find them a-plenty within the pages of Ray Bradbury's marvelous book.
Rating:
Summary: Stupindous
Review: This book was an interoggative inquisition of the brain. Everytime you thought something, Bradbury made it into the last think your mind would allow you to think. My brain twisted and turned. Honestly I had to read a lot of it over to fully understand the signifigance of what he was saying.
Rating:
Summary: A novel that will stay with you
Review: If there's one thing that Ray Bradbury excels at, it's his ability to recapture the range of emotions and attitudes that were present in all of us when we were just young, impressionable children. It's a sign of a talented writer if he or she is able to make the reader feel nostalgic for a childhood that one didn't have. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES pushes all the right buttons in reminding us of the wonder that was present in everyone. A lot has been said about the prose of this book, and it's certainly of a higher quality than one would be expecting from a "horror" story. It's quite poetic and most of the time it is excellent at painting the scene. However, there are a number of places where it feels forced and pretentious, as if Bradbury is writing that way just to show off his thesaurus-reading skills. But for every turn of phrase that falls flat, there exist several chilling moments that will be forever etched in the mind of the reader. It's a step above the sort of material that one usually finds in genre works. The point of view from the two children is executed amazingly well. As in his other novels and short stories, Bradbury demonstrates his superb ability to realistically portray the beliefs and emotions of children. They aren't overly mature, but neither are they childish. He's hit the nail so perfectly that it really feels as though one is reading a true-life account of some curious boys, rather than a fictional account. On the other hand, breaking up the action between two children means that we never really get extremely close to either one. There's some nice interaction between one of the boys and his father that deals with the grown-up's attempt to develop a backbone and to stand up to the evil carnival people. This relationship creates some great dialog between the child and parent, as the older man tries to explain thoughts and concepts that are just slightly outside what the child can realistically understand. The story itself is quite chilling and is told well. Many of the actions that occur don't really make much logical sense, but they are nonsensical in the same way that fairy tales don't make sense; everything works inside the current context and that's just fine for their purposes. Evil men do evil deeds simply because they're evil. Good men attempt to prevent the spread of evil, because that's what good men do. Their motivation really isn't important. What makes it work is the journey that the characters go through. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is certainly a recommended work. Although often classified as a horror book, it really isn't all that frightening. But it succeeds at being a fantastic adventure tale that will remain with the reader long after the final page is turned.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful read.
Review: I had heard a lot about this book, but just recently decided to read it. I was glad I did. The book is NOT science fiction (as the cover states) but is a wonderful and dark fantasy. Steven King, in Danse Macbre, notes that this book is a universal childhood fantasy book. I would qualify this just a bit, it is a "boys" childhood fantasy, and may be universal for boys. This distance from my personal experience(I'm a woman) didn't harm the book in the least. The themes are universal, so, while it may not strike and "I know that!" chord, it sure does ring true. Not the scariest, or spookiest, but full of wonderful images and tense moments.
Rating:
Summary: Truly magical
Review: I loved this a grade schooler and just read it again. It is even better. I could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: It's OKAY
Review: There's a lot of hype about this being classic literature, and one of the best genre books ever. I disagree. Although Ray Bradbury is a superb writer, this book seems to fall short. The writing is overly poetic, and the dialogue is clunky. If you read this you may find yourself re-reading sentences to figure out what the hell was being said. Although not from the book, there are many, too many, sentences like this:
"Will ran, didn't run. Jumped, didn't jump. He stomped his find on elephant shadows and cat whisker winds." Again, this isn't an actual sentence from the book, but something similar to the type of writing.
Buy it, read it, experience it. These reveiws are just a matter of taste anyway. The book simply left me
Rating:
Summary: My kids always loved the movie. . .
Review: My children always loved the movie. For children; have them watch the movie first, then have them read the book. I gave my son, now 20, my signed copy by Ray Bradbury. He found more joy in that than any video game I could have bought him.
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