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Weaveworld

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 11,204 ratings · 411 reviews

Clive Barker has made his mark on modern fiction by exposing all that is surreal and magical in the ordinary world --- and exploring the profound and overwhelming terror that results. With its volatile mix of the fantastical and the contemporary, the everyday and the otherworldly, Weaveworld is an epic work of dark fantasy and horror -- a tour de force from one of today's...more

Paperback, 704 pages

Published 1988 by Pocket Books (first published 1987)

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Feb 09, 2008 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, top-shelf

Once, there was magic. There were sacred places and secret spots, and beings that held magnificent raptures. They were the Seerkind, and they were the magical children of the world.

Then the Scourge came. A being of magnificent power and mad obsession with a singular purpose - to utterly destroy the Seerkind. Its reasons, its motivations were completely unknown and brooked no argument or negotiation. And so, with their numbers being burned down, the Seerkind hid. They used their best magics and t...more Once, there was magic. There were sacred places and secret spots, and beings that held magnificent raptures. They were the Seerkind, and they were the magical children of the world.

Then the Scourge came. A being of magnificent power and mad obsession with a singular purpose - to utterly destroy the Seerkind. Its reasons, its motivations were completely unknown and brooked no argument or negotiation. And so, with their numbers being burned down, the Seerkind hid. They used their best magics and their most exquisite raptures to weave their most precious places and people into a haven that no one would ever find, a place that no one would ever look. A carpet.

They hoped to wake up once the Scourge had passed, after a few short years.

Eighty years later, the final custodian of the Weaveworld dies, leaving her estranged granddaughter, Suzanna to take over her duties. Whether she wanted to or not. Fortunately, she is not alone. Young Calhoun Mooney, the grandson of a poet, stumbled across the enchanted carpet and was ensnared by its intricate beauty. Together, they set off to save the Weaveworld from those who would rule it - or destroy it. Shadwell, an amoral salesman with an enraptured jacket that can produce any item his mark wants with all their heart, leads the hunt. With him, and supporting him is the Incantrantrix Immaculata, who hates the Seerkind with all her cold, dead heart.

And somewhere, in a dry, empty place, the Scourge sleeps....

I've read this book countless times, and it never gets old. I know Clive Barker is best known for his horror, but, much like Stephen King, he excels at writing fantasy. He has a gift for making his world both magical and believable, describing its magics and its dangers in wonderful detail. What I really enjoy, both in this and his other fantasy masterpiece Imagica, is his ability to name things. Like any true magician, he excels in the art of names, and they're truly exquisite. The Incantantrix Immaculata. Apolline Dubois. Balm DeBono. Lemuel Lo and his Orchard. The names themselves are magical, and it makes it so much more wonderful.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Have fun.(less)

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Mar 07, 2011 Schmacko rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ever since I read it in the late 80s, I have loved this rambling, indefinable book, which may make me a hypocrite. But I’ve learned human beings are nothing if not contrary in taste. I tell people I dislike science fiction and fantasy books, and that I have very little taste for gory horror (as opposed to psychological horror, which I love). Weaveworld wanders around a LOT in its 700+ Odysseus-like pages, but there’s something phantasmal and strange about this mystical world Clive Barker has cre...more Ever since I read it in the late 80s, I have loved this rambling, indefinable book, which may make me a hypocrite. But I’ve learned human beings are nothing if not contrary in taste. I tell people I dislike science fiction and fantasy books, and that I have very little taste for gory horror (as opposed to psychological horror, which I love). Weaveworld wanders around a LOT in its 700+ Odysseus-like pages, but there’s something phantasmal and strange about this mystical world Clive Barker has created that just sucks me in.

That being said, the long and complex Weaveworld isn’t pure science fiction or fantasy. It has moments of horror and moments of pure human drama. The story also has a sense of the mythological about it, borrowing from and twisting old Celtic and Druid stories into an entirely new invention. In the Old World tales, witches and wizards could sew up their corners or portions of the earth, making them invisible to others.

In Weaveworld, a whole magical landscape has been sewn into a rug to guard it from humans and supernatural creatures that would destroy it. Two people find out about this rug just as forces are coming together to unweave and undo it. One is a woman with buried witch-like powers; her aunt has been guarding the rug for decades. Another is a man – the grandson of a poet – who finds in the threads an escape from his dreary, aimless life. Together they wander our own world and the undiscovered world of the rug several times, trying to save the creation from its apocalypse.

