The Fifth Dominion (Imajica, Book 1)

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Summary: The power of love
Review: When Judith's estranged husband hires a mysterious assassin to kill his wife, he unwittingly sets in motion a sequence of events that will change all the dominions of the Imajica, of which Earth is the fifth. Both Judith and her former lover John "Gentle" Zacharias are drawn into the mysteries as the assassin Pie 'oh' Pah leads them both forward to remembering their origins and connections to each other and to the ruler of the other dominions, the Autarch. Judith's journey veers from Gentle's when she finds evidence of buried and suppressed goddesses on Earth and in the other dominions. But the Autarch has domination plans of his own, and he won't be stopped without drawing blood first. "Imajica" is essentially about healing, and about love. Gentle is a broken man, a habitual womanizer, who's brought to a place of healing through his relationship with Pie 'oh' Pah, a mystif with the power to change sex according to another's true desires. Judith is claimed by many men, but she battles this ownership, and must find her own way and rely on her own strength if she's to assist in bringing the dominions back together. And ultimately it's in Judith's hands whether this healing of the Imajica comes about or fails yet again. It's a gorgeous epic fantasy that soars to a reader's heart, and once there plants a seed of imagining the world as a better place, much as Gentle and Judith do. This is one of my favorite all-time books. I feel so wordless in attempting to describe it.

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Summary: You will like imajica if...
Review: You will love imajica if you have one simple virtue: AN ATTENTION SPAN. Most people who don't like this book think it takes too long or the plot doesn't make sense so they don't read the second book. But how can you expect it to make sense unless you FINISH the story.
Anyway, if you actually commit to the whole book and have patience, things WILL make sense for the most part. The story comes together wonderfully and if you like this story, you should definitely check out barker's books of the art (The Great and Secret show and Everville).... and vice verse.