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Imajica #1
The Fifth Dominion
The magical tale of ill-fated lovers lost among worlds teetering on the edge of destruction, where their passion holds the key to escape. There has never been a book like Imajica. Transforming every expectation of fantasy fiction with its heady mingling of radical sexuality and spiritual anarchy, it has carried its millions of readers into regions of passion and philosophy that few books have even attempted to map. It's an epic in every way; vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. A book of erotic mysteries and perverse violence. A book of ancient, mythological landscapes and even more ancient magic.
544 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Clive Barker
672 books14.4k followersClive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
May 24, 2021
25%.
Abandonado.
Me aburro.
No escribe mal pero me aburro.
La historia no es mala pero me aburro.
Me aburro ( y sé que tengo uno de Andy Weir en espera).
Ahí se queda, todo vuestro.
Abandonado.
Me aburro.
No escribe mal pero me aburro.
La historia no es mala pero me aburro.
Me aburro ( y sé que tengo uno de Andy Weir en espera).
Ahí se queda, todo vuestro.
June 4, 2016
Lo primero: qué agradable cuando se comienzan esas novelas tan bien escritas que su sola lectura es un placer, y donde para los lectores que preferimos el español, se descubre una traducción igual de cuidadosa.
Ahora la historia: el relato es realmente excepcional, de una originalidad extraordinaria, no repite ninguno de los tópicos del género. La evolución de los acontecimientos y los personajes son de una fluidez realmente fascinante, adentrando al lector en un entorno místico y sensual, con una carga emocional muy fuerte y una atmósfera poderosamente absorbente. Debo reconocer que hacia la mitad del libro, cuando se empieza a desentrañar el misterio, hay un cambio que me desconcertó un poco, ya que desde un entorno misterioso, sugerente y conocido, de pronto te ves arrojado a un universo que sólo habría podido desplegar la imaginación de Barker. Pero sólo son los reparos de cualquier lector, que como yo, sólo se había aproximado a fantasías comunes en este género.
Y el final: no hay final. Barker advierte en el prólogo que Imajica se editó en dos volúmenes (El Quinto Dominio y La Reconciliación) exclusivamente para comodidad del lector, admitiendo que el libro nunca fue creado para publicarse de esta manera. Así, el lugar elegido para dividir la historia carece de cualquier significado particular; se limita a partir el texto por la mitad, en un sitio en que se pueda dejar un tomo y, si la historia ha obrado su magia, coger el siguiente. En mi caso, la magia ha dejado estragos, por lo que ya tengo en la mira Imajica: la reconciliación.
Ahora la historia: el relato es realmente excepcional, de una originalidad extraordinaria, no repite ninguno de los tópicos del género. La evolución de los acontecimientos y los personajes son de una fluidez realmente fascinante, adentrando al lector en un entorno místico y sensual, con una carga emocional muy fuerte y una atmósfera poderosamente absorbente. Debo reconocer que hacia la mitad del libro, cuando se empieza a desentrañar el misterio, hay un cambio que me desconcertó un poco, ya que desde un entorno misterioso, sugerente y conocido, de pronto te ves arrojado a un universo que sólo habría podido desplegar la imaginación de Barker. Pero sólo son los reparos de cualquier lector, que como yo, sólo se había aproximado a fantasías comunes en este género.
Y el final: no hay final. Barker advierte en el prólogo que Imajica se editó en dos volúmenes (El Quinto Dominio y La Reconciliación) exclusivamente para comodidad del lector, admitiendo que el libro nunca fue creado para publicarse de esta manera. Así, el lugar elegido para dividir la historia carece de cualquier significado particular; se limita a partir el texto por la mitad, en un sitio en que se pueda dejar un tomo y, si la historia ha obrado su magia, coger el siguiente. En mi caso, la magia ha dejado estragos, por lo que ya tengo en la mira Imajica: la reconciliación.
September 11, 2015
I first read Imajica maybe a dozen years ago, and i remembered liking it a lot at the time, but you know, sometimes tastes change. However, i was in the mood for a huge freaky epic reading experience, so i thought i might give it a second whirl, and i'm SO glad i did. I'm enjoying it just as much this time around as i did the first time. Barker's imagination is vast and bizarre in all the best ways. And we need more mystifs here in the Fifth Dominion, or maybe we just need to love the ones we have with a little more kindness. Bring on Book 2!
