Despite the fact that everybody thinks of horror and gruesome things hearing or reading the name Clive Barker: this book isn't one-of-those-things. Apparently Barker can write fantasy as well and I must say that it isn't bad. This is my first book I ever read of Barker, but I have seen many movies of him. In any case, I think books go much more along with ideas than movies.
This book is called Imajica, a collection of worlds, and it describes the adventures of
Gentle, Sartori, Judith and Pie'oh'Pah in these worlds. They are capable of travelling
through the Imajica. The Imajica consists of five Dominions, varying from The First to The Fifth,
our world.
As the story unravels itself, it becomes clear that Gentle is supposed to be the Reconciler,
the person to unite the Dominions and make the Imajica whole.
Barker used a lot of paper to explain his story; 854 pages. Of course, that isn't a problem if only Barker would stick to the story. But I noticed that he took too many sideways and that I sometimes lost the meaning of it all. There are too many things happening in the story, and it seems Barker thereby forgot some things. For instance in the first part of the story Gentle is learning certain magical methods and it gives the reader the impression that he will become a wizard of some sort. But Barker seems to forget this once started story line. There are some good things about this book as well: his description of the other worlds is very good and the continuous thread is inventive and nice to read. But Barker could have told it in less than 854 pages I think.
