No comments about THE HUMAN CONDITION (ONE AUDIOCASSETTE).

1 comments about Galilee.

1. Love conquers all in this fascinating tale of two families at war. I was transfixed from page one, always wondering what would happen next, and trying to figure out the riddle of it all. From the Barbosssa house set back among the hills of North Carolina, a man sits down to write a family history. It turns out to be a tale of love and hatred between clans- one a powerful American family(aka the Kennedys), and the other a phsycic, magical, sometimes evil family that has been around since the dawn of time. The two could not exist without each other, but yet one yearns for the destruction of the other. A lovely girl from Ohio is swept off her feet and finds herself emersed in the battle between a man's heart and his soul. I thought this book was brilliantly written as well as a great story.

No comments about Sacrament (Unabridged 14 Audio Tapes).

No comments about Abarat Days of Magic Unabridged Audiobook on Cassette (Abaratt).

5 comments about Abarat.

1. Clive Barker has done an incredible job in writing this book. This book is more imaginative and fantastic than the Harry Potter series. It has everything from wild fantasy, friendship, love, evil, the typical war between good and evil, fairy tale, deception, drama, comedy, etc. I would have given the book 10 stars if that was possible. It is a book which is not to be missed. It grabs you from the start and it is hard to put down. There were supposed to be a number of books to follow this first one and I think he only came out with one sequel. I hope for the sake of the future generations that Mr. Barker will come out with at least a few more sequels.



2. This is the first children's book I have ever read by Clive Barker. I know that he is much more well known for his works of horror. However, I was very impressed by this book.
   
   I listened to this book on audio book. The audio book was very well done. I think the guy who read the audio book must be the same person who read Stephen King's Dark Tower series on audio book. At least they sound very similar since I keep getting flashbacks to when I listened to the Dark Tower; maybe it is just that Clive Barker and Stephen King have a somewhat similar writing style. The only bad thing about listening to this on audio book is that I missed out on all the neat color pictures. I have the paper version at home so I still got to see the pictures, just not while I was reading the book.
   
   The tone of this book reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland and is, initially, a similar premise. Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, MN and, during an assignment for school to write a paper on interesting things in Chickentown (a decidedly uninteresting town), runs into a mystery concerning a man who committed suicide in a hotel room. A strange nautical device is found in the dresser drawer of this hotel room. Candy finds herself obsessing about the symbols on the device. Candy is fed up with her boring life in Chickentown, her beaten down mother, and her abusive father. After a particularly bad scene in class at school, where Candy gets sent to the principals office, Candy decides to just leave school and go walking. She finds herself in a vast prairie outside of Chickentown. While there she runs into an 8 headed man, John Mischief, and ends up helping him to light the lighthouse in the prairie (which Candy thought was an abandoned building). Following some crazy events Candy finds herself swept off to Abarat and swept into a crazy adventure there.
   
   This was a really great book. It is wildly imaginative and full of non-stop action. I loved the way Candy accepted her adventures with ease (since *anything* is better than Chickentown). I also loved the numerous quirky characters that Candy ran into along the way. Candy seems to have a knack for getting people's attention and getting drawn into trouble. There are tons of interesting good and neutral characters in this book. There are also some very interesting villains. The villians in this book are particularly special. There are numerous levels of evil, making you wonder who the *real* villain is. All of the villains have a lot of depth to them, you can see multiple sides to their character. This makes them seem somehow less ultimately evil but more scary and unpredictable.
   
   The description in the book is wonderful. The plotline rolls along gracefully taking Candy from one adventure to the next. Even though many different characters are introduced and interact with Candy, none of it seems forced.
   
   The only disappointment I had with this book was that I thought that the storyline with John Mischeif didn't get much closure; I am sure this storyline will be revisited in the next book. I am also curious as to what is happening back in Chickentown; does Candy's mother know she is missing?
   
   This was a great book. I would read it to slightly older children though since at times it is very violent and it deals with issues of suicide and torture at points. Great book, I am excited to read the next one.
   
   [...]



3. I needed an imaginative fantasy romp, so I just finished Clive Barker's Abarat. It's sort of The Thief of Always (darkish kid's book) meets Weaveworld (for awesome otherworlds). And the thing that makes this book extraordinarily special: color drawings by Barker interspersed throughout the text. In a fantastical world like Abarat, it's immeasurably cool to see a piece of art depicting, say, a Sea-Skipper, sort of an elegant cross between a human and a sea horse, or a crazy island shaped like a man's pointed head.
   
