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Summary: The beginning of this book is Barker at his best...
Review: ...these are but a few of the words that come to mind when reading Clive Barker's horror epic The Damnation Game. The downward spiral and descent into the nether regions of existence. Paranoia, sex, violence, mutilation, death...all ideas and topics dealt with in this novel with grace and beauty. Barker has always had the ability to evoke empathy from his readers, you're repulsed because you relate. Granted, you may not eat razors, you may not have played a game of cards with a man capable of bringing the dead back to life, but the emotions and basic human feeling of the story ring true every time. We've all been ambitious, we've all done something we think we will live to regret, and that's the real heart of terror, the constant fear that the consequences of your former actions are just hanging right above your head. read with fascination, expand your horizons of horror fiction, and sleep tight...
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Summary: ORIGINAL, COMPELLING, A MUST READ!
Review: For Clive's first noval, I must say Wow. I've just finished reading 'The Damnation Game', and I honestly couldn't put it down. I own pretty much all of clive's novels that I can get my hands on, even though I still have a few of his I haven't read yet and their still on my shelf waiting patiently.
I love his characters of Marty and Carys. I love the way he develops his characters and the things they say and do. I'm still yet to be disappointed by him. Clive really is a great, genious writer, at least in my head he is. What tends to frustrate me with some writers like Stephen Kings works for example, like when he writes, he'll tend to pay too much attention on something or an object,where I'll end up skipping pages. But clive isn't like that. Truely holds my attention.
I love the way he's completely comfortable writing about many taboos and situations. Whether it's sex, horror, death etc. I'm completely sucked in.
I most definitly recommend this novel, it should be apart of everyone's collection on their shelves, and in their lives.
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Summary: Vintage Barker
Review: Had I read Galilee or The Great & Secret Show prior to Damnation Game I would have never been a Barker fan for any other reason but the Hellraiser movies. In fact, it was because of those movies I sought out and read Damnation Game back in the early '90s when it was originally published.
Do yourself a favor if you're new to Barker - Read his early stuff like Damnation Game or The Books of Blood. Anything written thereafter is like eating carb free bread. You keep waiting to taste something of substance but it's all air.
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Summary: This is what no one could discribe?
Review: Humdrum, maybe near boring. I know I am going to get into a lot of trouble out there for this dissenting opinion but i just dont think this book is one of Barker's best, nor even that interesting. The writing was as solid as ever and the plot was interesting, but the story, the way the plot unfolded, just didnt grab me. It probably has to do with the immortal guy completely wasting his power and immortality. At least it seemed so to me. Blah, it just wasnt good. Read the Books of Blood if you are trying to get into Barker, skip this.
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Summary: Gut-wrenching, edge of your seat read...
Review: I bought this book out of my love for great horror novels, based on the Clive Barker I know and love. Having finished Sacrament, I thirsted for a new horror from Barker...I got it. There are so many plot twists and horrific images that I never would have imagined. I couldn't put this book down from the very first chapter and still didn't want to at the end of the last. Barker presents his own "intellectual" horror, as I like to call it, and this book is such a great example of his work, that I heavily recommend it to ANY and ALL horror fans, and some who aren't. If I had to pick one word to describe it...ENCHANTING. Even as the most awful images are presented to you, you can't look away, and have to turn the page.
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Summary: Barker's Best
Review: I used to be a huge Clive Barker fan, but as time goes on, I find him less accessible. "The Great and Secret Show" was an overdrawn and dull "epic" and didn't quite go anywhere but down. His latest book, the incredibly inept "Coldheart Canyon," was nothing but a perverted romp into self-indulgence. But the "Damnation Game" is gripping, tight, and much shorter than the aforementioned door-stoppers, which makes it much more accessible. First and foremost, "Damnation" is disgusting. The Razor-Eater is truly stomach turning, and the various rotten corpses that are ressurected by Mamoulian, the almighty wizard thing, are also barf-worthy. The writing, however, is not. Barker had a knack for putting intellectualism and cultural criticism into his works of horror. Perhaps "Damnation" is about the downfall of corporate society, the domination of greed, and the all-engulfing human desires which rule our lives. Yes, this book is worthy of all different sorts of interpretations, unlike other, more popular horror writers (ahem-StephenKing-ahem!), who just splash blood and profanity on the page without regard to the higher-thinking audience. Barker is an intelligent gore-fiend's author. He's smart but remembers what genre he's working in, thus, how to please his audience. "The Damnation Game" is Barker's best book. His others do not achieve this level of accessibility, intrigue, plot structure, and intelligence, perhaps because they reach too far and end up tripping over the gore-soaked zombie dog.
