The Great and Secret Show

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Summary: Barker is THE king!!!!
Review: Barker once again proves that HE is the true king of horror/fantasy. From start to finish, you can't help but be totally and completely within his masterful trance. His ideas and storytelling are always fresh and original, as so are his characters. A much quicker and easier read than Imajica, which is also very good. In other words, if you're tired of the usual horror/fantasy crap that certain "best-selling" authors put out, then give Barker and this book a read. You won't be sorry.

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Summary: Mind blowing, to say the least!
Review: Clive Barker takes the reader to reaches of the mind only few dare. His books not only capativate your imagination, they take a life of their own, demanding your all and nothing less.

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Summary: good for the imagination
Review: this will mess with your head. most books are good for the mind. But Barker shows imagination right from our dreams. read read if you want health for your imagination

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Summary: WOW
Review: This book and it's sequel, Everville, are 2 of the most amazing books I've ever read. Sure they're disgusting at times, but it's all in the name of setting the scenes. I love Clive Barker's work anyway, but these 2 in particualr are so excellent.

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Summary: Some amazing ideas, but not one of Clive's best
Review: This novel starts off with some very interesting ideas, and of course, a gruesome murder. It builds very rapidly at first, and then the intensity seems to drop off quite a bit. I didn't really care much for the villain, the Jaffe, as he wasn't nearly as interesting as Dowd in Imajica or Shadwell in Weaveworld. Still, any prose by Barker is better than 99% of the crap published these days, and the ending makes finishing the novel worthwhile. One key point to note is that most American readers will find that Clive Barker's commentary on American "pop" or "junk" culture is not as dead on as Stephen King's endeavors.

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Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!!
Review: This is definitley one book they should make into a movie!!

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Summary: The Best Book I have read EVER!!!!!
Review: I have read, almost, the whole Clive Barker collection and in my opinion, this is his BEST! I did not want this one to end and was so involved with the people and their lives, I felt as though I was saying good-bye to my friends at the end. Although, Everville was the follow-up, it just did not have the impact as The Great and Secret Show.

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Summary: Don't do this to yourself.
Review: I do not honestly know what to say. This book, and the sequel "Everville," (yes I actually read the second book after the first was so horrible; I was very bored) are disgusting and stupid. Usually Clive Barker puts a lot of style into his version of disgusting, but this garbage is simply shock horror. There are a few interesting ideas, but they are definately not worth wading through hundreds of dull pages for. I read Imajica after reading these, and I almost don't believe that he wrote it. So skip The Great and Secret Show, and pick up a copy of Imajica. IT gets 5 stars for sure.

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Summary: As fascinating as Imajica
Review: First of all I'd like to say that I am absolutely fascinated by Clive Barker, his writings and his images. Once I saw a documentary about him, in which his drawings of various monsters were shown, they were awesome. What's more, he said he just saw these images in his mind; he didn't think them up, he just saw them! After I read Imajica and saw Clive in the flesh when he was visiting the premiere of 'Lord of Illusions' here in Amsterdam, I just knew I would always try to keep track of whatever he's doing. Now, about the book. It's the second Clive Barker I've read, and although I liked Imajica better, I was again anxious to finish the book as well as 'scared' of finishing it and returning from this dreamlike world to my everyday world. I love Barker's sense of humour, and he writes in such a way that the occurring events aren't as unthinkable as they were before you started reading the book. My favourite part of the book is probably the shaping of the Jaffe's terata, and the dreaming up of the town's people favourite people, from tv or real life. I especially liked the idea of William Witt's house full of copulating pornstars, entertaining themselves with his huge collection of bow ties. Anyway, I would have given this book 5 stars if it wasn't for Imajica which I liked better. And if you somehow get to read this Clive, come visit Amsterdam again sometime soon.

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Summary: A clutter of images and ideas.
Review: Clive Barker needs to learn how to pace himself before taking on such a large novel.Even though the story line of The Great and Secret Show is fairly collected and in order,the way he goes about telling the story is not.I found the book very interesting at times but for the most part i felt i was just continuing to read the book so i could actually finish it and start on another.I would personally recommend the Damnation Game or Weaveworld over this fairly intersting but otherwise average book.