October 21, 2008
For some reason, Clive Barker always takes me forever to read. I think he gets a bit lost in descriptives for my taste. Which isn't to say I don't like his writing, it just doesn't speak to me as much as others. This particular story was apparently chopped in half because of the size of the paperback and print involved in the whole story. Oddly enough, it seems as if the plot could easily be summed up in the next hundred pages from the end that part one had. But I guess that brings us back to the issue of description. Anyway, I can pretty much see where he's going with the plot, but will someday pick up the second half and finish it
January 7, 2024
enfin ! enfin, enfin, enfin !
je connais clive davantage pour son travail au cinéma, mais ça faisait longtemps que je voulais me plonger dans son oeuvre littéraire. avec foucault, c'est un des auteurs que j'avais le plus hâtes de lire. lol esti que ça sonne poseur. mais comme je dis pas que j'aime foucault à ce point-là ! wo ! anyway, le rapport de clive à la différence, aux corps, à leur sexualité et leur queerness m'a toujours profondément touché. j'vibe beaucoup de trop avec ces images. autant cinématographiques que littéraires. je suis d'emblé pas le plus grand fan du fantastique, mais dans son cas ça fonctionne. ça me rappelle aussi qu'on devrait peut-être arrêter de se pâmer collectivement sur l'oeuvre de tolkien et du dude des dragons avec l'émission à hbo pis s'intéresser un peu plus à clive. show some love. peut-être que ça aiderait d'autres que moi à réaliser – plus rapidement – que le fantastique ça se limite pas aux nains, aux elfes pis aux dragons. t'sais, c'est le fun LotR, mais est-ce que ça nous éclaire vraiment sur notre présent ?
je connais clive davantage pour son travail au cinéma, mais ça faisait longtemps que je voulais me plonger dans son oeuvre littéraire. avec foucault, c'est un des auteurs que j'avais le plus hâtes de lire. lol esti que ça sonne poseur. mais comme je dis pas que j'aime foucault à ce point-là ! wo ! anyway, le rapport de clive à la différence, aux corps, à leur sexualité et leur queerness m'a toujours profondément touché. j'vibe beaucoup de trop avec ces images. autant cinématographiques que littéraires. je suis d'emblé pas le plus grand fan du fantastique, mais dans son cas ça fonctionne. ça me rappelle aussi qu'on devrait peut-être arrêter de se pâmer collectivement sur l'oeuvre de tolkien et du dude des dragons avec l'émission à hbo pis s'intéresser un peu plus à clive. show some love. peut-être que ça aiderait d'autres que moi à réaliser – plus rapidement – que le fantastique ça se limite pas aux nains, aux elfes pis aux dragons. t'sais, c'est le fun LotR, mais est-ce que ça nous éclaire vraiment sur notre présent ?
February 21, 2023
Bylo to narocne narocne a chci si to precist znovu abych si to vice uzil - zacal jsem se chytat za pulkou knihy 😂 a hura na druhy dil …
September 14, 2014
My impressions trim to this: vast talent strained against overkill. “Family Guy” cartoonist Seth McFarlane leaps to mind. Both are boundlessly creative. Minute intricacy of settings is astounding. Vocabulary is elevated, with thought-stirring eloquence even in a bizarre concert of words denoting squalor. I grant three stars because the portions in which Clive excels, are staggeringly original. Both men amount to visionaries but topple the tower of cards with grotesque missteps. I was outraged when Clive incorporated - not serving the crux of this story in any way - violation of a child! Not sidelined but described! This would merit a zero grading, if I didn’t credit the skill elsewhere. That went too far, Clive.
Crafting a quintupled realm, how to move between them, sociology spurring them, are impressively achieved. Clive reinvented fantasy fiction, when new combinations are scarcely imaginable. It is commonly medieval but Clive presents modern Earth. There’s no travel and few alien traces, until 60% through. Droppers of books that aren’t instantly active, would miss the best attributes. I noticed employment of “he said”; when “he ASKED” should succeed the interrogative. Lovemaking in literature is fine and advocacy of pleasure heedless of gender. Ceaseless fixation on nakedness confiscated too many pages, making the revolutionary quest and compelling mystical dynamics secondary.
