Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Mr. Maximillian Bacchus and His Travelling Circus

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's not great because it's Clive Barker, mind you, it's great because it's a "good read". Honestly, I'd forgotten I ordered this book, and when it arrived (signed by the author no less), I was pleasantly surprised.

And I read it in one sitting. Barker wrote these short stories as a teenager. He's far from a teenager at this point (and, honestly, would YOU want to be a teenager again?), but his skills -- at that age -- were rather amazing. Kudos, Clive (ha ha! like I know you personally), for a thoroughly engrossing book.

When I review a work, I try to compare the product not against other similar ones, but against itself, or rather, what it should be. The fact that The Adventures was written by Clive Barker when he was 17 is amazing, but in the end, irrelevant. As a young adult fantasy tale, does it succeed? I would have to say: almost. I was tempted to give this collection of short stories three stars, as I found it somewhat lacking in character development and plot, but I had to bump my rating up one star due to two things. One is the language, which is beautiful and florid, which Clive obviously excelled at, even at the age of 17 (unless he rewrote this later before publication) and the other was the flashes of his characteristic genius interspersed throughout the tales. Beautiful imagery, moments of real wonder, romance. In the end, however, I was left wishing for more. Sometimes that is a good thing, as when you're wishing the story will never end. Sometimes that's not so good, as with this collection, as I found myself wishing for more character development and plot. What Clive is known for, however, the prose and the fantastical imagery, is here... just in a slightly truncated form.

--Rod Redux, Author of the Oldest Living Vampire Tells All

A journey of the imagination. Four interwoven stories featuring memorable characters and settings as only the mind of Clive Barker can create.
Although this is a new book, it was written by him when he was a mere 17 years of age. Yep he was a master of the fantastic even then.
He may best be known for his horror stories, but after reading this you will see his heart has always been in the realms of the fantastic.
A must read for fans of The Thief of Always, Abarat or Imagica.

Not the greatest book I've ever read, but I snatch up anything that Barker writes. It's important to keep in mind that this was written when the author was young, which is very impressive. I love the imaginative environments and the creative stories. Definitely recommended for fans of Clive Barker.