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Summary: Barker's Best
Review: I used to be a huge Clive Barker fan, but as time goes on, I find him less accessible. "The Great and Secret Show" was an overdrawn and dull "epic" and didn't quite go anywhere but down. His latest book, the incredibly inept "Coldheart Canyon," was nothing but a perverted romp into self-indulgence. But the "Damnation Game" is gripping, tight, and much shorter than the aforementioned door-stoppers, which makes it much more accessible. First and foremost, "Damnation" is disgusting. The Razor-Eater is truly stomach turning, and the various rotten corpses that are ressurected by Mamoulian, the almighty wizard thing, are also barf-worthy. The writing, however, is not. Barker had a knack for putting intellectualism and cultural criticism into his works of horror. Perhaps "Damnation" is about the downfall of corporate society, the domination of greed, and the all-engulfing human desires which rule our lives. Yes, this book is worthy of all different sorts of interpretations, unlike other, more popular horror writers (ahem-StephenKing-ahem!), who just splash blood and profanity on the page without regard to the higher-thinking audience. Barker is an intelligent gore-fiend's author. He's smart but remembers what genre he's working in, thus, how to please his audience. "The Damnation Game" is Barker's best book. His others do not achieve this level of accessibility, intrigue, plot structure, and intelligence, perhaps because they reach too far and end up tripping over the gore-soaked zombie dog.
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Summary: Engrossing but Flawed
Review: I'd give this a 7 out of a 10 point scale. The is an engrossing read but I waited for Barker to give us the backstory and it never comes. It seems to me he wanted to put all these interesting ideas and gross-out scenes of sex and flesh into the story but didn't bother to develop a coherent background to frame all those elements. Yes, there are mutilations aglore; and yes, there are disgusting sex fetishes as many of the reviewers have pointed out, and you can take that as either positive or negative. But Barker never truly explains, to my satisfaction, the hows, whys, or whats of the Mamoulian character and the debt between him and Whitehead. The charater Toy is introduced and developed, then dropped unceremoniously. Another main charater, the Razor-Eater, is involved in an unexlained plot twist at the end. The relationship between him and Mamoulian is never even brought up. They are disappointing flaws. The prose, however, is one aspect that elevates Barker above other "horror/dark fatansy" writers. His descriptive writing is fluid and imaginative. Check out the last few paragraphs of the book to feel the poignancy of the situation.
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Summary: JOIN THE DAMNATION GAME!!
Review: Mr. Barker is indeed the true king of horror. This book was a hard one to put down. Through this book we meet the past of Joseph Whitehead and the game he played years ago with a man named Mammoulian, also known as the "Last European". Caught in between becomes Marty Strauss, who is asked to become Whitehead's bodyguard. Strauss learns his boss' past and learns that it becomes impossible to get out of this game unless someone stops Mammoulian. Mr. Barker once again demonstrated that he knows how to build up a scary book, fuelled with unique characters. I don't think there's no one out there, not even Stephen King, that knows how to imitate him. For anyone who indeed wants to read a good scary book try this book, and believe me, you won't even want to put it down until you read the very last page.VERY RECOMMENDED
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Summary: Pass the Bucket pls... i'm gonna puke
Review: The thing about Barker that really stands out is the quality of his prose. He has a great ability at bringing to life the most complicated imagery in the mind of the reader. In this book he pushes even his own boundaries in trying to shock readers with his horrifying imagery.
Three scenes in particular stood out, once you read these scenes you will probably never forget them, they are fascinating in the most depraved of ways. The first was the toilet scene, a young woman is locked in a toilet and forced to hallucinate by her captor (who controls her pereption of reality through his magic), next she imagines that something is trying to get at her through the toilet, all kinds of filth and vermin spring forth from the toilet, crawling towards her, an arm reaches up through the crap trying to get at her, this scene is just brilliantly described, so visceral it gave me a seriouslky bad nightmare when i first read it! The second scene was the zombie dogs in agony, and their violent euthanasia (hardly appropriate that word) by the story's main hero. The third scene was the woman who was skinned alive by an undead psycho, then resurected as undead and left alone in her apartment to rot, we are treated to glimpses of her malady as she is not aware she is even dead and goes on, day after day, bewildered by the flies that come to visit her, and the mysterious damp patches she sees on the couch when she sits down on it. This is the first Barker book i read, and was my introduction to many of his other stories including Sacrament, Imajica and the Books Of Blood.
I cannot give it five stars much as i would like to, as the ending was dissapointing.
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