Imajica: Featuring New Illustrations and an Appendix [Paperback]

Clive Barker (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 6, 2002

From master storyteller Clive Barker comes an epic tale of myth, magic, and forbidden passion—complete with new illustrations and a new Appendix.

Imajica is an epic beyond compare: vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. At its heart lies the sensualist and master art forger, Gentle, whose life unravels when he encounters Judith Odell, whose power to influence the destinies of men is vaster than she knows, and Pie 'oh' pah, an alien assassin who comes from a hidden dimension.

That dimension is one of five in the great system called Imajica. They are worlds that are utterly unlike our own, but are ruled, peopled, and haunted by species whose lives are intricately connected with ours. As Gentle, Judith, and Pie 'oh' pah travel the Imajica, they uncover a trail of crimes and intimate betrayals, leading them to a revelation so startling that it changes reality forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Dazzling metaphysical epic-adventure as Barker surpasses his previous ground-breaking work (The Great and Secret Show, 1989, etc.) to reconfigure the Fall and to imagine a modern-day attempt to reverse it. A complex cosmology underpins the vigorous, at times horrific, action here: ``Imajica'' is the known universe of five ``Dominions,'' or parallel worlds, four ``reconciled'' but the fifth, Earth, ``unreconciled''--unaware of the other four, of the tyrannical ``Autarch'' who rules them, and of the ``God Hapeximendios,'' who oversees all five (and who wrested ``His'' power from the ``Goddesses'' of old). Periodically, Hapeximendios has sent His ``sons''--including Christ--to attempt to unite, by magical rites, the Fifth Dominion to the others. The last attempted ``Reconciliation'' ended in catastrophe--an invasion of Earth by hellish powers--and today magic has been nearly eradicated from Earth by a ``Society'' that alone knows of the Imajica and of the catastrophe. The densely woven story here opens with a jealous man venturing into London's dankest slum to hire an assassin to kill his estranged wife, Judith; the assassin turns out to be a ``mystif,'' a fabulous creature from the Second Dominion, capable of appearing as the erotic ideal of any who behold it. As the mystif hunts Judith, it in turn is hunted by Judith's former lover, ``Gentle,'' who in time learns that he is the new ``Reconciler''- -and the mystif his long-forgotten servant. Undertaking dangerous, splendor-filled journeys through the other Dominions, Gentle and the mystif fall in love, marry, and encounter numerous fantastic creatures and, finally, death; later, Gentle helps dethrone the Autarch, learns the chilling secret of his and Judith's origin, helps free the Goddesses and slay God, and, back on Earth, inspires the destruction of the Society and undertakes Reconciliation--with hell-borne, then heaven-sent, results. An astonishing feat of the imagination, immensely engrossing despite its demanding--at times indulgent--length, running riot with ideas, fantastical inventions, graphic sex and violence, soul- terrors, and emotional and intellectual resonances. Barker's best yet. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Barker's most ambitious work to date...rapturously full of emtions." -- L.A. Life

"Exhilarating...[a] masterpiece." -- USA Today

"Mesmerizing invention." -- Publishers Weekly

"Spellbinding." -- The Atlanta Journal

"Wonderfully entertaining...Clive Barker is a magician of the first order." -- New York Daily News

"[A] dazzling metaphysical epic-adventure...An astonishing feat of the imagination...Barker's best yet." -- Kirkus Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Annotated edition (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060937262
• ISBN-13: 978-0060937263
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. He is the worldwide bestselling author of the Books of Blood, and numerous novels including Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Sacrament and Galilee. In addition to his work as a novelist and short story writer he also illustrates, writes, directs and produces for the stage and screen. His films include Hellraiser, Hellbound, Nightbreed and Candyman. Clive lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Monumental Metaphysical Marvel January 29, 2004

By OAKSHAMAN VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

When I decided to reread this mammoth novel after thirteen years this is the edition that I chose. I picked it for the illustrations, for the badly needed explanatory appendix, and because it has been tightened up into a single volume instead of two 500+ page halves. This will no doubt be the definative edition in the years to come.

This isn't a casual read. It represents a considerable investment in time. There are also so many characters, settings, plot lines, specialized vocabulary and underlying principles to keep straight.... Yet, it is worth the investment in time and effort.

The basic framework, like so many of Barker's other novels, is that of a hidden world behind the superficial façade of our mundane world. Barker is such a master at interweaving mundane, and profane, details into the greater fabric of his realities that you find yourself totally drawn in. I found myself totally immersed in this hidden reality. For this is a story of five worlds, or dimensions, or Dominions. These make up the whole of Imajica. That is, they should. Two hundred years ago there was an attempt to reconcile our own fifth Dominion with the other four. This ended in a metaphysical catastrophe so great that that nearly all of the Dominions great theurgists, shamans, and theologians were killed. The result was that almost all magical knowledge passed from our world and for two centuries science and materialism held grim sway.

Now, conditions are once again ripe for an attempt to reconcile the Dominions. The great magus', or Maestros, know that this may very well be the last attempt to heal the rift in creation. To fail this time will undoubtedly mean two more centuries of isolation- plenty of time for the Fifth Dominion to destroy itself in nuclear or ecological suicide.

Yet, to heal the rift will require a Master of such power and confidence that he will try to succeed where all those that have gone before him (even the Christos) have failed....

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Like nothing I've ever read before August 21, 2001

By Tori Bachman

Format:Paperback

I had never read anything by Cliver Barker and usually am not a fan of horror or fantasy, but I picked up Imajica on a whim, for a change of pace. I just finished reading it-an endeavor that has taken me about 2 years all together, not because it's a slow read, but because I have a short attention span. Because I'm an editor of academic books by day, my "fun reading" tends to be much less involved. Imajica, however, requires some serious attention, a great deal of imagination, and some brain retention space.

It's over 1000 pages long, but the story, settings, and characters make you want to keep reading. I found it frustrating at times because when you think you're getting to a climax scene, or a point of intense action, the plot twists again onto a different path. HOWEVER, despite the number of times I put this book down, I always returned. I even found myself driving home from work, after not reading the book for a couple months, and thinking "wonder what ever happened with Gentle and Judith?" That's the greatest endorsement I can give any book, and I've recommended it to many friends for that reason: It haunted me, and I had to finish. I'm so glad that I did, and I will probably read Imajica again someday. There are so many wonderful pieces to this work, I'm sure you could read it 200 times and still pick up new things each time. I would also like to meet Clive Barker someday, just to talk to a person whose mind creates like this.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome epic fantasy by the master of the genre September 24, 1997

By Thomas Drumm ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

And I used to think that it couldn't get any better than "The Great And Secret Show"...

Enter the powerful imagination of Clive Barker as he takes you on a mindblowing journey through the Imajica... Join Gentle, once a great and powerful Reconciler, as he meets his former love Pie'oh'Pah, rediscovers his destiny and travels through the worlds that make up the Imajica in a desperate attempt to reconcile the Earth with the four reconciled worlds of the Imajica.

Set in a mystical fantasy universe, Imajica is a monster of a book. Although my European version of Imajica was 1138 pages big, I managed to read it within three days - I simply couldn't stop once I got started. Imajica contains everything that a reader could ever want in a single book: Exotical characters, a wonderful story, powerful violence and a vivid sexual element. And as if that wasn't enough, Barker also redefines the entire Christian mythology! Read it at all costs!