There was excess overall, such as scenes allocated to trivial characters, even unwarranted imagery of peeing. The rule “drop 10% in a final draft”, would tighten this novel by 41 pages fewer. Settling on the three protagonists - Judith, John, Pie - is slow. There were personages I preferred to them who vanished! However, I’m keen to read part two. I want to learn the pasts Judith and John forgot, if Goddesses overthrow the warring males, and if Earth forges a thoroughfare to the other four dominions.
Crafting a quintupled realm, how to move between them, sociology spurring them, are impressively achieved. Clive reinvented fantasy fiction, when new combinations are scarcely imaginable. It is commonly medieval but Clive presents modern Earth. There’s no travel and few alien traces, until 60% through. Droppers of books that aren’t instantly active, would miss the best attributes. I noticed employment of “he said”; when “he ASKED” should succeed the interrogative. Lovemaking in literature is fine and advocacy of pleasure heedless of gender. Ceaseless fixation on nakedness confiscated too many pages, making the revolutionary quest and compelling mystical dynamics secondary.
There was excess overall, such as scenes allocated to trivial characters, even unwarranted imagery of peeing. The rule “drop 10% in a final draft”, would tighten this novel by 41 pages fewer. Settling on the three protagonists - Judith, John, Pie - is slow. There were personages I preferred to them who vanished! However, I’m keen to read part two. I want to learn the pasts Judith and John forgot, if Goddesses overthrow the warring males, and if Earth forges a thoroughfare to the other four dominions.
February 15, 2020
En este primer tomo me encontré con todo lo que siempre admiré de Clive Barker: su osadía, valentía, originalidad, ambición y talento literario para no conformarse con lo que existe, sino para trascender la realidad con el fin de llegar a algún tipo de “reconciliación” o redención.
A veces pienso que, en sus obras de ficción, Barker busca (tal vez inconscientemente) el perdón. Supongo que los excesos de su imaginación necesitan una contraparte o freno para mantener su cordura. Pero pido disculpas por una digresión innecesaria.
Esta es la segunda vez que leo esta novela, y la estoy disfrutando mucho más que en mi primera lectura.
La historia está llena de personajes, situaciones, revelaciones y teorías que tocan un nivel muy íntimo de mi persona. Esta capacidad es la que hace del escritor un maestro en su arte.
Creo que es un acierto que, después del éxito de sus “Books Of Blood”, sus temáticas hayan virado a otros territorios sin dejar el elemento terrorífico ausente. En una época pensaba tendría que haber seguido escribiendo historias cortas en la línea de sus “Libros De Sangre”, pero he cambiado mucho desde esa época.
En fin, espero que el segundo tomo de Imajica (“La Reconciliación”) siga agradándome y sumergiéndome en los exuberantes Dominios imaginados (o no) por este gran autor.
A veces pienso que, en sus obras de ficción, Barker busca (tal vez inconscientemente) el perdón. Supongo que los excesos de su imaginación necesitan una contraparte o freno para mantener su cordura. Pero pido disculpas por una digresión innecesaria.
Esta es la segunda vez que leo esta novela, y la estoy disfrutando mucho más que en mi primera lectura.
La historia está llena de personajes, situaciones, revelaciones y teorías que tocan un nivel muy íntimo de mi persona. Esta capacidad es la que hace del escritor un maestro en su arte.
Creo que es un acierto que, después del éxito de sus “Books Of Blood”, sus temáticas hayan virado a otros territorios sin dejar el elemento terrorífico ausente. En una época pensaba tendría que haber seguido escribiendo historias cortas en la línea de sus “Libros De Sangre”, pero he cambiado mucho desde esa época.
En fin, espero que el segundo tomo de Imajica (“La Reconciliación”) siga agradándome y sumergiéndome en los exuberantes Dominios imaginados (o no) por este gran autor.
January 13, 2015
wanted to like this after all the time I put into these two books but I just found the whole thing banal in the end, full of most of the clichés I started to read these books to avoid. original in a way I guess, Clive's a world builder extraodinaire, but I found the whole ******SPOILER ALERT ****** "men are evil and innately destructive and of course irrationally hate women and are so scared of their reproductive capabilities and capacity to love etc...- only poor, put upon goddesses and their exclusive enclave of women can rule wisely, due of course to the innate holiness of their life giving wombs" to be such a tired old trope - especially since I couldn't care in the slightest about any of the protagonists (except maybe Gentle but even then he was a weak willed idiot, happy in his ignorance most of the time, even while trying to undertake some universe changing mission - a very 'male attitude' I'm sure many 101 students would argue) or their bizarre logic for doing the things they did.