Clive Barker (yes, he of Hellraiser and Books of Blood) creates a whole planet with mythical creatures, epic battles, political and social themes, and plenty of the gory horror he’s known for. That being said, each element is held in decent perspective; even the grisly parts seem less cruel and more fascinating and magical than he’s rendered in his other books. In many ways, Weaveworld is a horror writer’s nod to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, as well as to mythologist Joseph Campbell. Because Barker is such a good writer, his book is an elaborate weaving from many other sources and styles, yet Weaveworld still maintains the author’s signature style.
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Nov 05, 2012 Wordsmith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: High Fantasy, Or anyone really

Shelves: topfavorites, bestsellers, literature, classicky, magical, lit-modern, ranking-2012-reads-processing, sex, spirituality, star-five, re-reading, read-years-ago, faith, fantasy, favorite-author, friendships, england, lit-british, lit-fantasy, linguistic-marksmanship, over-500-pages, metaphysical, wonder, award-winning-book-or-author, death-violent, review-needed, violence, love, loss

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
NO PEEKING-THIS IS NOT EDITED!
A WORK IN PROGRESS!!!!!

I'm working on it. Watch out Immacolata.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Cal Mooney, Suzanne Parrish, Mimi Laschenski, Immacolata the Incantatrix The Magdalene, The Hag, Shadwell the Salesman, Hobart, Jerichau, Nimrod, Appoline, Romo, Balm de Bono, Lemuel Lo, Uriel.

The Cuckoo's, The Seerkind, The Kingdom, The Empire.
The Families—Four: The Babus, The Aia, The Lo, The Ye-Me.

Magic, Raptures, Weave and Rug. Scourges, Fugues, The Pigeons Fly.
The Hag and Wrait...more
NO PEEKING-THIS IS NOT EDITED!
A WORK IN PROGRESS!!!!!

I'm working on it. Watch out Immacolata.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Cal Mooney, Suzanne Parrish, Mimi Laschenski, Immacolata the Incantatrix The Magdalene, The Hag, Shadwell the Salesman, Hobart, Jerichau, Nimrod, Appoline, Romo, Balm de Bono, Lemuel Lo, Uriel.

The Cuckoo's, The Seerkind, The Kingdom, The Empire.
The Families—Four: The Babus, The Aia, The Lo, The Ye-Me.

Magic, Raptures, Weave and Rug. Scourges, Fugues, The Pigeons Fly.
The Hag and Wraith kept bid close by. Ever swirling, ghastly-opened, tied earth-bound for evil deed.
Their Sister, Immacolata, The Evil Incantatrix, Immortal Virgin, Born of Lilith, Black-Hearted Beauty, Cold-Holder of Dark Raptures-The Potent, Powerful Menstruum.

Nymphs flit, they fly, bait from behind, slink beside you with a wink,
there is no need here for a bed, when they lay down inside your head. No hope of letting go their grip, it's pure desire, lay back and sip. Beauty's all aflame at the font of Venus Mountain.

"What is your heartbeats desire?" leers the Salesman. He's Shadwell. He's Shimmering. He's Shady. Oh me, oh my, has there ever been a salesman more vile? This wily? Yesssss—The Virgin's Liar.

Fire-Walkers, Orchard-Keepers, Juicy Other-Worldly Peaches. O' Take Care!—O' The Loom!—O' The Gyre!
Can this really be all that? This Loyal Girl, That Regular Guy? Dragon or The Dragonslayer?

To save the Weave will Four Tribes band to The Cuckoo?
To save the Weave will all involved heed their heart? Follow what they come to learn just what it means to have that heart beat true.

