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lancemama's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Excrement and Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Police brutality
beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
I have seen several of the HellRaiser movies, however this is the first book that I have actually read about the famed Pinhead. I can remember watching some of the movies and being scared but fascinated at the same time. So I was looking forward to reading this book. Well it did have the horror and gore that I was expecting from this book. I was fascinated by everything happening in this story. I would be lost in the moment reading and have to tear myself away to attend to real life. I could read this book and sleep just fine with no nightmares. Don't know if this is a good thing or that I am a little sick and twisted like Mr. Barker and enjoy reading this stuff. Either way, I did enjoy reading this book.
I just was a little disappointed that there was not a big battle between Pinhead and Detective D'Amour. They did interact but not on the level and high intensity that I was hoping and looking forward towards. Although the depths of Hell and the details that Mr. Barker wrote about this world did make up some for what was lacking. I now plan to go back and re-watch the movies and check out all of the prior novels.
I just was a little disappointed that there was not a big battle between Pinhead and Detective D'Amour. They did interact but not on the level and high intensity that I was hoping and looking forward towards. Although the depths of Hell and the details that Mr. Barker wrote about this world did make up some for what was lacking. I now plan to go back and re-watch the movies and check out all of the prior novels.
nuclearranter's review against another edition
4.0
I, like many others, had been waiting for this book for a long time. Thankfully, Clive Barker's return to adult horror is a fast paced, thrilling adventure directly into Hell itself. Bringing together probably his two most famous characters, Harry D'Amour and The Hell Priest (aka Pinhead) and providing resolutions to both their stories is both satisfying and bittersweet. I'd highly recommend this one, as I would almost anything Barker has written.
johnbreeden's review against another edition
4.0
In this novel, the Cenobite, Pinhead, is amassing power to achieve a grand, if impossible, goal. In his progress to overtake the powers of Hell, he chooses a chronicler, a witness, to write the gospels of his triumph. The task is forced on Harry D'Amour, a detective who has been touched by the otherworldly most of his life. What follows are Harry & his friends' struggles to save a friend taken by the Cenobite. Pinhead's goal is a lofty one, however, and may not be within his reach.
I am generally not a fan of gory horror. This novel, while having some references to the body horror so closely tied to Hellraiser, spends more time on developing the psychological horror for the characters. I appreciate the way that Barker has toyed with some of the elements that have come up in the movies, ones which he personally dislikes. At the same time, I was surprised by two things with the resolution.
Lucifer's escape: I feel that this was a call for some future book to come. What path will the fallen angel take? Can he escape from punishment? I am surprised that after 5 years, no rumor of a follow-up has surfaced. I think one could do well.
Pinhead's death: As much as Lucifer's escape sets up a call for a sequel, Pinhead's death seems to firmly slam the door on any future use of the Cenobites. I am surprised that Barker would so readily close that avenue for future exploration.
I can only say that I enjoyed this even more than I expected to.
Spoiler
I am generally not a fan of gory horror. This novel, while having some references to the body horror so closely tied to Hellraiser, spends more time on developing the psychological horror for the characters. I appreciate the way that Barker has toyed with some of the elements that have come up in the movies, ones which he personally dislikes. At the same time, I was surprised by two things with the resolution.
Lucifer's escape: I feel that this was a call for some future book to come. What path will the fallen angel take? Can he escape from punishment? I am surprised that after 5 years, no rumor of a follow-up has surfaced. I think one could do well.
Pinhead's death: As much as Lucifer's escape sets up a call for a sequel, Pinhead's death seems to firmly slam the door on any future use of the Cenobites. I am surprised that Barker would so readily close that avenue for future exploration.
I can only say that I enjoyed this even more than I expected to.
rachelbohlen's review against another edition
4.0
How do I even begin to review this book? If you're thinking about reading The Scarlet Gospels, you're probably already a Clive Barker fan. If you're not, run, don't walk, to Wikipedia to get an idea of what you're in for. If you've read Barker before, you know what to expect: gore, gore, violence, scary scenes that you can't read before bed, alternate universes, and delightfully horrific characters. I can promise you that all of that is here. The Scarlet Gospels follows the return of two of Barker's iconic characters: Pinhead (but please don't call him that to his face) and Harry D'Amour. What follows is an adventure into and through Hell. If you're a fan of Barker's other works, you will enjoy this novel. The reason why I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I think that exploring too much of Pinhead's background takes away some of the horror from his character. The scariest thing is always the unknown, and a huge part of the appeal of his initial appearance in Hellbound Heart is that we DON'T know details about him--just that he's a crazy demon who likes to torture people. For me, this book "humanized" Pinhead in a way that I didn't really want. That being said, the book was still fantastic, and I think it's a must-read for fans of horror.
rpcroke's review against another edition
3.0
This is a real solid read, just a bit imbalanced in my opinion. Pinhead seemed like two different characters as the story wore on. And hell wasn't all that hellish toward the end.