   The heroine, Candy Quakenbush, has an abusive father and an all-around dreary life in Chickentown, MN (guess what the industry is there?). When she's ripped out of her environment and gets swept away on a sea to the magical islands of Abarat, the joy I felt was similar to the relief I felt when Hagrid showed up to take Harry Potter to his first year at Hogwarts. Candy doesn't get a grace period to adjust, though - the bad guys are after her from the start. She's helped by wonderful creatures on various different islands - called The Hours, as each one is locked in a different time of day - and her sense of adventure and loyalty makes her an exciting heroine.
   
   About 3/4 of the way through, I realized there was no way this book would conclude in a neat little package: there's a sequel on the way. It turns out that this is the first of five planned books (the 2nd is already out, so I'm off to the library for it soon...) This will be a fun story to follow in the coming years.



4. When I read this book, I had no real idea what to expect. I had never heard of it, but there was a quote from it in another book that I really enjoyed, so I decided to take a chance.
   
   What I got was amazing. The illustrations by the author, Clive Barker, make the sometimes dream-like aspects come alive. Barker has a great handle on how to word passages to make the scenes seem to jump off the page. This was a very good read and I did not want to put it down once I started.
   
   Perhaps my favorite thing was the unpredictability of it all. I have read many, many books, quite a few from this genre, and after a while you begin to be able to predict what will happen. This book contains some surprises though.
   
   Conclusion: if you read it, you will love it.



5. wow. the paintings were said to have taken 6 years to prepare for the books. i was impressed by the creativity of the world of Abarat. to make up something that big requires a lot of ideas.
   the things i didn't like were: there was too much creativity. i had a hard time keeping track of the characters and their nature as well as the names of the places and the events.
   by the time the second book came out i felt lost i had to flip through book one to catch up. it took me a couple chapters to recall all that had happened in book one. i hope you have a good memory otherwise you will struggle to keep up with Clive Barker.

5 comments about The Thief of Always.

1. The Great Grey Beast of February has imprisoned Harvey Swick and the young boy is bored to death. How will he ever survive that dreadfully dull period between New Year and Easter? Contemplating his misery, Harvey discovers that he is not alone in his room. Indeed a somewhat strange and scrawny figure is standing in the corner. The man makes himself known as Mr. Rictus and invites Harvey to the Holiday House. And true, Harvey does not believe his eyes: the house is filled with all the pleasures a boy can want. Delicious food, many friends, tons of toys, every day Christmas. What more do you need? Of course there is a price to be paid, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by the wonders of the Holiday House, does not stop to consider the consequences. Only when he discovers that he is no longer a guest, but a prisoner does Harvey start to react. But maybe it is already too late...
   
   Clive Barker's first attempt at writing a book for a younger audience does not go by unnoticed. As Clive is known for his very dark and fantastic tales, he indeed uses these talents to draw a magnificent place where many children surely would love to hide. But with the same zeal he deconstructs the dream and craftily let the evil seep into the story. Of course the villains are not as dark and disturbed as in his adult novels, but still he manages to portrait a series of characters that would enjoy taking permanent residence in the dreams of the younger ones.
   
   One critique that might pop up is that the setting of the story is so rich that it begs for more than one episode. After reading the story, so many things are left untold that it leaves you wanting for more. Even the narrative itself is extremely concise with its twenty-six chapters counting on average not more than six pages each. It would probably not have hurt if more details were introduced in order to make the environment even more exciting and colorful. Nevertheless the story is exciting enough to get the stamp of a must-read. And please, do not worry if you think you are too old to read this book. You never are!



2. A ten-year-old boy named Harvey, bored with his life, falls to the wiles of a seductively welcoming being named Rictus, and becomes a guest at a seemingly wondrous place called Holiday House. At Holiday House, each fun-filled day contains four seasons: and seasons at their very best. The springtime which comes each morning ushers in blossoming flowers and explosions of greenery; the summers that fill the afternoons are always those rare perfect kind one experiences but a few times in the school-less, cloud-less summertime of youth; the autumns that ripens as evening sets in sees the trees dyed with bright colors, as the air cools and the breeze smells sweetly of the bounty of unseen fields. And then winter takes over the night, cold, crisp, perfect for sleeping-in or sitting beside a crackling fire. It's all too good to be true---which of course it is.
   