  THE MAGICAL WEAVE

Raptures Wove This World Into A Rug.
Guarded—Protected In Their Refuge,
The Seerkind Sleep-They Sigh, In Deep Slumber
But Time Doth Fly—And Now Dreams Do Begin To Swirl
Despair, With Just One Tug
The Rugs Custodians Time Caught Up With Her—
Now Magic, Raptures, Seerkind, All
Who've Slumbered Fast Within The Weave—
Now Find Their Kind Is Prey
Ahhh, But Who Will Heed The Call? And Just How Far Is A Fall?
The Seerkind—The People Of The Fugue—
Will They
Cower, Tremble, Shiver, Run—Take Flight?
The Kind—Four Family's—Ancient As The Runes Of Time—
Will They Find A Way?
To Be Courageous, Even Brave—This Fight IS For Their Birthright.
The Incantatrix Immacolata—Evil Virgin Sorceress—Cold Heart Quickly Closing In
Sisters Swirling—SpellBound To Wraith And Wrath—Her Whirling Ectoplasm
Magic World—O' Treasured Eden—Preserve Unraveled Weave
For HE'S Awake, The Scourge, His Wrath—Consumed By Fated Hate
Alert, The Scourge's Fiery Wrath, His Dragon's Breath, Uriel's Light—This He Does Believe
Can Suzanne And Cal, Two Cukoos, Save Seerkinds Glorious Garden From Their Hated Fate.

Weaveworld Is not your average fairy tale...
Weaveworld is not your child's fairy tale...

Weaveworld is very much an adult fairy tale...a dark fantasy...low fantasy...somewhat the phantasm of erotic magical fantasy, that can be expected from any Clive Barker written for the adult market, although not near as graphic as The Books Of The Art. I'm pointing this out because he is a brilliant writer of children's books as well.

Weaveworld was Clive's first "big" book, following his first two novels which were distinctive for the splash they made in the world of horror fiction, a genre he remains quite comfortable with as he is the undisputed master of horror, not only in literature but on film as well. But he did make the personal decision to veer sideways a bit, and in doing so opened himself up to creative journeys landing us all into worlds brilliant with magic and brimming with dreams, a theme he would return to time and again throughout his long career. I can see the birth of The Great and Secret Show and Everville within the pages of Weaveworld, ...working....working...writing...writing...

I am working on more. Soon, soon....Until then...
QUOTES FROM CLIVE HIMSELF REGARDING WEAVEWORLD:

"In the case of Weaveworld, I wrote a lost tribe story. It's something that preoccupies me."— CB 1988

"Weaveworld was my version of what the English fantasy tradition has done so well: the imagined world—Tolkein, C.S.Lewis, Lewis Carroll—a British tradition that's notable for the way in which it deals with the notion of mythic worlds."— CB 1986

"Tales of Paradise Lost are central to our culture, of course; we are all exiles from some place of bliss. What is that place? A memory of a pre-conscious state of perfect contentment, where we believe ourselves whole because we have not yet comprehended the fact of our physical separation from our mothers? Or a religious conviction, too deep in our cells to be subjected to the rigours of intellectual enquiry, that knows our connection to the planet, to animal life, to the stars? A faith, is it? Or a glorious certainty? It isn't necessary for a storyteller to have answers to the questions they pose, of course; only to he interested enough to ask them. Weaveworld is full of unrequited enquiries. Why does Immacolata's hatred of the Seerkind burn so intensely? Is the creature in the Empty Quarter an angel or not? And if the garden of sand in which it has kept its psychotic vigil is not the Eden of Genesis, then where did the Seerkind arise from? There are certainly answers to these mysteries to be wrought & written, but they would, I am certain, only beg further questions, which if answered would beg yet more. For all its length & elaboration, the novel does not attempt to fill in every gap in its invented history. 'Nothing ever begins', its first line announces; there are innumerable stories from which this fragment of narrative springs & there will be plenty to tell when it's done. Though I have had requests aplenty for a sequel, I will never write one. The tale isn't finished; but I've told all I can."—CB 1990

"I thought that would be a nice idea because Wonderland is a kind of sexless place. It always surprises me that when fantasy writers decide to return to a place of true magic...they remove one of the few things that is magical in everybody's lives: sex...So I decided to make an erotic Wonderland."— CB 1986

[Weaveworld embodying the point of fantasy] "The longing for the "other place." Yes, obviously that intention was there from the beginning, the feeling is that there is a home which is even more fundamental than the home where you were born, that maybe we have, prenatally, an image of Eden, or of a perfect place, or a place where we may be perfectible."— CB 1987

