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A review by allowvera
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
3.0
Oof, this is a hard book to rate. I love the Hellraiser film and so I decided to pick this up. While, it didn't disappoint it is worth noting it is nothing like the film. After doing research, since this book thoroughly confused the hell out of me at first, apparently Barker doesn't like to stick to the lore he creates so every book/series you pick up about either the Cennobite/Pinhead will be a little bit different.
That being said, this was a pretty cool book in the end but dear God did it take for fucking ever to get there (hence the 3 star rating). At first it feels excessively grotesque like Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem" but in reality I would say it compares closer to an Anne Rice gothic feel without actually being it. I am sure there is a better way to describe it but my baby brain is allowing me to come up with it...
If you can trudge through the first third of the book and get past the weird set up to the story with no explanation, it begins to piece together and present a pretty unique hellscape full of disturbing imagery, imaginative magic, and naked 8 foot tall Lucifer.
*Trigger warning for those who may need it, it does contain rape. It isn't particularly gratuitous or heavily described but it is there quite a few times none the less. *
That being said, this was a pretty cool book in the end but dear God did it take for fucking ever to get there (hence the 3 star rating). At first it feels excessively grotesque like Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem" but in reality I would say it compares closer to an Anne Rice gothic feel without actually being it. I am sure there is a better way to describe it but my baby brain is allowing me to come up with it...
If you can trudge through the first third of the book and get past the weird set up to the story with no explanation, it begins to piece together and present a pretty unique hellscape full of disturbing imagery, imaginative magic, and naked 8 foot tall Lucifer.
*Trigger warning for those who may need it, it does contain rape. It isn't particularly gratuitous or heavily described but it is there quite a few times none the less. *