   Clive Barker's dark fantasy, part fairy tale and part horror story, is clearly intended as a vehicle for appreciative adults to rekindle some of the lost themes of childhood, when the world was simultaneously magical and threatening. In this the imaginative Liverpudlian nearly succeeds. The one serious flaw in The Thief of Always is the same one I've found in nearly everything Clive Barker has written, and that is...as best I can describe it...his story lacks a soul. I don't know any other way to put it. This registers in the ease with which Barker's characters can later be put out of mind, and the acceptance one experiences when something terrible happens to someone we've just spent the last however-many pages reading about. I know legions of Barker fans won't agree with me there, but I have always sensed that about Clive Barker's works, be it The Books of Blood, The Damnation Game, Weaveword, Cabal, or even here, in what was mostly a charming, dark little story.
   
   The Thief of Always is good, it's just not THAT good. It's like a trip through a shattered looking glass; it's flat in a few spots, it's neither character nor plot-driven, and it rushes past far too fast in places where I found myself wishing we could linger. Where Bradbury or King might have gotten the dark fantasy elements right in a tale like this and rendered The Thief of Always an everlasting classic, Barker is just not up to the task.



3. Ten-year-old Harvey is bored. He is sitting in his bedroom one February afternoon, watching the rain outside, feeling as bored as he's ever felt. He feels like he might die of boredom. Then, to his surprise, a little person flies through his window. This little man promises Harvey a wonderful vacation where he'll have lots and lots of fun--as long as he doesn't ask any questions. Harvey isn't quite sure about going with the man.
   
   However, a week later, the man shows back up and Harvey decides that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go with him just for a little while. So Harvey walks with him across town through a high wall that isn't really a wall, into a place of magic. Here, at the Holiday House, everyone gives Harvey everything he's ever wanted. Every day holds all of the seasons--in the morning it's like springtime, in the afternoon it's summer, in the early eveing it's fall and time to go trick-or-treating, and in the later evening it's winter and Christmastime. There are two other children there with Harvey--Wendell and Lulu. Lulu, though, has started to go a little bit crazy, so Harvey and Wendell don't spend much time with her.
   
   Harvey intends to only stay at the Holiday House for a few days, but after a couple of reassuring phone calls to his parents when they tell him they want him to stay, he begins to relax. However, he shouldn't relax too much. There are some strange things going on at the Holiday House that aren't fun and exciting. Will Harvey figure out what is going on in time to escape?
   
   I liked the whole idea of the Holiday House--what a perfect vacation spot for little children! I also liked the characters of Rictus, Jive, Marr and Carna. They embodied all characteristics that would be useful for keeping children there. I thought a couple of things weren't believable, though. Harvey seemed to have an undue attachment to Lulu. He barely even knew her, but he was very concerned about her, more so than most ten-year-olds would be. I also didn't buy Harvey's thievery toward the end of the story. It seemed less possible than the rest of the story.



4. Once again Clive Barker has taken me on an amazing journey, perfect for adults and children (10+) alike. Definate recommendation.



5. I've enjoyed other Clive Barker works. Recently a fellow teacher recommended The Thief of Always as a read aloud. I needed something that would keep the students interested and open them up to new ideas. This book fits that bill.
   
   I just finished reading it myself and I can't wait to read it to them. I was hanging on every chapter; I think the students will be as well.

5 comments about Imajica.

1. Although Imajica is a tome of a novel, the story itself is as good as almost any I have ever read. With magnificent settings and all sorts of bizarre creatures, it was definitely an enjoyable read. Clive Barker does tend to play up a theme of love and libido quite a bit too much for my liking, which at times I thought took away from some of the story.
   
   This edition comes with a glossary of pictures and sketches in the back which added a bit more culture and mystery to its story. I also noticed a similarity between this novel and Roger Zelazny's Amber series, which is another enormous epic written about 15 years prior to Imajica and probably a good bet if you are looking for a similar style of story.
   
   Good for any age-group I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am definitely interested in reading more by Barker in the future.