"So many magic worlds are about the liberation to the foulest kinds of wish fulfillment. Men go into enchanted worlds & manage finally to be able to slaughter, like barbarians. Women go into enchanted worlds & become queens & princesses & are worshiped like goddesses, but in actual fact become wholly passive in the same process. What I wanted to do was create a pacifist paradise. Could I create a moment for Cal in the book Weaveworld that was magical to the reader & yet didn't require him to, you know, like kick major alien ass?.You have to write something that makes some kind of metaphysical sense as well as narrative sense. This isn't a fiction of escapism; it's a fiction of confrontation. At its best, I do believe it confronts genuine anxieties & genuine hopes. In Weaveworld, I wanted to talk about where the magic could survive in the 20th century & what we meant by magic."— CB 1988

"We live, it seems to me, in a society in which meaning is being drained away, in which metaphysical significance is under siege...150 years ago, our sense that the world was a watch & God was the watchmaker would have been very strong. Now, we are born into a world in which the atom bomb exists...in which AIDS is rampant. We live in a world in which fear & anxiety are commonplace. On one curious level, one of the ways that people have responded to this high level anxiety is not to search. I don't see a massive explosion of genuine metaphysical enquiry. Relating that to the fears that I have & the hope that I have, my fears are finely related to the death of meaning. One of the things that 'Weaveworld' is about is meaning being frail in the world, a frail thing subject to forgetfulness. The major theme of Weaveworld above all is memory. It's about how you hold on to something that you had when you were a child, the knowledge you had as a child, how we as a species hold on to a kind of optimism which we remember. How we have a memory of Eden, a 'race' memory, a subconscious memory of Eden. The word 'fantasy' has now become pejorative. In fact, fantasy fiction has repeatedly through the ages addressed very serious subjects; Moby Dick is a fantasy, Midsummer Night's Dream is a fantasy, The Tempest, Paradise Lost & they contain great moral complexity & depth. So fantasy should not be maligned. Fantasy as a form can contain great depth. Not claiming that 'Weaveworld' is the definitive —it isn't, but it's certainly an attempt on my part to address the possibilities of fantasy, rather than simply its superfice. It can be about life & death, it can be about eroticism transformed to magic, it can be about mystery 'held onto'...it's important to address these subjects. I think fantasy can do it better, because finally, we live a quarter of our lives, a third of our lives, perhaps—in dreamland. In our dreams, we explore & deal with our lives in metaphorical terms—which are parallels to, analogous to the conditions & the fears & the hopes that we have in our waking lives. I would say that in the same way, fantasy is a confrontation with our waking lives, at its best. The problem is, in a genre which is full of phallic swords & that kind of thing, it's important to establish female power & female potency & the eroticism which comes with that. And it needn't all be 'goody-goody' stuff, I mean Immacolata particularly; she's kind of sexy, yet dangerous at the same time. And yet a virgin, which makes her all the more sexier of course. One of my favourite scenes in Weaveworld is when Jerichau makes love with Suzanna, in which his words become poems, which is a kind of image of eroticism which is potent I hope in part because it is anti-chauvinist. Because here is a man who is very vulnerable & very much in love. And of course Cal is very much in love with Suzanna, but it's a non-sexual love, under those circumstances...She has so much power in the book. She's the one who makes the plot turn 90 degrees in places..."— CB 1988

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK WEAVEWORLD :
1) “Nothing ever begins. There is no first moment; no single word or place from which this or any story springs. The threads can always be traced back to some earlier tale & the tales that preceded that; though as the narrator's voice recedes the connections will seem to grow more tenuous, for each age will want the tale told as if it were of its own making[...]Nothing is fixed. In & out the shuttle goes, fact & fiction, mind & matter woven into patterns that may have only this in common: that hidden among them is a filigree that will with time become a world. It must be arbitrary, then, the place at which we choose to embark. Somewhere between a past half forgotten & a future as yet only glimpsed. This place for instance.[...]He approaches the door of the pigeon loft, opens it & at this moment—for want of a better—this story takes wing.”

2) "Heaven is an orchard."

3) "Here was a music which did not imitate any natural sound—it was not bird or whale song, nor tree or stream—but instead expressed experiences which lay between words: the off-beat of the heart, where intellect could not go."

4) “True joy is a profound remembering; and true grief the same.”

5) “Always, worlds within worlds.”

6) "That which is imagined need never be lost."

7) “Maybe the man had taken the wrong turning, but at least he'd travelled some extraordinary roads."

