weaveworld /imajica -any good?

[TokenBlackGuy]

Kinda bored of fantasy these days- they all seem cliched and tired.

The last series I really liked was Tad williams Dragon Bone Chair, and the last Fantasy novel I couldnt put down was The Talisman (King/ Straub).
But these were awhile back after getting bored with much of the fantasy out there.

I heared good things about these Clive Barker novels but then theres far too much hype these days. I have a copy of Neil Gaiman's American Gods but alot of my friends have been fairly dissapointed with it. (They expected much more from the Dream King).

Should I go ahead and read American Gods or are these two books worth my attention first?

[Shem the Penman]

I liked Imajica a lot -- in fact, it was the book I had with me the first time I visited London -- and I think you'll enjoy it too. I don't think I ever read Weaveworld, though.

[Paul McEnery]

They're both okay if you like that sort of thing.

Me, I think Clive writes better when he writes shorter; or books with pictures in. :D And I think his longer works could stand either a second draft or a more assertive editor. But there's still good stuff in there, and if you have a taste for fantasy novels, you probably like the sort of things that seem to me to be weaknesses.

But I'd still go with the kid's books and the Books of Blood, myself.

[Shellhead]

I realize that Clive Barker is gay, and I don't mind that. But there was a scene early in Imajica when a main character suddenly realizes that he's not having sex with a woman but with a male shapeshifter, and that the orifice that he was enjoying was in fact a different orifice. That was too much for me, and I had to bail on the book. When a scene is too shocking, it just distracts from everything written after that.

The thing is, I keep trying Clive Barker books, because he is a very imaginative and talented writer. He is a little too obsessed with bodily fluids and shit, but when he stays focused on interesting ideas and characterization, the results can be riveting. Of the Barker books that I have finished, I have enjoyed most of them.

Weaveworld was an exception. It didn't offend me like the coprophagic monkey in The Damnation Game, but Weaveworld did seem to meander, running on for at least 100 pages longer than necessary. There were some great ideas, but the decompressed climax lacked urgency at times.