staircasewitch 's review for:

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

2.0

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Man, I like Barker, but he's tedious when he's this indulgent. The book could've been a third of the length and lose nothing meaningful; we spend hundreds of pages with people who simply aren't very interesting, and the middle 300 is a rambling, tenuous bridge between the story's otherwise inventive beginning and end.

The finale's a satisfying spectacle, though, even if it doesn't quite excuse the hike.