Essentially a very tired old plot line wrapped up in an original setting that takes thousands of pages to get through. I can see why some people cream themselves over this (OMG, he's got a third gender in the book - like, SO transgressive and thot provoking... ad infinitum), but sadly, I'm not one of them. probably came too late to this series for me to feel its as ground breaking as others so obviously do.....
Essentially a very tired old plot line wrapped up in an original setting that takes thousands of pages to get through. I can see why some people cream themselves over this (OMG, he's got a third gender in the book - like, SO transgressive and thot provoking... ad infinitum), but sadly, I'm not one of them. probably came too late to this series for me to feel its as ground breaking as others so obviously do.....
June 4, 2014
3 stars - I liked it. I loved it. BUT, somethings annoyed, enough to drop the rating to 3. The writing is VERY long winded. Every sentence that is written is done painstakingly so. And I'm not exaggerating when I say every sentence. If I read "In the fullness of time" one more time... well, I will have lost some precious seconds, that could have been recovered by simply saying, "eventually", or "all the time". That's just one example that has stuck out to me as it's one that gets repeated a few times in the fullness of these pages. The descriptions are great, you just need to get through Barker's verbosity to enjoy them. And I have, and I did enjoy most all of whats on these pages, it just takes a long time to travel a little ways. Looking forward to part 2 of this, as I've begun to get used to the writing style, hopefully this second half will go by a bit quicker.
August 26, 2019
5/10 This is really one long novel, but it's sometimes in 2 volumes, so I'm reviewing this first half as a single book.
I mostly love the setting. It's "modern day", but there are other realms. There's a secret society who knows about the secret realms. There are portals to other realms. It doesn't shy away from adult topics and genuine horror. This is all my bailiwick.
Then it focused more on a fantasy world, and I lost focus. If you love fantasy, give this a try, but it's not really my thing. Fantasy novels have a fixation on "walking and talking". We're in a fantasy world, so let's walk 500 leagues and talk! If I were to review LoTR or GoT, it would include the same criticism.
I might read the second half of this novel, but I'm not sure.
I mostly love the setting. It's "modern day", but there are other realms. There's a secret society who knows about the secret realms. There are portals to other realms. It doesn't shy away from adult topics and genuine horror. This is all my bailiwick.
Then it focused more on a fantasy world, and I lost focus. If you love fantasy, give this a try, but it's not really my thing. Fantasy novels have a fixation on "walking and talking". We're in a fantasy world, so let's walk 500 leagues and talk! If I were to review LoTR or GoT, it would include the same criticism.
I might read the second half of this novel, but I'm not sure.
October 1, 2019
This was my first foray into Clive Barker as an author and I was NOT disappointed. There is so much detail and richness within that I could only read this in sporadic bursts to not be overwhelmed with everything.
Perhaps I should have started with The Hellbound Heart, which is what literally every single friend of mine who has read ANYTHING of his suggested AFTER finding out I decided to take on Imajica. I think perhaps they were right in hindsight but I don't honestly regret this, as this has literally cemented Barker as one of my new favorite authors.
Perhaps I should have started with The Hellbound Heart, which is what literally every single friend of mine who has read ANYTHING of his suggested AFTER finding out I decided to take on Imajica. I think perhaps they were right in hindsight but I don't honestly regret this, as this has literally cemented Barker as one of my new favorite authors.
March 28, 2007
Favorite Quotes
A man kills the thing he loves, and he must die a little himself.
His body and his mind went about their different businesses. The former, freed from conscious instruction, breathed, rolled, sweated, and digested. The latter went dreaming.
We’re too much ourselves. Afraid of letting go of what we are, in case we are nothing, and holding on so tight, we lose everything else.
A man kills the thing he loves, and he must die a little himself.
His body and his mind went about their different businesses. The former, freed from conscious instruction, breathed, rolled, sweated, and digested. The latter went dreaming.
We’re too much ourselves. Afraid of letting go of what we are, in case we are nothing, and holding on so tight, we lose everything else.
February 13, 2017
Beautiful written, as usual. Creative. I love Gentle and Pie's personalities and adventures, but I grew bored when it switched to Judith. I don't full understand it either, it's not the type of fantasy I typically read so some of it sadly eludes me. Full review soon.
