The end of the world. Metaphysical serums. Angels. Demons. etc. I wish I would have written it first.

It was OK I guess, but after 300 hunder pages I realized I am not even in the middle. I decided not to read further. It is at the same time imaginative and interesting, but kind of boring.

I got a couple hours into the audiobook version, and, sadly, I think I'm going to have to pass. The style of writing is strangely distant and glosses over large amounts of time, which makes me feel very out of the story. Also, it started to feel like it might just be a 20+ hour masturbatory gorefest, and I can't. I just can't.

To put it simply: A rollicking, complex odyssey tinted with themes of religion, love, death, faith, and obsession. To be fair, I did enjoy Barker's Imajica more, and I recommend it highly- that one kept me up at night, and then some- but The Great and Secret Show is incredible all the same. This weird and fantastical tale is based on the idea that the real universe, encompassing more than most humans will ever discover, is comprised of three sections: The Cosm, the physical world; the Metacosm, the extraterrestrial world; and, in between the two, the sea of dreams, also known as Quiddity. TGaSS tells the story of several important individuals from the Cosm, those fighting for power over Quiddity and those caught in between. Part horror, part fantasy, and part dreamscape, this novel deals with a very high number of characters, and it becomes difficult to juggle them after a while (the ragtag team that pieces together near the end is one you would never expect). My favorite was easily Tesla Bombeck, the feisty female companion of Nathan Grillo, a woman who would barely amount to anything at all... if it weren't for the great war raging on in Palomo Grove. Her storyline is really quite fascinating if you trace it back to her genesis. Aside from the at-times-graphic sexual imagery, which I skipped over the majority of, this novel ranks with Barker's best. Everville, the sequel, is now on my list!

What on earth did I just read? It was twisted, imaginative, rambling, dark, uplifting, depressing, and completely original. I would never recommend it to anyone, and yet I will absolutely read it again someday.

This is a backdated review from my high school years. Clive Barker came up recently and I went to see if he's written anything new, and tripped across a couple I knew I read way back in my youth.

Weird, but simultaneously captivating. I love the ideas here, and I'm looking forward to reading more about the Art.

A story hard to categorize, but probably most horror and/or fantasy, suffices so say it's brilliant.

A story of a quest for knowledge and power at the cost of everything else and the people affected by it, a story of a small suburbia town suddenly becoming the focus of far to much attention, but most of all a story of the ART.

Clive Barker weaves the narrative effortlessly around numerous characters and settings without ever losing the reader, all done with a marvelous rich language, it reminded me somehow of [b:Carrion Comfort|11286|Carrion Comfort|Dan Simmons|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388203579s/11286.jpg|909623] based on the build up of the story and the language.

Many places in the narrative where other writers would be content with the storyline and wrap it up, Barker adds yet another layer to the story without ever losing the overall thread.
It's like watching the front runners in Tour-de-France climbing the high peaks, when you think they are exhausted, they find another gear and manges to accelerate towards the top.

My only concern with this one is that it apparently was meant as 1. part of a trilogy and volume 3. is still missing, but still i have acquired volume 2 so there is that to look forward to.

I really liked this book. It is on my list to reread since it has been a few yrs. Going to reread now.