8) “For nothing ever begins. And this story, having no beginning, will have no end.”

Uriel-The Angel Of Light—Wrath of Fire?

Ectoplasmic Wraiths

Suzanna's Woodcut Book—Fairy Tale or Map of Instructions? Will she see it again?

Large One-Detailed

Weaveworld was nominated in 1988 for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

Oh Yes, One Last Note: Immacolata The Incantatrix has her own Wikipedia page. Who knew?

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May 21, 2008 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Horror fans/fantasy fans/Barker lovers

I read this book when I was in high school and I wanted to see how much it had changed in my mind. Because let's face it, a story we hate or love as a young adult can be totally different when we read it later. Plus, I really wanted to revisit the works of Barker. He's a great author in the horror genre, and a very entertaining read if you can get into his imagery and follow his bizarre story lines.

"Weaveworld" attests to Clive Barker's strange imagination. When a young man Calhoun takes off to...more I read this book when I was in high school and I wanted to see how much it had changed in my mind. Because let's face it, a story we hate or love as a young adult can be totally different when we read it later. Plus, I really wanted to revisit the works of Barker. He's a great author in the horror genre, and a very entertaining read if you can get into his imagery and follow his bizarre story lines.

"Weaveworld" attests to Clive Barker's strange imagination. When a young man Calhoun takes off to catch his father's racing pigeon, he finds himself face to face with a carpet that promises the paradise of Cal's imagination. Retaining a small piece of the carpet, Cal and Suzanna, the granddaughter of one of the custodians of the carpet find that this rug is more than ordinary.

From the representatives of the fantastical families of the Fugue, the world that was woven into the carpet to escape the being known only as the Scourge, Cal and Suzanna realize that paradise is real...but not safe. In the Kingdom of the Cuckoos (as the real world is known), those fighting for the good of the Fugue are working to save the carpet from those who would seek revenge on the Seerkind woven into the rug: Immacolata and her two demon sisters and the salesman Shadwell, who wears a magic jacket that can entice anyone to do anything in return for their hearts desires.

"Weaveworld" is a complex story told like a fairy tale and drawing from both fantasy stories and biblical tales. Barker uses great imagery, and many of the monsters and landscapes he describes take the reader past their everyday knowledge and really stretches the imagination.

While I enjoyed this book, I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. One thing to remember with Barker is that to read him, you have to be committed. I strugged to stay focused, not because the story wasn't a good one, but because my mind was constantly wandering to the things other than what was happening on the pages (this is not to say this was a boring book...it's more a testimony to how much I stress about life in general).

A fairly long read, "Weaveworld" takes your full attention to really get into. But if you can manage to immerse yourself, it's well worth the time. (less)

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Jul 26, 2012 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned

I've bailed on this book. I wanted to like it. I read the introduction and the theme appeals to me. But Barker's statement that critics thought his imagination too dark for the genre seems just a little self-aggrandizing. There was plenty of dark fantasy even in 1987, and of course it abounds now. Unfortunately, I couldn't read about the sisters without visualizing something out of a Tim Burton animation. And I think the true problem is that Barker wrote a fantasy novel without being a reader of...more

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May 02, 2013 John Popa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For whatever reason, it took me years and several attempts to warm up to "Weaveworld," a bit of a surprise as I'm a huge fan of Clive Barker's writing and to many this is his most successful work. But for years I'd start it and lose interest, setting it aside to chase other imaginings. Somehow, when I tried to dig in recently, it stuck and I found myself working through the book pretty briskly.

There's a lot to like about "Weaveworld," Clive Barker's first big fantasy/horror book. It's typically...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Donovan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I feel this is one of the finest pieces of Clive Barker's work.
Admittedly I had trouble getting through the first chapter and started/stopped four or five times before I got past it. But when I did, it takes you on an amazing ride.

Plot ***Spoilers***
The novel revolves around the world of the Fugue, a magical world which lies woven within a rug.

Many decades ago the Seerkind (creatures of magical abilities) decided to hide themselves through a spell or "Rapture" in a safe haven after being hunted...more I feel this is one of the finest pieces of Clive Barker's work.
Admittedly I had trouble getting through the first chapter and started/stopped four or five times before I got past it. But when I did, it takes you on an amazing ride.

