The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

His other books include Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, The Thief of Always, Abarat, and Galilee, among others. He rose to prominence in the 1980s with the bestselling Books of Blood, which established him as an icon of the horror genre. I really liked Imajica, Weaveworld and The Damnation game, but this story got way out of hand to my taste.Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. If this book were a film would you go see it? Having said that, Chet Williamson has a rather monotone and sonore voice and does not differentiate much betwwn characters. I never listen to books, narrated by American speakers, but I'll conceed that a story like this, wholy based in the US, needs a native US narrator, rather than a Brit. What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)ĭid Chet Williamson do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How? This one didn't, be it the story or the American drawl I just zoomed out and whole passages passed me by. I listened to a couple, narrated by some British narrators and they pulled me right in.

Would you try another book written by Clive Barker or narrated by Chet Williamson? All of Clive Barker's books feature byzantine plots which are constructed of layered subplots and because they're so epic sometimes they aren't as satisfying as other books. I like them both but Barker has the edge. Clive Barker's world building talent leaves Gaiman in the dust.

Gaiman has a world-class storytelling talent that Barker can't quite match. But he's far darker, less precious, and more interesting. Clive Barker reminds me of Neil Gaiman in idiom and diction. His tone is pleasant and his delivery smooth. Chet Williamson does a superb job differentiating the characters so you always know who's speaking. The final scene in Trinity is well worth the effort. I became a fan of Clive Barker after reading Weaveworld, which is my favorite, and I enjoyed this book when I read it. I read this book in print when it first was released in 1989. Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you? However, the plot of the book is intricate and extremely complex, and may take multiple readings to get it all.Īll the scenes that deal with the Art and its background. Of course, the romance is the counterpoint to that, and necessary for the book, but it didn't interest me as much. I liked the frame story best, the Jaff and his eternal conflict with Fletcher. The story is great, the narrator is superb. Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker