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1994-02-01
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Book Reviews
Copyright (c) 1993, Heather DeRouen
All rights reserved
THE THIEF OF ALWAYS
Clive Barker
Harper Fiction
$5.99 US, $6.99 Canada
Having never read one of Clive Barker's books before, but having seen
a couple of the movies based on those books, I embarked upon reading this
book with the expectation of vivid special effects, intense emotions
in the characters, and a thrilling roller-coaster ride of a tale. Herein
was my downfall, because none of these things was evident in "The Thief of
Always".
I should have been forewarned by other horror writers' attempts to write
fairy tales for children and try to market them to both adult and child
audiences. Does anyone remember Stephen Kings "The Eyes of the Dragon"?
This same type of condescenscion is evident in "The Thief of Always".
Barker assumes that none of the readers, whether adult or child, would be
smart enough to spot the obvious logic lapses in the plot and lack of
clear-cut plot resolution. This was one of the most unfulfilling and
cumbersome books I've read in ages. If one can trudge through the muck and
mire of tedious dialogue, it is evident that the author goes to great length
to provide visual imagery that really doesn't tell us anything whatsoever.
(Example text: "The great gray beast of February had eaten Harvey Swick
alive. Here he was, buried in the belly of that smothering month, wondering
if he would ever find his way out through the cold coils that lay between
here and Easter.")
About the only redeeming quality that I found in the book was that I only
wasted about 2-1/2 hours reading it.
If you can't tell by now, I wasn't really all that impressed by this book.
I guess I'll stick to his movies. (If you haven't already seen "Night Breed",
based on his book "Cabal", I highly recommend it.)
My score (on a scale of 1 to 10) 3