Weaveworld

Rating:
Summary: Great book by a great author.
Review: If you've ever read any Clive Barker before, you know how hard it is to put his books into words. He is one of the most terrifying writers I've ever read, and some of this sh*t really gets into your head. This is a story of a normal guy, Cal, who accidentally gets into an adventure to save The Weave, a magical fantasy world (Imajica, Great and Secret Show elements) from Immocolata and Shadwell, two great baddies. Barker can really create worlds like no one I've ever read before, and The Weave is no exception. This is an incredibly intricate book that may take a while to read, but it's worth it. Really, just a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Superbly Written!!! One of my favorites!!!
Review: Clive Barker's Weaveworld was the first of his books I had read. Being a classic tale between good and evil and between what is real and what is not, I never believed the book would be so interesting! Barker's use of such effective language enables the reader to invision exactly what he describes. His choice of words is supreme. The reader should be prepared for his imagination to take a ride into the amazing world of this talented author. I highly recommend this book to those readers who enjoy exciting plots and interesting characters. In closing I must remark that Clive Barker has written yet another masterpiece that must be enjoyed by all.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy-Romance for People Who Don't Read Fantasy-Romances
Review: Initially I was surprised that Weaveworld wasn't the horror story I expected it to be. Then I was surprised how much I was enjoying it anyway.

Certainly there are elements of horror: The Rake, The Hag, The Magdalene and her Offspring, and The Scourge/Uriel - but this is primarily a love story between Cal and Suzanna. Their relationship is remarkable if for no other reason than the fact that it can never be fully consummated (unlike most of the casual relationships Cal and Suzanna have with others, which can and often are).

From suburban London to the Scottish Highlands to the Arabian desert, the story covers all this ground, plus the fantastic settings within the weave (The Fugue) itself. The pacing is fairly quick, but Barker does take the time to insert a descriptive paragraph or nice turn of phrase now and then. Characters are well-drawn, but there isn't a whole lot of development demonstrated over the course of the novel. Cal becomes obsessed with the carpet, but doesn't really change as he pursues or attains it. Suzanna gets super-powers almost as soon as she comes on the scene, so there isn't even much "before" and "after" as she comes to grips with them.

The book has a few other flaws, as well. Barker consistently uses the crassest term imaginable for the part of female anatomy euphemistically referred to on the TV-show Scrubs as the "bajingo." There are some pretty big plot holes as well; for instance, at one point a psychic attack is accidentally launched against an innocent London population; later, when such an attack would come in handy, no one suggests "doing what we did back in London." Wasn't it Chekov who said, "If you establish mind-altering super-powers in the beginning of the book you have to make an attempt to use them in a crucial moment by the end of the book"? Words to that effect, at any rate.

Subject matter and material aside, this is still a very good fantasy story. Romance fans will find a lot to recommend it. Horror fans may find themselves pleasantly surprised.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Possibly the Best Book I've Ever Read
Review: It blows my mind to find 1 and 2 star reviews of this incredible book on this website. Especially the one calling him too "pc" and comparing his themes to disney. Apparently this reviewer seemed to miss the sex scenes that, while less numerous in this novel than in some of his other stories, are still quite graphic, or the fact that countless people are brutally murdered in this book. Obviously this reviewer is not familiar with Barker's other work, such as the short story he wrote in which a man is constantly aroused and any sexual pleasure only increases his arousal until he reaches the point where he brutally rapes and murders a woman.

But that's besides the point. In this novel, Weaveworld, Clive Barker, who is most commonly known for his work in the macabre and horror, takes one of his occasional stabs at fantasy. While his horror sensibilities still tend to seep into the story at certain points, the fantastical elements are light years beyond what any other fantasy writer has come up with. Who else could write about a character who has her two sisters' ghosts with her as minions because she strangled them with their own umbilical cords while the three of them were in the womb?

His imagination knows no bounds and, if you like to actually THINK as you read, you'll love this book as the imagery, symbolism and outright bizarre plot twists and turns will leave you wondering whether the ground beneath your feet is real or a product of some magical force beyond your wildest dreams.

Rating:
Summary: Barker fans should love this, others may find it falls short
Review: There is no denying that Clive Barker is a creative man. "Weaveworld" is a testament to that. He creates a mythology peopled with an array of strange and bizarre creatures, a land built of every fantasy cliché but never itself feeling clichéd, and a tale full of inventive twists and turns.

Yet for all that, for all the book's burning creativity, "Weaveworld" too often fails to captivate, too often uses what feel like cheap plot twists to keep the reader moving along, and too often drags down to a near halt to make it a must read.

The plot hinges around a carpet in which is hidden a mystical land. The carpet, and the land, are hunted by many, including the Seerkind, Barker's twisted take on the folk of fairy tales. A pair of seemingly innocent bystanders fend off close call after close call in an effort to keep the carpet out of the wrong hands - and even venture into the wondrous world itself. The idea is fabulous and the characters unique and interesting.

Unfortunately, "Weaveworld" feels more like a series of interconnected novellas than an epic novel. The plot surges forward with a gripping buildup and a series of several thrilling climaxes, only to slow to a grinding halt. Then the process starts all over again. This takes place several times in just the few hundred pages. It's maddening.

It's also unfortunate. Barker is a good writer, better than one would expect if all they know of him is "Hellraiser." His prose isn't bad at all, his ability to let a scene unfold very good, and he can send shivers down a reader's spine at will. He mixes horror and fantasy well. But no matter how much the readers wants them to, in "Weaveworld," the pieces fail to come together.

