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Imajica : Featuring New Illustrations and an Appendix

Imajica : Featuring New Illustrations and an Appendix

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not just for horror fans
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. In my opinion it is the most involving and entertaining book written in the last 20 years. Clive Barker deftly constructs an extremely detailed world as a stage to this novel that defies classification. It is not a horror book, but it is not strict fantasy either. Because Clive Barker is such a reknown horror author, I think a lot of possible cross-over readers might have dismissed this work, but that's a grave mistake. (For die-hards: At a books signing 2 years ago I met Clive Barker and he said that he was negotiating the film rights for Imajica.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent storytelling, fantasy, imagery, characterizations.
Review: This book reminded me, in mood and character, of Tad William's "Tailchaser's Song" and of Richard Adam's "Watership Down" -- no, nothing to do with animals, but to do with otherworldiness. 'Imajica' is populated with a variety of interesting people, all of whom are lovingly rendered with a level of detail and attention to history that makes them uniquely motivated and easy to relate to... and they move through episodes, evolutions, and worlds in ways which are vivid, captivating, suspenseful, and satisfying. I believe near the end the book loses some degree of focus and some of the characters I felt I knew intimately started behaving in ways I didn't find believable, and there was the unfortunate 'and then they disappeared' type ending... but, ending aside, the journey was fabulous. I couldn't put the book down. I read it voraciously. I highly suggest it, if you're in the mood for involving, highly detailed fantasy and world-building.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wonderful entertainment
Review: I have always enjoyed Clive Barker's work. Rather than populating his stories with vampires and werewolves, Barker has the monsters take the form of the characters' fears and desires. This has been a trademark in much of his best writing. Although Imajica is a more fantastic and romantic story, Barker still manages to incorporate these dark monsters into his story, making a great dark fantasy in the same mini genre as Stephen King's Dark Tower series The story starts with the three primary characters (as Barker explains in the first few pages, every story has only three characters). John Furie Zacharias, known as Gentle by his friends, who is a master forger, copying the grand masters of art. Judith, Gentle's former flame, who becomes the target of her husbands jealous anger. Pie ' O ' Pa, an assassin hired to murder Judith by her husband after their marriage begins to fall apart. There are numerous other note-worthy characters who work their way into the 850-page narrative, but it would take much to long to describe them all. After a few incidents between the three primary characters, the plot is set. The story takes place over the period of several months and several worlds (including earth and Heaven). The most enjoyable part of the book is the numerous plot-twists, which are abundant to say the least. Characters are far from what they seem and several make a return appearance just as you start to think they might just be dead. All the main elements of Barker's writing are present: good characters, evil characters, gore, monsters, dark atmosphere and eroticism. My only complaint is that the story is over-long in a few spots (mostly in the beginning and the end) but it hardly detracts from this immensely enjoyable book. Highly recommended to those seeking fantastic adventure.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ
Review: First of all, I'm sorry. I really am not someone who criticizes something for no reason, and I am not very picky about what I read, watch, listen to, or eat. In general I would say that I have not been blessed with taste. I like pretty much everything . . . Almost. After hearing Michael Bolton or reading this book I realize that I do have to draw the line somewhere. This is a foul, very poorly-written book. I am telling you this so you do not have to suffer through the same regret after reading it that I have. I feel terrible for having read this book. What's wrong with the book you ask. First of all, it is about 200-300 pages too long. Yes, I did read all 800 and so pages. Why? Because I kept trying to convince myself that it was going to get better. Much to my chagrin, though, the book only gets worse. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I can see how some might like this book. It had its moments (but at 850 pages it better). All I am saying is that I wish I could go back in time and give myself this review. And if that didn't work I would try to poke my eyes out so I would be unable to read at all. I have not read any other book by Clive Barker. After reading Imajica I know I never will (a promise I made to myself to keep me from losing my mind).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Imijica
Review: I originally read this book when it was first released in hardback. Prior to a recent vacation, I pulled the book off the shelf and packed it into my duffle bag. I began to re-read this book and found myself re-immersed in the epic tale by Barker.

Barker begins the book, with little reference to what the reader will expect in the final part of the book. The characters have rich backgrounds and their personalities are vivid. As the story progresses, you see the characters evolve and battle the demons that have haunted them.

Without giving too much away - Barker is able to create not only parallel universes - but he creates a new religion with a rich and full history.

I would recommend this book to anyone who can immerse himself or herself into a good book and suspend reality for a few moments. This book is not for religious zealots, who would find much of Barker's topics and style heresy.

This is clearly one of Barker's best books. A great short story author who can also write great epic adventures.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Imajica--A Journey of Mind and Spirit
Review: This is my favorite book, hands down. On the surface, it is already an incredible fantasy journey. (In case you're only familiar with "Hellraiser" and such, you should know that Clive said farewell to true horror fiction long ago, and now writes mainly fantasy and dark fantasy.) But the deeper you look, the more you'll find. I'm a Pagan, and this book contains elements that are of particular interest to those of us in the magickal community, including many goddesses and some realistic magick. Clive himself, in the introduction to the two-volume set, described Imajica as being a symbolic retelling of the story of Jesus Christ. Imajica is incredibly inspiring as well as entertaining. Don't be put off by the book's length, it's well worth it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good story
Review: In this fantasy, Clive Barker looks at several intriguing themes such as religion, the roles of the sexes and the journey of self discovery. He gives us a fresh spin on these ideas by taking us into the uniquely original world of Imajica's Five Dominions. I have to admit, at first it was hard for me to put this books down. But Barker's writing style became tiresome during the last few hundred pages. If you're not a fan of the over-inflated "epic", you may want to skip this book. I think if Barker could have condensed the prose and stayed focused on his major themes he could have really driven his point home. To me, that would have made it a "great" book. So while it's not a terrible book, it's hardly the greatest literary masterpiece of our time either.

It's just a good story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Clive's best!
Review: This is my favorite book by Clive Barker. Everville is a close second, but it cannot match the beautiful imagery of Imajica. This book takes you places. It grabs you and pulls you into a world that is beyond your imagination. This is a masterpiece and a delicious read for anyone who loves fantasy and horror.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An out of this world experience
Review: This book is amazing! It is the best book Barker has ever written and will probably ever write. The characters are truly engaging and the story keeps popping up new surprises. As usual the characters and the worlds are very very weird. In this one Barker really attains a higher level of understanding. I can't say much about the story line since-once you finish the book you forget it- as if it was a story your mom told you long ago. (though my mom would never have imagined Pie oh Pah!) A very special book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very good book
Review: This book is 800 pages but it moves right along. He takes a very non-traditional look at God. It's a deep and entertaining book.


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