Yet it was a fun read with a great pace. The protagonist was fun and I was definitely rooting for him. I would say this is worth reading but it's tamer than you may expect.
Yet it was a fun read with a great pace. The protagonist was fun and I was definitely rooting for him. I would say this is worth reading but it's tamer than you may expect.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
5.0
Like many fans, I entered into The Scarlet Gospels with significant expectations. Not only is it Clive Barker's first novel for adults since 2007, it's one he's been teasing since 1993. Over the course of those 20+ years it's grown from just another short story destined for a new Books of Blood collection to a massive 232,000 word epic, before being edited back down to the 100,000 word final book. That means, of course, that more than half the story has been edited out of the final text, including many of the scenes Barker himself has teased. There's no Joseph and the Holy Grail to be found in its pages; no first encounter between Pinhead and a 12 year old Harry D'Amour; and no conversation between Harry and Jesus, discussing the subject of suffering, and remarking on how Pinhead's nails are akin to his crown of thorns.
While I would have loved nothing more than to immerse myself in another Imajica-length door-stopper, I'm actually glad none of those scenes are to be found here. This is Pinhead's story. This is the story of Hell. There's no room in it for the 'other side' to tell their story. Similarly, with Harry serving more as witness here than epic hero, it's simply not important for him and Pinhead to have ever met . . . and the story works better for it.
The Scarlet Gospels is the dark, bloody, brutal, magnificently epic horror novel we've needed from Clive Barker for so long. If you've worried that absence may have made the heart grow softer, or that he'd have trouble getting back into the blood after so long spent in the Abarat, then fear not. This is a book that's influenced by his entire career, seamlessly meshing the sadomasochistic brutality of The Hellbound Heart with the epic mythology of Weaveworld, while incorporating the same depth of character we found in Sacrament. More than that, after the somewhat sterile novella that was Mister B. Gone, Barker has recaptured the power of his narrative voice, marking a return to the kind of storytelling where you're compelled to linger over every word.
The first third of the novel is a contemporary horror story, full of magic, ghosts, demons, and monsters. It serves to establish Pinhead as more than just another opportunistic Cenobite answering the call of Lemarchand's box, establishes Norma Paine as a friend for whom Harry D'Amour would willingly go to Hell to save, introduces Harry to the horrors of Lemarchand's box, and introduces Pinhead to the one mortal worthy of being considered a true adversary. It's dark and it's violent, but there are also some strong touches of humor, especially with the banter between Harry and his crew.
Once the story shifts to Hell, however, it's a whole different story. Pinhead's march through the streets of Hell and into the Monastery of the Cenobitic Order is some fantastic stuff, with images that linger with the reader long after the cover is closed. Barker describes it as an immense fortress of sadomasochistic solitude, built over seven hundred thousand years ago to isolate its priests from the politics of Hell. There's a confrontation here that allows Pinhead to put his grand scheme into motion, with bespelled origami birds, deathly plagues, and a fog the likes of which has never been seen before. Following that we have a suitably epic journey across the landscape of Hell, taking us through the cities of the damned, a wilderness of dead trees, and across a lake haunted by a monstrous force of pure hunger and malevolence - all to reach the hidden, secret fortress of Lucifer himself.
If I were to have one minor complaint about the novel, it's that this really isn't the 'Pinhead versus Harry' tale that we were promised. While Harry undertakes his epic journey for the noblest of reasons, entering Hell itself to save Norma's body and soul, it turns out he's really only been drawn there to witness Pinhead's grand plan. The two do have their confrontations, and they are brilliantly entertaining, but Harry has absolutely no hand in Pinhead's fate. Fortunately, by the time we get to the end of the novel, we've already come to realize that his is Pinhead's story (not Harry's), and when a creature of such monstrous cruelty is striving to do no less than overthrow Lucifer's throne . . . well, he deserves a foil even greater, even more mythic, than the Cenobite himself.
As works of epic mythology go, The Scarlet Gospels is absolutely magnificent. At this point, it's hard to add much to the story of Hell, but Barker succeeds brilliantly. It's absolutely breathtaking the way he just keeps upping the tension and expanding the scope, adding layer upon layer to the horror, even as he takes us deeper and deeper into Hell. The final set piece is . . . well, there's not much I can say about it without spoiling the story, but it's one of the finest Barker has ever created. The finale may leave some readers feeling a little unsettled, especially with the odd sort of epilogue (with it's entirely self-indulgent, yet gloriously satisfying confrontation with a wealthy preacher), but so long as you remember this is Pinhead's story, it all works.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
While I would have loved nothing more than to immerse myself in another Imajica-length door-stopper, I'm actually glad none of those scenes are to be found here. This is Pinhead's story. This is the story of Hell. There's no room in it for the 'other side' to tell their story. Similarly, with Harry serving more as witness here than epic hero, it's simply not important for him and Pinhead to have ever met . . . and the story works better for it.
