Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Scarlet Gospels

Fully went into this thinking it was a sequel to Hellbound Heart when really, it’s got one character (Pinhead and he sucks ass in this book) from the book and then it’s all about Harry D’Amour. Whom is he? No clue, idk that man. I finished it but I hated every second of it.

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lancemama's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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foodberries's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Took a little bit to get going and extremely graphic, but then that's why I love Clive Barker.

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chasingpages1's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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islabjb's review against another edition

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

If you watch Saw 3 high on Benadryl while someone explains the Protestant Reformation to you- you will have a similar experience to reading this book.

Is this book at all related to the Hellbound Heart? No. Is it related to the Hellraiser films? No. Is Kirsty Cotton in it? No. Does this book tell you that Lucifer’s favorite food is pizza? Yes. I considered giving up on this book many times mostly because the first 40% is totally inconsequential to the plot and is just gore for seemingly the sake of being gorey. Pinhead is a totally different character from the movies and first book. I don’t think he is Elliot Spencer in this version because I don’t know what cannon this book follows, but the movie and hellbound heart ‘hell priest’ had a moral code, that was his whole shtick, you open the box- he’ll mess with you otherwise he doesn’t care. This Pinhead just tortures people for no reason, and his actions are inconsequential- by the end he is able to escape death/the devil, and seemingly manifest himself anywhere (not manifest himself with the bells and the lament configuration like previously but just randomly show up behind the protagonists) that is convenient. I know that we are all supposed to worship Clive Barker as this horror god and I do believe he has done a lot of the genre but this wasn’t it.

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existential_dreadnought's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Took about two thirds of the book for the characters to become likeable, rather than just seeming forced caricatures.

The body horror, while expected in this, just dragged on and felt pointless much of the time.

I found myself just hoping it would be over soon.

It wasn't awful, but simply didn't hold a candle to the author's early works.

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theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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