August 8, 2007
essential clive barker
December 7, 2011
Fascinating and mesmerizing :)
September 24, 2012
Imajica is the best of Barker's books! One of my favorite books of all time. Imaginative fantasy worlds are his specialty.
April 13, 2013
The language made it difficult to read but it was interesting nonetheless. And the jesus imagery is interesting as well. I look forward to the reconcilation
June 23, 2013
His best work. Read!
December 31, 2023
Este libro me ha dejado sensaciones contradictorias.
Habiendo leído anteriormente otros libros de Clive Barker, el leitmotiv de Imajica inevitablemente me suena, pero no lo digo como algo negativo. El mundo que ha creado en este libro me parece fabuloso y está lo suficientemente diferenciado de otros mundos imaginados por Clive Barker como para tener personalidad propia. Hay fantasía, magia, descripciones precisas y está creado de forma bastante coherente. De hecho diría que de los múltiples mundos fantásticos/ocultos creados por Clive Barker, este es del que más información da y del que puedes tener una visión más completa. A mi ha conseguido producirme asombro y ganas de seguir leyendo más para conocer todo lo posible acerca de este mundo. Y respecto a la trama y la acción, una vez que se ha hecho la presentación de los personajes, la historia engancha lo suficiente para leer con ansia por ver como sigue.
Todo esto es estupendo y si fuera por esto el libro sin duda merecería 4 estrellas.
Pero por el lado malo están los errores del relato, desde incoherencias en los comportamientos y acciones de algunos personajes, hasta a casualidades muy improbables que parece que suceden simplemente para que la trama continúe como el autor quiere. Y esto es extraño, porque hay otros momentos en los que el autor no toma las decisiones fáciles que le dejarían seguir con el guion sin problemas, de hecho en bastantes ocasiones mete en grandes líos a sus personajes y las formas de continuar la trama no son triviales.
Da un poco la impresión de haber sido escrito a trozos, con partes muy inspiradas y otras algo menos, pero la forma de encajar todo a posteriori se hizo de forma apresurada o chapucera.
Puede que modifique mi opinión de este libro tras leer la segunda parte (La Reconciliación), ya que originalmente forman parte de un único libro que solo se ha dividido para que sea manejable (si no serían 1300 páginas) y quizás algunas de las incoherencias y casualidades que he visto se expliquen en esa parte que me queda por leer.
Explicación de mi puntuación de estrellas y su equivalente sobre una escala de 10 (no es lineal):
(5 estrellas) Excelente, una puta obra maestra. (equivale a un 10 sobre 10)
(4 estrellas) Libro muy bueno, lectura muy recomendada. (8.5-9 sobre 10)
(3 estrellas) Buen libro, me ha gustado. (7-8 sobre 10)
(2 estrellas) Normal, no es una mala lectura pero tampoco he encontrado nada especial. (4-6 sobre 10)
(1 estrella) El libro no me ha gustado. (0-4 sobre 10)
Habiendo leído anteriormente otros libros de Clive Barker, el leitmotiv de Imajica inevitablemente me suena, pero no lo digo como algo negativo. El mundo que ha creado en este libro me parece fabuloso y está lo suficientemente diferenciado de otros mundos imaginados por Clive Barker como para tener personalidad propia. Hay fantasía, magia, descripciones precisas y está creado de forma bastante coherente. De hecho diría que de los múltiples mundos fantásticos/ocultos creados por Clive Barker, este es del que más información da y del que puedes tener una visión más completa. A mi ha conseguido producirme asombro y ganas de seguir leyendo más para conocer todo lo posible acerca de este mundo. Y respecto a la trama y la acción, una vez que se ha hecho la presentación de los personajes, la historia engancha lo suficiente para leer con ansia por ver como sigue.
Todo esto es estupendo y si fuera por esto el libro sin duda merecería 4 estrellas.
Pero por el lado malo están los errores del relato, desde incoherencias en los comportamientos y acciones de algunos personajes, hasta a casualidades muy improbables que parece que suceden simplemente para que la trama continúe como el autor quiere. Y esto es extraño, porque hay otros momentos en los que el autor no toma las decisiones fáciles que le dejarían seguir con el guion sin problemas, de hecho en bastantes ocasiones mete en grandes líos a sus personajes y las formas de continuar la trama no son triviales.
Da un poco la impresión de haber sido escrito a trozos, con partes muy inspiradas y otras algo menos, pero la forma de encajar todo a posteriori se hizo de forma apresurada o chapucera.