2. Having read almost everything that Clive Barker has written thus far, I will admit that Imajica contains many elements that seem to echo in several of his books; Weaveworld,The Great and Secret Show/Everville,and most recently the Abarat series. However, this does not detract in any way from the intricately woven story of Imajica. In fact, I think it is in this book that the author finally finds the scope to perfect the "genre" that can only be described as Clive Barker - the mix of the mundane, the fantastical, the horrific and the surreal, blended seamlessly together to create a captivating story that resonates within the soul of the reader. Imajica isn't the easiest to read for many people, mainly because there are so many characters and sub-plots intertwined that it is easy for the reader to lose sight of the story's core and get lost in the minutiae. But I promise you that if you go into the book with an open mind and without preconcieved notions of what a "Clive Barker" novel should be like, you will be rewarded with a most excellent reading experience. I have read the book at least 3 times now and each time find a new gem hidden in plain sight, and have discovered new levels of depth with each reading. It is fantasy, horror, philosophy, theology, theosophy all rolled into one, and John "Gentle" Furie Zacharias is one of the most memorable characters in Barker's worlds.
   
   I take issue with those people who complain about the book being "aimless" or "meandering" - as in any story, there is a time for action and a time for reflection. If you are the type of reader who needs the action to be non-stop and in your face in order to keep your attention, you may be missing many opportunities to discover a truly magical and engaging reading experience. Give it the chance it deserves!!



3. This book made me want to start reading again. Don't be turned off by the length of this book, it is so epically beautiful and magical that it is a true page turner. I fell in love with the main characters Gentle and Pie-oh-pah. I didn't want the book to end. The only exposure I had to Clive Barker before this book was watching Hellraiser. After reading this book I am now hooked and I'm going to check out Thief of Always next.
   
   The writing style is definitely British, but not pretentious. The fantasy aspect is dark and twisted and I really bought in to the five dominion premise. I really love books that create their own mythology like this one. I can't recommend this book enough, I can't believe how long it took me to discover this treasure!



4. I like Clive Barker even though he veers from great to great stinker. The Imajica characters act in unimaginable ways. They seem driven by an unrealistic soul that is impractical and childish. The plot is driven by the characters' need for drama when none is needed. They become tedious and fastidious. The book is melodramatic and everyone is a drama queen looking for attention.



5. I own most of Clive Barker's work, this one is by far my favorite, and the one I most often loaned out. It seemed like the Lord of the Rings of horror books, styled similarly to Weaveworld. It's not for everyone and does take some time to get through, but worth every second invested. I'll be buying another copy since mine got lost on a loan ;(

5 comments about The Inhuman Condition.

1. Again, I love Clive Barker. His work is just awe-inspiring. This collection borders on classic in the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Poe. Shoot, it doesn't just border, it crosses over. These stories will be remembered years to come, mark my words. Clive Barker is genius. His work is the real deal, he cannot be immitated. His craft is so incredible. The stories are horrifying, gruesome, and beautiful. The Body politic is terrifying as is the title story about a knot and the demons that hell unleashes when the knot is undone. This is great stuff. Why can't all authors have this ambition?



2. This is a horribly written piece of garbage. Why it was published is a mystery to me. It needs to be proofread, spellchecked and re written. Th stories are nonsensical gross-outs that go nowhere and leave the reader feeling unsatisfied. This is pure bush league. What an embarrassment to literature. Try Stephen King for sophisticated, interesting horror.



3. God, just talking about The Inhuman Condition makes me itch to read it all over again for the tenth time. Clive Barker, especially early Barker like In The Flesh, The Inhuman Condition & The Books Of Blood are so righteously killer, I can't help but re-reading them whenever I get the chance. Talk about visionary horror, Clive Barker turned the entire Horror Genre upside down with his fiction. Inventive, clever, well-written & above all, original, he was like the new incarnation of H.P. Lovecraft. Genius.
   
   The Inhuman Condition consists of five novellas:
   
   The Inhuman Condition: Some hoods roll a drunk and steal something very precious. A piece of rope with three knots in it. Nothing special, right? Well...once you untie the knots, something comes into being. Something terrible. Great story.
   
   The Body Politic: Charlie has the strangest thoughts. He thinks his hands are planning a revolt, plotting against him and the whole human race. Crazy, right? Well...when he wakes up to find that his hands have strangled his wife, he's not so sure any more. Another great, original story.
   
   Revelations!: A modern day ghost story with a small twist. An evangelsit and his troupe check into a motel where a murder most foul had taken place...so do the deceased couple, for they're there to recreate the murder or try and reconcile, who can tell. Witty and strange. Clive keeps us enthralled.
   