There is enough here to like that some readers will find great enjoyment in the book - it's by no means bad, and has plenty of fresh ideas - but my own inability to really get captured by "Weaveworld" makes it impossible to recommend. If you're already a Barker fan, however, you'll probably want to read this. It's another example of his twisted and unique imagination.

Rating:
Summary: To remember how to fly read this book
Review: Just How Do I Describe This Book?

I have read a few short stories by Clive Barker - all based in the horror genre. I found this one in a box in the basement and it has been sitting around for awhile now. Because I tend to fly through books I finally picked it up and decided to give it a try. I was not let down and it has now become one of my favorite books.

It is called, on the flyleaf, a Horror story as well as one of Fantasy. I figured it would have the usual Barker tang to it and I was very wrong. This story is one of pure magical fantasy. If there is horror it is in the evil of the Cuckoo's world (humankind) against that of the Weaveworld or the Fugue. A land of magic - where you can "fly."

There are many characters and a few plot lines to follow around in this maze. Almost as if you are running a race - good against "evil" in an attempt to save this world of magic. At times I felt as if I was truly lost in the book and the world, a very good sign that I have found a good book.

There is magic, enchantments, raptures, a carpet, and cuckoo's as well as a Incantatrix, a salesman and a very sandy Scourge. The story is made up within the weave of a carpet that makes up Wonderland.

If you find yourself remembering the times when you could fly, or when sitting in the backyard as a child you imagined you saw something colorful flitting just out of the corner of your eye. When you knew there was something else to this world and what's more, when you believed it all to be true - then you will enjoy this book. Because it takes you back to that time and helps you find that child again.

This is the first Literary Corner I've done that I've had trouble finding words to describe the book. I think it defies description because of what it is - an adventure of the imagination.

And as the story ends, "nothing ever begins. And this story, having no beginning, will have no end."

I can't wait to pick it up again in a few years and renew that magic. While in the meantime trying to remember that it is all around me - I just need to open my eyes a little more.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Masterfully done!
Review: My first book by him and I can assure you that Clive Barker is a master story teller with a privileged imagination that leads you to the distant reaches of the mind and brings you back anew.

Barker mixes de Sade, Poe and Carroll to bring us the incredible story of the Fugue, a magical realm where harm is but a shadow and miracles are the regular coin, a world whose people were once hunted down by an unnamable creature called the Scourge and so had to find refuge in a magical carpet of complex geometrical designs, forever secure in and endless dream of frozen time. Until one day, that last guardian of the carpet dies.

Barker introduces us to a wide arrange of characters with rich personalities and their own personal problems. We have the chance to met Cal, the melancholic poet/dreamer; Susana, the last link between the salvation of the Fugue or its eternal destruction; Immacolata, the mysterious wraith; Shadwel, perhaps the most twisted and corrupted character I've read about in what goes of this year; And my personal favorite, Hobart, the control freak with a disturbed mind tormented by existentialism.

The most interesting premise about this book is the wide arrange of mysteries left without clarification at the end of the book: What is the Scourge and the ruins it guards in the unfathomable deepness of the dessert? Who is Hobart? Why that blind fanaticism replaced by a sudden sense of humility? From where did the Scourge and the Seerkind come? The reader is left alone to ponder at the questions, and Mr. Barker doesn't seem to be ready to spill out the answers entirely, so your guess is as good as mine's.

That which can be imagined need not be forgotten!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Read
Review: Weaveworld is one the weirdest trips that Clive Barker has to offer. This book will haul you in from its first pages to the very end. I found myself consumed, every night, after I put it down, with a desire to lift it back up and read till dawn.

I can't stress enough that Clive Barker is a fantasy writer/wordsmith who has a clear, unfettered and virgin channel to his inner voice.

Start the journey.

Rating:
Summary: That which is imagined need never be lost
Review: There's many more of those great lines in this long novel. I expected to read something which is similar to the writing of Stephen King, this being the first Clive Barker Novel I read. But Clive Barker has a deep and stylized writing all his own. And this story a wonderland 'woven' into a carpet( hence the title Weaveworld) is truly a great read.
It starts out with Calhoun Mooney, a Liverpool clerk chases his prized pigeon and ends up falling from a wall and seeing an odd land on the carpet. What follows is a tale with various emotions which enthralls you'til the final page. Basically it's fantasy but mix with a touch of horror.

Rating:
Summary: BARKER'S GREATEST HIT!
Review: BECAUSE THIS IS ONE OF MY TOP 20 BOOKS OF ALL TIME, I DON'T WANT TO GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY. HOWEVER, I WILL SAY QUITE SIMPLY THAT "WEAVEWORLD" IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST FANTASY BOOK I HAVE EVER READ, AT LEAST IN THE PAST 10 YEARS!

"WEAVEWORLD" IS BARKER AT HIS VERY BEST AND MOST BIZARRELY IMAGINATIVE, WHICH IS SAYING QUITE A LOT!!!! HIS PROTAGONIST IS LIKABLE, HUMAN, REAL; ONE CARES ABOUT THE DISENCHANTED MA'S PLIGHT AND HIS ADVENTURES. THE VILLAIN, A REAL MAGICAL MEANY, IS JUST AS THOROUGHLY DEPICTED BY THE AUTHOR, AND HE'S JUST AS TOTALLY ENTERTAINING.

WITH SOME BOOKS, WHEN THERE ARE 2 OR 3 PLOTS GOING ON AT ONCE, ONE OF THEM IS MORE FUN TO FOLLOW THAN THE OTHERS. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HERE. I, PERSONALLY, WAS/AM INTERESTED IN EVERYBODY AND THEIR THOUGHTS AND ADVENTURES.

IF YOU DON'T READ THIS BOOK, YOU WILL DEFINITELY BE MISSING ONE OF THE BEST!