Puede que modifique mi opinión de este libro tras leer la segunda parte (La Reconciliación), ya que originalmente forman parte de un único libro que solo se ha dividido para que sea manejable (si no serían 1300 páginas) y quizás algunas de las incoherencias y casualidades que he visto se expliquen en esa parte que me queda por leer.
Explicación de mi puntuación de estrellas y su equivalente sobre una escala de 10 (no es lineal):
(5 estrellas) Excelente, una puta obra maestra. (equivale a un 10 sobre 10)
(4 estrellas) Libro muy bueno, lectura muy recomendada. (8.5-9 sobre 10)
(3 estrellas) Buen libro, me ha gustado. (7-8 sobre 10)
(2 estrellas) Normal, no es una mala lectura pero tampoco he encontrado nada especial. (4-6 sobre 10)
(1 estrella) El libro no me ha gustado. (0-4 sobre 10)
March 11, 2018
First part of Clive Barker’s dimension-hopping fantasy novel. The protagonists, Gentle and Judith, journey, separately from each other, from Earth (”the Fifth Dominion”) to the not-so-holy city of Yzordderex in the First Dominion, which is in another dimension. They find it in a state of civil war and it is found out that the identities of both Gentle and Judith are very mysterious indeed.
The book is meant to be Clive Barker’s interpretaion of the story of Jesus Christ. Thus, not surprisingly, there are many Biblical references. The story looks quite promising but the first half of the book gives very few answers to any of the questions raised.
I’ve owned the book for 20 years but only started reading it now, probably because it’s very very long. Looking forward to finding out how the story will end in the second part.
The book is meant to be Clive Barker’s interpretaion of the story of Jesus Christ. Thus, not surprisingly, there are many Biblical references. The story looks quite promising but the first half of the book gives very few answers to any of the questions raised.
I’ve owned the book for 20 years but only started reading it now, probably because it’s very very long. Looking forward to finding out how the story will end in the second part.
October 29, 2021
Earth, as we know it, is just one of the five dominions and not, by any means, the most important one. In fact, it is a sort of exile dominion. However, some have the ability to go to the other dominions. When they do, they meet all sorts of weird and powerful beings.
But whether they are from Earth or from one of the others, there are unexpected situations including dysfunctional relationships and families related to all of the dominions.
The book is quite long with 520 pages being approximately half of the full novel. A fact that I have learned to expect from Clive Barker and which prevents me from getting as caught in his writing as I might.
Since I found the first half as a "keep until you are through with it" paper back at the library, I doubt I will read the second half for those with the patience to read huge volumes, this would be a good novel to read.
But whether they are from Earth or from one of the others, there are unexpected situations including dysfunctional relationships and families related to all of the dominions.
The book is quite long with 520 pages being approximately half of the full novel. A fact that I have learned to expect from Clive Barker and which prevents me from getting as caught in his writing as I might.
Since I found the first half as a "keep until you are through with it" paper back at the library, I doubt I will read the second half for those with the patience to read huge volumes, this would be a good novel to read.
April 10, 2021
Je suis mitigée. J'ai aimé l'histoire en général, c'est bien développé, avec plein de rebondissements que l'on ne voit pas venir. Cependant, j'avoue que j'ai fait beaucoup de lecture en diagonale. C'est très lent, très long, avec un paquet de descriptions pas toujours utiles, idem pour certaines scènes. Je ne crois pas lire le tome 2, même si je pense relire du Clive Barker un jour.
August 22, 2023
Chronicles an ‘expanding civilization’ replete with its own brand of ‘conquistadors’ and the like 15th and 16th century ‘types’ that people the crest of the wave that an expanding civilization rides aloft upon. A very ‘state-of-the-state’ report for the time it was written—--therein lies the political element——and for the insider it was written for.
February 1, 2022
Most part of the book I did not understand-why and what’s happening. Near the end it got a bit interesting that made me want to read the second part (but not immediately). I hope the second part gives me more light.
June 20, 2018
I've read this book probably a dozen times. It never fails to disappoint.
June 17, 2020
I love Clive Barker and this one started out really strong... lost my interest a little in the middle but finished up really strong. A good read that makes you think.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
October 22, 2021
marvelous fantasy; Barker's best book by far
June 20, 2023
Took a while to get started. But man,it goes for it
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