The Scarlet Gospels is the dark, bloody, brutal, magnificently epic horror novel we've needed from Clive Barker for so long. If you've worried that absence may have made the heart grow softer, or that he'd have trouble getting back into the blood after so long spent in the Abarat, then fear not. This is a book that's influenced by his entire career, seamlessly meshing the sadomasochistic brutality of The Hellbound Heart with the epic mythology of Weaveworld, while incorporating the same depth of character we found in Sacrament. More than that, after the somewhat sterile novella that was Mister B. Gone, Barker has recaptured the power of his narrative voice, marking a return to the kind of storytelling where you're compelled to linger over every word.
The first third of the novel is a contemporary horror story, full of magic, ghosts, demons, and monsters. It serves to establish Pinhead as more than just another opportunistic Cenobite answering the call of Lemarchand's box, establishes Norma Paine as a friend for whom Harry D'Amour would willingly go to Hell to save, introduces Harry to the horrors of Lemarchand's box, and introduces Pinhead to the one mortal worthy of being considered a true adversary. It's dark and it's violent, but there are also some strong touches of humor, especially with the banter between Harry and his crew.
Once the story shifts to Hell, however, it's a whole different story. Pinhead's march through the streets of Hell and into the Monastery of the Cenobitic Order is some fantastic stuff, with images that linger with the reader long after the cover is closed. Barker describes it as an immense fortress of sadomasochistic solitude, built over seven hundred thousand years ago to isolate its priests from the politics of Hell. There's a confrontation here that allows Pinhead to put his grand scheme into motion, with bespelled origami birds, deathly plagues, and a fog the likes of which has never been seen before. Following that we have a suitably epic journey across the landscape of Hell, taking us through the cities of the damned, a wilderness of dead trees, and across a lake haunted by a monstrous force of pure hunger and malevolence - all to reach the hidden, secret fortress of Lucifer himself.
If I were to have one minor complaint about the novel, it's that this really isn't the 'Pinhead versus Harry' tale that we were promised. While Harry undertakes his epic journey for the noblest of reasons, entering Hell itself to save Norma's body and soul, it turns out he's really only been drawn there to witness Pinhead's grand plan. The two do have their confrontations, and they are brilliantly entertaining, but Harry has absolutely no hand in Pinhead's fate. Fortunately, by the time we get to the end of the novel, we've already come to realize that his is Pinhead's story (not Harry's), and when a creature of such monstrous cruelty is striving to do no less than overthrow Lucifer's throne . . . well, he deserves a foil even greater, even more mythic, than the Cenobite himself.
As works of epic mythology go, The Scarlet Gospels is absolutely magnificent. At this point, it's hard to add much to the story of Hell, but Barker succeeds brilliantly. It's absolutely breathtaking the way he just keeps upping the tension and expanding the scope, adding layer upon layer to the horror, even as he takes us deeper and deeper into Hell. The final set piece is . . . well, there's not much I can say about it without spoiling the story, but it's one of the finest Barker has ever created. The finale may leave some readers feeling a little unsettled, especially with the odd sort of epilogue (with it's entirely self-indulgent, yet gloriously satisfying confrontation with a wealthy preacher), but so long as you remember this is Pinhead's story, it all works.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
bb42's review against another edition
Cartoonish, awkward, and disappointing. I love The Hellbound Heart, but find that Cenobites are more effective the less you know about them. Political struggles in Hell? Not what I'm looking for when I start to play with the puzzle box. Haven't read any D'Amour material, but what was presented in the first half of this book sure isn't sending me desperately hunting.
It started strong, thought it was going to be amazing, but it all went to hell when it, um, went to hell. :)
It started strong, thought it was going to be amazing, but it all went to hell when it, um, went to hell. :)
nilocennis's review against another edition
1.0
Why is it so hard to tell a good Hellraiser story?
After a banger opening scene, and a very cool pitch of "noir detective fights Pinhead", the book transforms into a colossal mess about 1/3 of the way in, with all of the imagery you'd expect from Barker, but none of the Gothic horror, language or-most importantly-mystique that you'd want from this kind of book.
Super messy and incredibly disappointing. There's a fifty-page sequence that feels like pure noise. I'm honestly surprised that Barker was capable of something this poor. I don't know what happened.
After a banger opening scene, and a very cool pitch of "noir detective fights Pinhead", the book transforms into a colossal mess about 1/3 of the way in, with all of the imagery you'd expect from Barker, but none of the Gothic horror, language or-most importantly-mystique that you'd want from this kind of book.
Super messy and incredibly disappointing. There's a fifty-page sequence that feels like pure noise. I'm honestly surprised that Barker was capable of something this poor. I don't know what happened.