Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1-3

This collection of Clive Barker's legendary books of blood play more like a graphic comic book novel for mature readers. No coinicidence- he wrote for Marvel comics and also had Hellraiser and several stories from here and In the Flesh put into graphic novel form. He swears a lot and there is also a lot of blood shed. But is Clive Barker, as big an icon as he is, are his works merely homoeroticism disguised as stylish horror? As it appears, the author has been romantically linked to other men since the early 1990s. No complaining there- these are people's mothers and grandmothers, even at the bar not very cool probably esp. to someone as majorly cool and shiek as the author. Are these women still stuck in the 1980s with their outdated, sweetie pie values? Or is Clive Barker just really evil? Read this and find out. Debuting on the bestseller list, these propelled Barker to fame and became the new face of the horror through most of the 1990s.

9.0 STARS OUT OF 10.

Over the years Clive Barker was never my favorite author. I recognized his talent through a few movies in the late 80's and early 90's(Candyman, Nightbreed, Hellraiser, Rawhead Rex), but as a writer I really couldn't get into him. I read Weaveworld a long time ago, and I remember liking it a lot before the book got a little too crazy for me. Imajica, I barely got 80 pages deep before I buried it. More recently, I liked Abarat and its sequel.

So many years later, as I stumble around looking for the ever decreasing good books to read, I have been delving back into books I enjoyed years ago, and giving them a re-read. I came onto Amazon to read a few reviews of old Stephen King books, and I stumbled onto a good reviewer by the name of Mr. Sinister. I noticed he had similar tastes to myself, so I picked up a book he strongly recommended. The books of Blood volumes 1-3. Barker started his career with 6 small sets of short stories, and Books of Blood 1-3 was the first three of those books in a compilation.

As a went through volume 1, I noticed the stories had that kind of feel which turned me off of Barker in the first place. Great writing style with intriguing beginnings before the stories went crazy. That was true of 5 of the first 6 stories, and I was starting to regret picking up the book.

Then as the book was becoming something of a chore, the stories got better and better. Volume 2 was perfect except for the last story in the set, and volume 3 was exceptional; top to bottom.

All in all, an amazing set of brutal, bloody, horrific stories from a writer penned as "the future of horror" from none other then the King of horror himself: Stephen King. It's evident Barker changed from his roots as his career progressed and he went in a different direction of "pure" horror, but this collection was from a hungry, young, horror writer. I look forward in the near future to jump into Books of Blood 4, 5, and 6, along with the Damnation Game(1st novel), giving Weaveworld a second read, and trying to get through Imajica.

Highlights of Books of Blood 1-3.

- The Yattering and Jack
- Dread
- Jacqueline Ess
- Rawhead Rex
- Human Remains

I could give this book five stars,but I guess that would be pushing it a bit too much.After all this book deserves three stars!I am only giving four because of two reasons 1)I am a Clive Barker fan 2)These books of blood are his debut books.And I wouldn't expect more from debut books.

But overall this book was simple to read.It was highly violent.And at times,dirty.
I am going to give you my opinion of each of the stories and a brief "sneak peek". (This is for vol 2).

1)Dread............................................(not too bad)
2)Hell's event.....................................(good)
3)Jacqueline Ess:her will and testimony............(good)
4)The skins of the fathers.........................(okay)
5)New murders in the rue morgue....................(stupid,dumb)

1)In "Dread",a college student becomes horrified by his own fears.And sets out to experiment on other people's fears.Trying to make them trip.He basically used other people's fears to torcher them hoping that his own fears would leave him alone.
But in the end,his own fears kill him.(his fear was that one day a guy would hack him to death).And one of his "experiments",a college studient,driven mad,kills him!
A very cool story,just good enough to start the book with.

2)In hell's event,things get a little better that the previous story.
Once every century a race takes place.Humankind against Hell!If humankind wins the race,life goes on.But if hell wins the race,then the world would end!
This race I am talking about is sort of like a marathon.
And in the race described in the book,hell decides to play the game a bit unfair,and things start to turn messy!

3)Jaqueline Ess,not too bad but from here the book starts too lose its touch.This story is simply about a woman who has the power to destroy someone with her mind!There is a great detailed description of how she uses her mind to turn her husband to dead meat.She can also will someone to do whatever she wants them to do.(believe me,this woman is no woman you would like to mess with).

4)This skins of the fathers.(again the book is on its way to getting stupid).
In this story,there is some strange race of monsters.They,and women(human women)have existed long before human men!Human men came as a result of the monsters reproducing with human women!(I know this sounds dumb,but the story fails too impress me).
Now,after one of the monsters in the present time mates with a woman,she has a son.
Now,all these monsters want is their son back from the humans.(yes,there son,the boy has more that one fathers!monster fathers)...The humans start to fight back,thereby killing the son just as he was beginning to transform into a monster and things get a little mess.(not a very facinating read,but short a fast paced though)

5)Now,this story "new murders in the rue morgue" is dumb,it spoils the end of the book.Losing my trust in the books of blood.
It is simply with a man who has trained a gorilla to act like a human.And this gorilla turns into a pervert after the man goes to prison.
...This story is too stupid and confusing to understand and read.I literally forced myself to read it.It is just a waste of paper...

Anyway,the book overall is not too bad.The first one is way better though.
But then again,in every book of short stories,there are some good ones,some stupid ones and some dumb ones.
There are very few exeptionally good short stories because a short story is normally too short to develop a momentum of length that would reveal a lot of information and greatness.And a good plot to follow.
These short stories are so simply written that you can close your eyes and read them...enjoy...Nigel


This book is where mr Barker makes his debut,earning him a permanent place in the horror world. (this is for vol 1)
As good as this book is,it is at times elaborate and some of the points of each story are sometimes vague,but nevertheless it gives you the motivation to keep reading.It is very bloody and nasty sometimes.
1)The book of blood
2)The midnight meat train
3)The yattering and Jack
4)Pig blood blues
5)Sex,death and starshine
6)In the hills,the cities.

