Reviews

Books of Blood: Volume One by Clive Barker

jarod_10's review

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

georgepan94's review

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3.0

The Book of Blood: 3,5/5 STARS

The Midnight Meat Train: 2/5 STARS

The Yattering and Jack: 3/5 STARS

Pig Blood Blues: 4,5/5 STARS

Sex, Death and Starshine: 2/5 STARS

In the Hills, the Cities: 2,5/5 STARS

ezravasq's review against another edition

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5.0

Although Barker sometimes gets gorier than I'd like, there's no denying his writing ability. The style, technique, and courage of the ideas in these stories make this a must read for anyone interested in the medium of the horrific short story.

katokaitlyn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

It’s winner after disturbing winner in this set of short stories! The last short story is probably the least interesting (though it’s lengthy and sort of drags the momentum of the piece down) and I could’ve cut it fairly painlessly but I do think the rest are amazing enough to compensate for any lag!

itsv's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

patrickcline279's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The only story I really got much out of was "In the Hills, The Cities". I really liked that one though. Very bizarre and unique

shane's review against another edition

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5.0

Yeah, this simply had to be 5 stars. Not a bad story amongst them. It got to the point where every successive story became my favourite, and now I can't wait to start the second volume.

Wonderful stuff.

alexanderp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I've been hearing about this book for years and I'm so glad I took the time to read it. Not for the faint of heart (or really any heart), but these were amazingly inventive horror stories. Something that might get lost in Barker's very pulpish/commonplace tone, is his insight into human nature. He takes advantage of human nature and its natural fault lines, prying them open.

kirstenariel's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

3.5

kallison25's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

4 stars! 
I've had this on my shelf for forever, so I am glad that I finally picked it up! Anthologies are hard to rate, but I feel like this one was overall pretty good. Of course, there will be stories that you like more than others, and that was definitely the case for me. But I really enjoyed the writing style of the book as a whole, and the blend of macabre and symbolism was really cool. I would definitely be interested in reading more by this author in the near future!