Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Demononic, 1 Nov 2008
This has the themes of war between Heaven and Hell, angels and demons, good and evil. It's narrated by a medieval demon from the Ninth Circle of Hell and is set in the 1400s. It's blood thirsty, vicious and gruesome to read, but strangely addictive. Constantly being told to stop reading and burn the book was annoying until I realised that this was the whole point of the tale and was a gimmick to emphasise what words can achieve and the changes they can effect on the world. I felt the story was a little slow at times but a brilliant innovation, nonetheless. Maybe if Barker had made the book a little longer and expanded on the demon's adventures I would have enjoyed this more. As it stands, it's not what I have come to expect from Barker and so was slightly disappointed.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startlingly Original, 31 Oct 2007
I have to confess, I loved this book - I read it through in one sitting as soon as it arrived at my door. I've been a huge Barker fan since the Books of Blood, and have enjoyed everything he's put out. My 6-year-old daughter and I are eagerly awaiting book III of the Abarat, so we know what happens next, and I personally cannot wait for the Scarlet Gospels to finally see the light of day. So I saw this as a light interlude in between his magnum opuses (opi?), which is pretty much as he intended it to be.
Sure, it's not got the depth of mythology or context that Damnation Game or Weaveworld has, or the dazzling scope of Imajica, but fr me, it's still a startlingly original book. When was the last time the book wasnt' just told from the eyes of a central protagonist, but WAS the central protagonist? The juxtaposition of the story being told (admittedly a fairly thin story, but in keeping with the minor nature of the character in the first place) with the conversations with the reader had me enthralled. The writing was descriptive enough to have the images come to life in my imagination, and the character of the titular demon came through with every word.
To counter my enjoyment of the book, I will say that when my partner read it, she found the constant jumping out of the story into the plea bargaining with the reader jarring and disconnecting - she just wanted to get on wth the story. For me, though, I read it almost as a prose version f the Usual Suspects in style, with an almost stream of consciousness narrative going on, complete with breaks and side tracks along the way.
Hugely enjoyable, and I would recommend it to others - though not necessarily as their first Barker book.
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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mister B Gone - Mister F Off more like!, 27 Nov 2007
Phew! At long last: Barker gives back to his adult audience! You know: the people who bought all of his books to begin with - that would be you and me, right? (not that I dislike Abarat, but come on - 5 books!!!!!) So I bet, like me, you sat down in your comfy chair with this book in your hands (probably wishing the blumin thing was 4 times as big and across the front declared itself as: "The Third Book of the Art") and relished the fact that you were about to plunge into the obscure yet sublime; gritty yet poetic world of Clive Barker.
I'm not sure when the fever of expectation and delirium of excitement died from my face, but I'm guessing it was around page 10...not that I disliked the book, I was just disappointment. Clive is a profligate author, which is why I cannot countenance a book by him that's so obviously an unfinished piece of work. He buys himself out of explaining multiple facets of this story by using such cheap tricks as having Jakabok, the narrator, explain that he is not a story teller so therefore don't expect everything to be explained!!!! That would be fine if there was enough meat elsewhere to sink your teeth into, but this "runt of a book" (as Jakabok himself calls it) is too thin for its own anorexic good. The short stories and novelettes Clive's given us in the past (Books of Blood) have been excellent and upon finishing them seem complete. This however, just left me feeling that Clive could have expanded upon the story, enhancing what is a great idea, and annoyed as to why he didn't. I mean come on, if he can pad Coldheart Canyon out from a short story to the beefy tome it developed into, why not Mister B. Gone?
This book does have good points - of course - it's Clive - how could it not! But a Demon getting out of a rubbish strewn circle of hell by being baited by steak and beer?? Come on, that's just - well, weird - but not in a good way. Demon then gets flogged and gets helped by another demon called Quitoon (Kissoon, anyone?). But where does Quitoon come from? What's his story - Jakabok travels centuries with this demon; even falls in love with him (yes, the demon is gay) so why do we get absolutely no insight into Quitoon? Oh yea, Jakabok isn't a story teller - great! It's a big hurdle for me because, to be honest, I was a lot more interested in Quitoon than I was Jakabok.
So the good bits: narrator interaction is good and raised a few shivers down my spine - having a demon say that he's following my eyes as they scan the words, and for every page I turn he was taking a step closer to me, were interesting and, in the case of the latter, almost made me look behind me...I know!!!
When Quitoon and Jakabok travel to Mainz theres a moment when they're on a road between corn fields and for some reason this scene sticks with me -very atmospheric. And when Jakabok gets to Mainz the war betwixt heaven and hell is expressed in a suitably horrific, yet poetic way.
I think it's fair to say that the further I got into this book the more I enjoyed it - so it's comforting to think Clive can still work his magic, however, when I'd finished reading I was left feeling: so what was the point? First time with a Barker book and I'm hoping it was the last...worth a look if you approach with low expectations.
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