   Down, Satan: The only detraction from the book's brilliance. A rather short story about a man who wants to hang with Satan so he builds Hell on earth just for that very purpose. Bizare and dark, never really takes off as a full story.
   
   The Age Of Desire: Weird. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I think about this story. A group of scientists are doing experiments with hallucinogenic love drugs. The results are very interestng. Probably the most pornographic of all the stories. This one will make you wonder what really churns through Clive Barker's brain.
   
   Overall, an excellent incarnation of horror. Buy it, read it, love it.
   
   Dig it!



4. There are some blood tales in this book.Let me cut to the chase.
   1)The body politic.
   A very simple story.In a world where our hands have a mind of their own,one man's hand seeks to take over the world!(I know this sounds dumb,but the story is quite good.)
   
   2)The inhuman condition.
   A guy and his friends beat up a vagrant for fun,stealing from him a piece of knotted rope...
   That same day, the guy who took the knotted rope from the vagrant,begins to unravel it.With the unravelling of the rope his friends suddenly start to die out,one by one...And a lot of evil starts to be unleashed.The same vagrant whom was a victim has to help the guy battle this evil.
   
   3)Revelations.
   Now this is a very fascinating story.A pastor and his wife goes to a motel,for some kind of vacation.The room in which they are staying was the scene of a murder.
   In this room the ghosts terrorize the couple.
   
   4)Down satan.
   In this story a guy builds a place for satan on earth.A very short story.(not one of my favourite)
   
   5)The age of desire.
   A very good story.In this story,a victim of an Aphrodisaic experiment run away from the lab and starts to uncontrollably have sex with people...But then he soon starts to rape and murder people and things start to get nasty...
   
   
   An overall fairly interesting book.I would recommend it....enjoy...Nigel.



5. This is a good collection of creepy stories. As usual, Clive Barker delivers wild images, exciting plots and impactful language. The story about the hands is particularly creepy and memorable. If you're new to Clive Barker, start with one of his full-length books and try the short stories later. Full-length character development is where he really shines. If you already love his writing, you'll enjoy these dark tales.
   
   AUDIO VERSION - I'm sorry for Clive Barker that this audio book was performed and directed so poorly. Dillinger Steele mispronounces 50 or so words narrating this short collection. If you love the English language and Barker's beautiful prose, you'll cringe listening to Dillinger Steele mangle it.

5 comments about Everville.

1. I never intended to review this book, partly because tons of people have done it already, and partly because this was a book I read on my "leisure time", that is, time when I wasn't reading review copies that different publishers had sent me.
   
   But hey, it's Clive Barker, and I since he's the greatest author alive today I figured I at least had to say a word or two about Everville.
   
   Just read it. It's that simple. You'll understand and appreciate it a whole lot more if you first read The Great and Secret Show - since that's the first book in the Trilogy about the Art - but if you're unable to find it you still better not pass on Everville.
   
   Because it's Clive Barker, and Clive Barker knows how to write. So go get it. Now.



2. I love Clive Barker and I am getting ready to go pick up his second book Everville. I just saw a question on here about the third book and thought I would give everyone a heads up.
   
   It appears the third book is not out yet and will not neccessarily be out any time soon. Please see the following link for his reasoning for this http://www.clivebarker.dial.pipex.com/newbooksb.html
   
   In a nutshell he says that the last book will be a monster and that it takes time to prepare to write this type of book. It also says that he has other series going on as well that take time. Too many ideas running through his head and that he needs to clone himself. Anyway - take a look at the link if you are interested but he says that he promises it will be out before the end of this century.....
   
   Happy reading!



3. "Everville" (also the name of the town where the book takes place) is the sequel to Clive Barkers wild, ground breaking "The Great and Secret Show". Everville is at the heart of the magical war over Quiddity, the powerful dream sea of an ethereal world that interacts with our physical world. The characters from the first book are back (like the McGuire and Telsa), and we also meet new, really interesting ones too, like Phoebe Cobb and her lover Joe, along with teenager Seth. Plus a larger role for Barker regular Harry D'Amour. There is also a lot of new feral monsters and new bad guys to contend with. There is a lot of magic and mystical in this. "Everville" is not a very scary horror book; but it is a huge, epic fantasy. It is pretty original, I haven't read anything like this before, and I am hard pressed to find anyone who can write this big of scope credibly now. I realize this is a short review, but you must take my word for it, it is a great read. The only thing is that if your easily offended at a rather liberal use of religious figures, you may not be very forgiving at Barker's use. Also his view of small town America is a little off, but what do you expect, he's British. I can's wait for the next book, if Mr. Barker is ever planning another one.



