A review by lupetuple
Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker

funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The incessant pleas to burn the book grew tiresome. The concept of the Demonation, complete with families, eludes me with what little is explained of it. Jakabok can be funny, and his doomed romance with Quitoon was predictably the highlight of the book for me, but he's too one-dimensional for me overall. Barker can write some winning lines and he excels at gruesome details, but the plot was too thin, and not developed well or coherently enough to be satisfying in the end.

What I did love most, aside from the dramatic gay psuedo divorce between Jakabok and Quitoon, was the design of the pages, as if they were written in old parchment and
truly the first printed book. I had seen that twist coming from miles away when the name Gutenberg was first mentioned, by the way. I did think the "Angels and Demons are the same, actually" twist was delivered in too hammy of a way to be impactful also.