Reviews - Books of Blood, Volumes 1-3

332 reviews for:

Books of Blood, Volumes 1-3

Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker

4.09 AVERAGE

josephhack's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

o_greenshields's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

shauneebroadley's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I did fall asleep a good few times with this book, I didn’t want to put it down. Though i wont be diving into to read the 2nd book just yet I feel like it was never ending at some points especially in stories I didn’t really care about. Here is a list of my favourite stories from all 3 volumes

vol. 1

The Yattering and Jack

Sex, Death and Starshine

In the Hills, the Cities

vol. 2

Dread

New Murders in the Rue Morgue

vol. 3

Rawhead Rex

Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud

Human Remains

Content Warnings

zorawitchin's review against another edition

4.0

I usually don't say horror is "wouldn't be fucked up if this happened" because there's themes and all that but I will however say that about the work of Clive Barker. and it is fucked up. and it's awesome.

downriotlane's review against another edition

4.0

INCREDIBBBLLEEEEE!!!!!! QUEER AS FUCK AND SO GOOD

rketterer47's review against another edition

4.0

A fantastic collection of short horror stories from one of the absolute masters of the genre.

I started this collection back in April with the HOWL Society and barely managed to keep up through the first two volumes. By Volume 3, I simply needed to take a break. Barker's prose is incredibly rich and his stories have seriously meat to them (heh), they simply should not all be read in a single week.

All 3 volumes showcase Barker's incredible talent, but there were a few stories that really stood out to me.

Midnight Meat Train (vol. 1) - perfect gruesome little cosmic tale
Pig Blood Blues (vol. 1) - what goes around, comes around!
In the Hills, the Cities (vol. 1) - definitely more of a "weird" tale than horror, wonderful imagery
Dread (vol. 2) - an exploration of human fear, this one left me incredibly uncomfortable
Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud (vol. 3) - wicked gross, wicked fun

Overall, Volume 1 definitely felt the strongest, but I enjoyed the time I spent reading all of these. If you're a fan of the dark, the horror, or the weird, I highly recommend checking out Barker's work!

Now I need to find myself a copy of Volumes 4-6!