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Books Of Blood Omnibus 1: Volumes 1-3
£7.10
Here are the stories written on the Book of Blood. They are a map of that dark highway that leads out of life towards unknown destinations. Few will have to take it. Most will go peacefully along lamplit streets, ushered out of living with prayers and caresses. But for a few, the horrors will come, skipping, to fetch them off to the highway of the damned …
Gathered together for the first time in one volume, here are fifteen mind-shattering stories from the awesome imagination of World Fantasy Award winning author Clive Barker. They will take you to the brink – and beyond …
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Additional information
| Publisher | New e. edition (2 Dec. 2010), Orbit |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1004 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 532 pages |
by umar siddiqui
I read Books of Blood almost 25 years ago and thought to revisit this exceptional collection of weird , gruesome and imaginative tales as an adult. And every story was just as delightful and appallingly spell-binding as I remember. Only this time I really paid more attention to CB as a writer. The man was, at the height of his powers, a truly peerless author of not only fantasy horror but also truly gifted in describing the reaction s and emotions which accompany his characters who walk through the worlds that he creates. There are moments in nearly every tale which defy belief that someone thought to write this and write it so well. CB is more than a creator of monsters, heros and villains, he is a guide through his own mind, a mind which slots exquisite unreality into the everyday with a masterful touch.
by Kyle J. Durrant
I absolutely tore through this omnibus. Each story (aside from the first, introductory story of Volume 1) is at least 30 pages long, probably pushing the boundaries of what is considered a short story, yet I devoured each one in a single sitting. On some days I was reading multiple stories because I was so invested in Barker’s writing.
Aside from reading The Hellbound Heart recently, I haven’t had much exposure to Barker’s writing. I’ve heard good things, of course, but now I truly understand why he’s so popular. These stories were incredible, with outstanding writing that painted vivid scenes. I don’t think there was a single one that I didn’t like.
Barker brings a blend of eroticism and horror to his writing. He doesn’t shy away from darkness, yet also highlights the beauty inherent in the frightful.
My favourites from these first three volumes are:
The Midnight Meat Train
Sex, Death and Starshine
Dread
Hell’s Event
The Skins of the Fathers
Rawhead Rex
Confession of a (P*rnographer’s) Shroud
and
Human Remains
I’m jumping straight into the second omnibus, so you can probably expect a review for that very soon.
Seriously, though, if you haven’t read Barker yet I really think you should. I’m ashamed that it took me so long to dive on in, and I can already feel how his work is going to become a major inspiration and influence for my future work.
I have to give this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. There were quite a few typos and grammatical errors that seemed to escape the editor’s/s’ notice, but they did not detract at all from my enjoyment.
by Laura2884
Having watched Book of Blood on Disney plus I had to buy this and it is fantastic, gore, horror and all told brilliantly
by Dawid Kubica
The best collection of short stories I have read. It’s real horror, not like King who is a thriller writer. Barker manages to make you uncomfortable to a different degree, his talent is off the charts. Highly reccomend.
by Amazon Customer
I bought these originally many years ago and loved them, They really were what orror was all about. Thu were nasty. I don’t find most horror that bad, Maybe that comes from disecting a dogfish at `6 to find it had digested its iwn stomach and the contents had fkowed into the body cavity. Gore alone just doesn’t do it for me. I like my horror depraved, Barker has that. These are best read alone at midnight on all halloqs eve under a gibous moon lying in the grave if a hanged murderer surrounded by the dusmembered remains if his innocent victimd.
by Anup
You just cant beat Clive Barker. I reqllt enjoyed the read. For someone who loves horror…. you wont be disappointed.
by the great amphibian
The Books of Blood are a tremendous tour de force by Clive Barker. At the time that I first read some of them, (when I was about 17), they seemed to be of a much higher standard of insight than anything that I had until then read. Some of the best stories in this three book volume are Rawhead Rex, Dread, and Hell’s Event. I read Rawhead Rex in the summer, one summer, and it really took me to another place. The atmosphere that this story of Barker’s built up in my imagination whilst I sat there on a summer afternoon in southern England was one of the best reading moments of my life hitherto I think. The sheer mercilessness of the story makes it quite a terrible read [in a very good way], and I re-read a particular section several times, where a woman sees Rawhead Rex dispatch her husband as if he were a bag of flour, and then realises that the monster saw her. The feeling of nauseating fear that runs through the character made tears form in my eyes; like staring into freezing cold winds, and my heart sank. I don’t know the words verbatim, but they are something like: “…then the beast saw her: oh god, he had looked right into her eyes, and now he was loping across the yard”. Another brilliant story in this collection is Hell’s Event, which has some of the best imagination inducing writing that I have read from Barker. Dread – the other story that I noted from this collection – is a very strong short story with a deeply dark and ironic ending which I couldn’t forget for some time. I suppose that I have some bias towards Clive Barker because he was the first great writer that I ever read the work of. I think that Barker may have been the reason that I got into reading when I did, even if late teens seems like a late time to start reading for leisure in any quantity. I have been reading stories from these volumes more recently and have consistently been impressed afresh by Barker’s insight in these books. Barker studied English and Philsophy at university and the philosophy has made him more than the average horror writer, and capable of seeing more clearly and deeply those terrors that induce sinking awe and wonder in us most. Barker owns that these stories are dark, and that there is not necessarily any light at the end of the tunnels. They are like tunnels in the catacombs of a disused fort, each with their own ghosts and horrors waiting in the dark for any stray reader.