1)The book of blood is too short to be considered a short story but too long to be an introduction.It gives a basic idea of what is to come,of the terror waiting to be unleashed in the forthcoming pages.

2)The name says it all!This tale is quite bloody.A strange race of people who were living long before the New York people existed,lives on human flesh.They have people working on a special train,killing selected people,to satisfy their unsatisfiable hunger.A very amazing story...

3)A low ranked demon(The Yattering)has a job to send a man(Jack) insane.But Jack is all to aware of the Yattering's plan and when the Yattering fails(at the end of the story)his job,he becomes Jack's slave.(note:before becoming Jack's slave,The Yattering was a slave of "The lord of the flies")

4)A possessed pig seeks human flesh!(this story is a bit elaborate,and confusing at the ending)But it is difficult to stop reading because it is highly suspenseful.

5)Death is not he end of life,but the beginning.
In this story,people die and their body,after undergoing a change,continues to "live".
In this story we see the dead rising from graves only to live again!(I know,it sounds ridiculous,but it happens,at least in Clive Barker's world).
In the beginning of the story,the main characters were literally alive(like us)but in the ending,we see,how they are after death.
Their main purpose then is to blend in with the living without being noticed.
I know this story sounds dumb,but it is highly fascinating.And there is a lot of sex and romance in it.Not too much though,but enough to flavour the story.This story is my favourite,and it is also the one with the most dialogue!Therefore is very easy to follow.

6)A gay couple sets out for their honeymoon.But they are caught between a battle between two cities.
Let me explain this war...It happens every ten years.And it involves two unique cities.It also involves not only men,but women,children,old and young alike!
The people of each city are connected by ropes etc,to form one huge "giant".And I literally mean a giant!So,the cities battle each other in the form of giants.(each giant is shaped in the form of a man,a sexless,ugly man).
Now,this gay couple,not knowing what is going on,is caught up in the hills.(where the battle is taking place).

So,the story gets its name"In the hills,the cities"
Great,Huh?

Well,I hope that this review was most helpful.I tried to keep it as short as possible...enjoy...Nigel.

(I am sorry that I haven't written a review for the books of blood vol 3.Because time is a big problem.Maybe I will sometime in the future.The books of blood vol 3 is not too bad.It has some good stories and some bad ones.)

This book is where mr Barker makes his debut,earning him a permanent place in the horror world.
As good as this book is,it is at times elaborate and some of the points of each story are sometimes vague,but nevertheless it gives you the motivation to keep reading.It is very bloody and nasty sometimes.
1)The book of blood
2)The midnight meat train
3)The yattering and Jack
4)Pig blood blues
5)Sex,death and starshine
6)In the hills,the cities.

1)The book of blood is too short to be considered a short story but too long to be an introduction.It gives a basic idea of what is to come,of the terror waiting to be unleashed in the forthcoming pages.

2)The name says it all!This tale is quite bloody.A strange race of people who were living long before the New York people existed,lives on human flesh.They have people working on a special train,killing selected people,to satisfy their unsatisfiable hunger.A very amazing story...

3)A low ranked demon(The Yattering)has a job to send a man(Jack) insane.But Jack is all to aware of the Yattering's plan and when the Yattering fails(at the end of the story)his job,he becomes Jack's slave.(note:before becoming Jack's slave,The Yattering was a slave of "The lord of the flies")

4)A possessed pig seeks human flesh!(this story is a bit elaborate,and confusing at the ending)But it is difficult to stop reading because it is highly suspenseful.

5)Death is not he end of life,but the beginning.
In this story,people die and their body,after undergoing a change,continues to "live".
In this story we see the dead rising from graves only to live again!(I know,it sounds ridiculous,but it happens,at least in Clive Barker's world).
In the beginning of the story,the main characters were literally alive(like us)but in the ending,we see,how they are after death.
Their main purpose then is to blend in with the living without being noticed.
I know this story sounds dumb,but it is highly fascinating.And there is a lot of sex and romance in it.Not too much though,but enough to flavour the story.This story is my favourite,and it is also the one with the most dialogue!Therefore is very easy to follow.

6)A gay couple sets out for their honeymoon.But they are caught between a battle between two cities.
Let me explain this war...It happens every ten years.And it involves two unique cities.It also involves not only men,but women,children,old and young alike!
The people of each city are connected by ropes etc,to form one huge "giant".And I literally mean a giant!So,the cities battle each other in the form of giants.(each giant is shaped in the form of a man,a sexless,ugly man).
Now,this gay couple,not knowing what is going on,is caught up in the hills.(where the battle is taking place).

So,the story gets its name"In the hills,the cities"
Great,Huh?

Well,I hope that this review was most helpful.I tried to keep it as short as possible...enjoy...Nigel.

I read this many years ago, during the first issue, I guess it would have been in the late 80's.

To this day, the books of blood series have made an impact on my and how I judge other thriller or horror stories (books, short stories and movies).

I seem to recall that the introduction to book 1 said something to the effect of "Books are a lot like people, wherever they're opened, they're red".

I knew from just that intro I was in for a treat.*grin*

I've recommended this series of books to many people over the years and have thought about re-reading them again as it's been about 20 years! These novellas are, in my opinion, the best stuff Clive Barker has written and is on my top 20 list of all time favorite books.