4. If you're at all interested in the world of comparative mythology and it's connection to psychoanalysis, or even the world of fantasy and the occult, you'll love this book. More than anything it's relentlessly engaging. At several turns it's romantic, horroriffic, erotic, mystifying, etc. A story that delves into the idea of a world beyond worlds. A story of dream and fantasy. I guarantee it's well worth the read. Best of all, this book stands on its own...meaning you don't have to read the first installment of the book, "The Great And Secret Show: The First Book Of The Art".



5. Didn't really enjoy this at all, compared to the other Barker books. This is pretty much when I stopped reading him, in general. A quite disappointing book after the other work I had enjoyed reading in the past. Hard to put the figure on quite why, but it could well be that there are just not enough monsters.

5 comments about Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story.

1. This is the first Clive Barker novel I read. I hated it. It reads like it's a pure Hollywood story. Also, the events in the story are so nonsensical, I couldn't help but continuously think, "This is stupid."
   
   I love horror novels, but this isn't much of a horror novel. I'll never read another Clive Barker book.
   
   Added on 2007/03/24: I forgot to mention. This book is huge. 686 pages. At around 3 different points in the book, I thought, "Ok now it should end." Yet it kept dragging on. Bleah.
   
   I can't recommend this book for anyone. I guess diehard Barker fans would like it.



2. Not a masterpiece, not incredibly awful---just a mildy entertaining piece of fluff. It occurred to me early on that this book is nothing but a beach read. There's nothing here to challenge your mind. Good book for a long train ride or the ICU waiting room.



3. This is the first Barker book I've ever read. I understand that some people think its far too sexually graphic at times, but I don't think that those scenes really distract too much from the larger story. The first few chapters are slow... dead dog, face lift, etc. But once Todd gets to Coldheart Canyon, the story really starts moving. I read in two days at work. I found it engaging and I was almost sad to finish it. Its a good book, and it even rekicked my love of silent films.
   
   I'm giving Barker another go, with 'The Inhuman Condition' this time.



4. Before this book came out, I was begining to believe that Clive Barker was past his prime. I enjoyed the Books of Blood through Sacrament, and then I waited a long time for Galilee, wich was good, but not quite as good as the rest of his work. Thankfully, Coldheart Canyon blew me away.
   
   There was good reason to believe that this tale of hedonism in the early age of Hollywood was going to be another soap-opera like the previous book. It was nerver wrecking to think that maybe he was just going to re-hash some of his ideas of fetishism with a bit of hollywood gossip tabloid drivel.
   
   I was not expecting such a powerful and surreal experience. There are scenes here that are so suspenseful the hairs on the back of my neck were raising. The monsters, ghosts, and wonders here rival anything that he has written before. The parts of the story that deal with "the hunt" are downright nasty. Meanwhile, the celebration of the hollywood ghosts are so surreal and beatiful in their dark way. Never before have I met such a seductive and evil bad-girl as Katya, she could teach the sisters from Weaveworld about cruelty.
   
   This is a long book, but it rewards heavily. There is no one in any genre who writes storys as complex and imaganative as Clive Barker. These images and characters will be in your head for a while. As this stroy builds to it's climax, it will have you gripping the pages so hard the circulation will be cut off from your fingers. When the revelations hit, as all the plotlines converge and things click, your mind will be blown.
   
   A powerful performance that is somehow very underrated. I reccomend it to all fiction readers that have an open mind. Those looking for another Stephen King knock-off might want to pass.



5. i just finished clive barker's coldheart canyon and i wasnt disappointed. i must agree with other readers and say that it was about 100 or more pages too long (unimportant or nonrelevent information), but all in all i wasnt ready for the story to be over when i finished it. it took me about 3 days to read it; when i would start again i didnt want to put it down. it does have a lot of sexually explicit language and scenes throughout the story so if youre weary of those types of reads then i would pick something else (i like those types of reads myself so i thoroughly enjoyed it). i also didnt find it at all scary, frightening or suspenseful either, but like i said i liked the story and in a couple-few years i'll probably pick it up and read it again for old times sake.