Once [Import] [Hardcover]

James Herbert (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 471 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan; 1st BCA edition edition (September 12, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 033398921X
• ISBN-13: 978-0333989210
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,486,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gothic mansions, mysterious inheritances, and... sexy witches?, April 22, 2006

By 

Joseph P. Menta, Jr. (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once... (Mass Market Paperback)

As if a story that combines gothic mystery and fantasy elements like elves, witches, pixies, and fairies wasn't unusual enough, how about a story that combines gothic mystery, fantasy elements, and extremely graphic sex (involving the pixies, witches, and fairies, no less)? If you think you would like, or can at least tolerate, all three of those elements, you'll probably have a good enough time reading this engaging little story about a human man discovering the fantasy world all around him.

A few things in the book went on a bit too long, including an attack by a jarful of ever-multiplying spiders (it was a clever and scary sequence, but several pages longer than it needed to be) and some of the erotic scenes (though if a scene has to go on a bit too long, it might as well be a sex scene). Overall, however, the interesting mix of genres and the alternating moods of the narrative (the story is in turn mysterious, playful, scary, sexy, fantastic, and suspenseful) makes "Once..." a diverting reading experience.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Adult fantasy long on description but short on imagination., April 3, 2006

By 

Jim Reed "Jim Reed" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once... (Mass Market Paperback)

Clive Barker does a great job of making creative fantasy for adults but James Herbert's predictable sludge paced tale will put many adults asleep.After a stroke Thom returns to the manor he grew up in as a child only to discover masturbating fairies in the woods and a hairy succubus who really really wants his sperm.Herbert manages to describe everything from the tiniest leaf to what everyone is wearing but pays no attention to plot or pacing.The most memorable aspect of this book is the handful of admitedly erotic graphic sex scenes where Herbert uses descriptions to good effect...if this were a movie you would be pressing the fast forward button.Besides that it's disappointing and flat.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It's a modern fairy tale....just not a very good one, August 12, 2004

By 

Jason S Robinson (Ft. Worth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once... (Mass Market Paperback)

I think James Herbert is a talented author. I have most of his books and I usually can't put his books down. I have to say though, I was dissapointed in "Once".

First of all, I didn't like the main character Thom. Basically the ENTIRE book he either whines how what he is seeing can't be true or he is amazed that he gets "aroused" (he recently had a stroke). The character is never really fleshed out and the reader really feels no interest in him. The other characters are even more bland. The "plot" of the book and the twist at the end were ridiculously easy to figure out and there was no feeling of suspense and I never found myself wondering or even caring what was going to happen next.

As far as the writing goes, Herbert does a good job describing things and making you almost able to visualize the Castle and it's forest but again since the plot was so bland, I really didn't care what the Castle looked like. The sex scenes are so so, not to frequent but really not contributing to the story. Most fantasy/sci-fi doesn't have many sex scenes and this might be a reason why as it does take away from the action and the story if not written well and the way Herbert writes the scenes in this novel they were more annoying than erotic.

All in all I don't recommend this book and think you might like The Magic Cottage or one of his other novels instead. It was a good premise, a fairy tale for adults and it's too bad he couldn't make it work.