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170 reviews for:
The Complete Clive Barker's The Great And Secret Show
Gabriel Rodríguez, Chris Ryall, Clive Barker
3.83 AVERAGE
170 reviews for:
The Complete Clive Barker's The Great And Secret Show
Gabriel Rodríguez, Chris Ryall, Clive Barker
3.83 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Excrement
Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault
As fun as it is, to be grabbed by Clive Barker and taken on a wild adventure where he doesn’t hold back you kind of wish that he would. It’s engaging and entertaining but drawn out and pretentious. Admirably ambitious but frustratingly unpleasant.
A compelling if inconsistent read.
A compelling if inconsistent read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ambitious story line but there were a lot of things that I found gratuitous and unnecessary. When the story started ramping up, I was intrigued, but I ultimately felt a little let down by the last couple hundred pages. It was definitely an adventure of a book though.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Let me start by saying that I have loved everything I have read by Barker, up until right now. I really struggled with this book, for a few different reasons and I almost DNF'd, but I pushed through.
To start, I loved the concept of this book. The idea of quiddity and the dream sea was fascinating to me and truly creative, but the execution really lacked in my opinion.
The writing was Barker and was not bad, but I had a hard time feeling anything at all for the characters and it took me quite some time to even wrap my head around the concept. It was fantastic and out there and very Barker. There were moments of horror and body horror, but there were also some things that just felt out of place. This book is not for the faint of heart. There were many gratuitous sex scenes which normally I wouldn't care about but there were some inserted for shock value and added nothing to this book which was already pushing 700 pages.
The concept alone is what kept me from truly hating this book. I have a mission to read all of Barker's work or I probably would get rid of the sequel which I own.
I do seem to be a minority with this book, most Barker fans loved it, it just wasn't for me.
To start, I loved the concept of this book. The idea of quiddity and the dream sea was fascinating to me and truly creative, but the execution really lacked in my opinion.
The writing was Barker and was not bad, but I had a hard time feeling anything at all for the characters and it took me quite some time to even wrap my head around the concept. It was fantastic and out there and very Barker. There were moments of horror and body horror, but there were also some things that just felt out of place. This book is not for the faint of heart. There were many gratuitous sex scenes which normally I wouldn't care about but there were some inserted for shock value and added nothing to this book which was already pushing 700 pages.
The concept alone is what kept me from truly hating this book. I have a mission to read all of Barker's work or I probably would get rid of the sequel which I own.
I do seem to be a minority with this book, most Barker fans loved it, it just wasn't for me.
The story line was good, but it really kind of dragged in parts. There was just so much going on, which is fine, but I found that I needed a break halfway through this book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes