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A review by michael_benavidez
Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three by Clive Barker
4.0
I reread this, and while I maintain that this is still very much a wonderful piece of grotesquery that sets the imagination ablaze with some really beautiful/disgusting things, I realized something.
Barker's prose can be very dry and detached at times. When it came to the characters it always felt like we were at arms length from them. It was like at any moment they can and will suffer, which helped to put us on edge, but also made me not care for anyone when they died. This wasn't true for all the stories, but it's what I got from most.
The parts he does excel in is the atmosphere, and unpleasantness of the gore. Because while it should be unpleasant, his ability to create some vivid imagery with the prose makes for some wonderfully beautiful moments. He does very well fusing beauty and lust with gore and despicable things.
Not to mention, the things he comes up with just blow my mind. In the City, In the Hills is one of the most beautifully haunting and just flat out unthought of. It's what makes the highlight out of all these stories.
Barker's prose can be very dry and detached at times. When it came to the characters it always felt like we were at arms length from them. It was like at any moment they can and will suffer, which helped to put us on edge, but also made me not care for anyone when they died. This wasn't true for all the stories, but it's what I got from most.
The parts he does excel in is the atmosphere, and unpleasantness of the gore. Because while it should be unpleasant, his ability to create some vivid imagery with the prose makes for some wonderfully beautiful moments. He does very well fusing beauty and lust with gore and despicable things.
Not to mention, the things he comes up with just blow my mind. In the City, In the Hills is one of the most beautifully haunting and just flat out unthought of. It's what makes the highlight out of all these stories.