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Summary: Come to the land of the Grotesque!
Review: CLive Barker, born in 1952 in Liverpool, produced the book The thief of Always in 1952. Harvey Swick, a teenage boy looking to escape the every day problems that life brings narrates this story. One night a goblin named Rictus appears in Harvey's window and invites him to the House of Happiness. Harvey accepts this invitation and goes to a place where everyday is a new season. Clive Barker does a very good job describing detail about the joys of everyday changing seasons. Harvey meets many new friends and learns more and more about the evilness of this hosue. Harvey finally decides to escape this house and takes his new friend Wendell with him. But what they find after they escape they cannot believe. Everyday that passes in this fantasyland is one year in the real world. The boys return to the house to somehow regain all years lost. This book is action packed right from the get go. The only time this book slows down is when you put it down. Clive Barker is an excellent writer and should be offered to anyone who enjoys mythological reading.
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Summary: THE THIEF WILL STEAL YOUR SOUL
Review: I know that this is a kids book but what the heck. I have read many of Clive's books and wanted to add this to the list. Mr. Barker has taken his surrealism to a new level, the kids level. The story is well told and it holds the imagination. Harvey is one tough kid. This book could be considered a precurser to the Harry Potter books. I recommend it for kids of all ages.
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Summary: Great first impression Barker!
Review: This is the first Barker book I've read.I've been wanting to read his books a while now,but this is the first one to pass the"test."I loved this book.This book is about young Harvey Swick.Swick is bored with his life.It's february,and Swick is bored stiff.But one day Swick is visited by a very strange man. From then on,Swicks'life is changed Forever.
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Summary: an amazing tale
Review: A book not just for children, people of all ages can enjoy this wonderful tale. I promess you won't regret it.
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Summary: Exciting!
Review: I bought this book when I was about 9 years old, so that was about 2 years ago. I started reading it, but it was too tough for me to read it, because the words were difficult. But a few days ago, I saw it standing on the shelf, collecting dust, and I decided to try again. This time I couldn't stop reading it! The words are a little difficult, but now i'm better in english so it's much easier! It's a great book! Scary and suspenseful! A MUST BUY!
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Summary: Not worth reading unless you have an obsession for weirdness
Review: Okay, to say the least, this book was strange. Not that there's anything wrong with books being strange, but this one was not as good as I expected it to be. My friend read it and loved it. She recommended it to me and since we have similar reading tastes, I expected it to be pretty good but it was just weird. It looked like a good long book but it was too short and some parts didn't make sense. It kept me reading it but when I was done I thought how stupid it really was. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless you are a huge Clive Barker fan.
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Summary: One of Barker's best.
Review: What's to say? I've read many of Clive Barker's books, and liked some better than others. By far, this one is my favorite. It's just as fantastic as the story with Cabal with a story line appropriate for any age group (And as a rec therapy assistang at a childrens hospital, that's a good thing to keep around.). All that's left to say is that I may have to buy another copy, simply because I leant my last one to a friend and haven't seen it since.
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Summary: A book fit for a toddler
Review: How can I find a word to describe this book? The wordpredictable comes to mind. Although it has elements of fantasy whichshould have made for good reading, it fails to incorperate some imagination. The only thing that stopped me from throwing it on the dung heap was that it was recommended to me by a friend....I did not see how this book can relate to anyone above a sixth grade reading level. That is not to say that books meant for children can't be enjoyed by everyone on occasion...
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Summary: Clive Barker at his best
Review: Do really great stories have something in common?Perhaps that is a generic question, but a fair assumption would be that the stories that get into our hearts and stay there for the rest of our days are stories we can really relate to. The Thief of Always is about something everybody can relate to - the process of growth. The Thief of Always is about the metamorphical change that occurs when we go from being children to being adults, it more than hints at how the precious untainted hearts and souls of children can be threatened by a horror beyond the comprehension of most adults. Right up there alongside Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, The Thief of Always tells us a great story about what being human and growing up is all about. It is perhaps Clive Barker's best short story - not just for hardcore horror freaks, The Thief of Always is a great experience for all ages and all walks of life. Enjoy!
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Summary: Read this book, and then remind yourself it's meant for kids
Review: The Thief of Always was a truly astounding book. Although technically written for young readers, this book has something to say to more mature readers as well. Written in Barker's almost poetic prose, but without his usual eroticism, gore and language, this book reads very easily and quickly, with beautifully used language. But it's got a message -- essentially, that fantasy isn't real. I know it sounds obvious, but it can be very easy to lose track of that. This book is an extremely quick read -- I finished it in one night, and it's also great fun. The characters are dynamic and interesting, the chapters short and to the point, and there are a bunch of interesting illustrations by the author himself. This book is a definite must-read. Don't be fooled by the length and the reading level. This is an excellent book.
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