Plot ***Spoilers***
The novel revolves around the world of the Fugue, a magical world which lies woven within a rug.

Many decades ago the Seerkind (creatures of magical abilities) decided to hide themselves through a spell or "Rapture" in a safe haven after being hunted down and eradicated by humans for centuries (with humans most commonly depicting them as demons and fairies in their mythological tales) as well as being decimated by a destructive being known as The Scourge - The Scourge's form is entirely unknown to the Seerkind, given that none of those assaulted by the Scourge survived to describe it.

The Seerkind collect a number of beautiful/enchanted places, hills, meadows and mountains, alongside their belongings and themselves and undergo a spell which encloses all of them in the rug. They also leave the wife of one of their kind, a non-seerkind woman named Mimi Laschenski, outside in the human world with the purpose of keeping and guarding the rug and also unleashing the world of the Fugue someday when the world had become a safe place for them. Eight decades later, a sudden interest emerges for the rug at the time an elderly Mimi (having recently gone through a stroke in her old age) expires.

Calhoun Mooney, an ordinary young man, accidentally comes into contact with the rug and realises its magical nature; Suzanna Parish, Mimi's granddaughter is given clues to the rug's existence from her grandmother (who can no longer speak since the stroke) and moves to uncover its secrets; Immacolata, exiled by the Seerkind into the human world, wants to find the rug and destroy her race.

Cal and Suzanna join forces against Immacolata, her dead sisters and a greedy human known as Shadwell. The second part of the book develops within the world of Fugue, unleashed from within the rug, and deals with the struggle of characters for the control of this world. The third part sees the Fugue destroyed, with the surviving Seerkind, Cal and Suzanna hiding in the forests of Scotland and facing the ultimate battle against the resurrected Scourge.(less)

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Nov 27, 2010 Tanabrus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Dopo la lettura di Gioco dannato, e dopo aver visto le atmosfere del W tra le quali G.L. D’Andrea si era profuso in citazioni al suo riguardo (molte delle quali non avevo potuto apprezzare fino a quando non ho letto i suoi libri, ovviamente), mi ero fatto l’idea che fosse un autore di un certo tipo.
Un tipo alla Gioco dannato, da atmosfere cupe a forte rischio di claustrofobia, un tipo di autore che scava dentro alla ricerca del terrore.

Mi sbagliavo.

In questo libro si celebra la fantasia.
In alcun...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Dreadlocksmile rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Barker lets loose his imagination as he takes you on an unforgettable trip to fantastic and incredible worlds of pure fantasy. His writing style engrosses the reader deep within the pages, immersing you into a dark and wonderful land of the unbelievable. He takes you on a trip of the magical and macabre and celebrates the potential of the human imagination.

The novel will grip you from the start and keep you desperate to keep reading. It is a book of dark fantasy that leaves you breathless after...more

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Sep 03, 2007 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy fans

Shelves: uber-books

This is one of my very favorite books. I don't usually reread books, but I do with Weaveworld. It is so imaginative and fantastic - imagine the coolest, craziest rug you've ever seen. Then imagine that it's actually a world, whose magical inhabitants wove themselves into the rug to hide themselves from The Scourge, which seeks to destroy them.

A rather silly British fellow has a few of these magical people appear from a torn segment of the rug, and he's off on the most intense adventure...

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Sep 26, 2011 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-fantasy

Tea: A truly wonderful cup.
Overall, this is one of my all time favorites, and my favorite from Clive. Its a great book to keep re-reading.
This story is a little different from his other books, almost a depart from his normal style, similar to King and Straub's "The Taliasman", with all the magic weaved into the story, with of course Clive's dark outlook intertwined into the story.
This story follows an average guy, who, by circumstance or bad luck, stumbles across another world, hidden in a carpe...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror

I've described this novel as "Alice In Wonderland Goes To Hell" & in some parts of the novel this could be true. But in other parts, it could be described as "C.S. Lewis On LSD." Both descriptions are merely scratching he surface of this Dark Fantasy/Horror epic by Mr. Barker. I will not lie: It is a chore to get through but a rewarding one nonetheless.

Two humans, a male & a female, are drawn to a rug which is actually a weird-world woven into its shape. The rug is the Weaveworld & i...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Brandon Ostrom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book really had me until about 1/2 way in. I enjoyed all the characters, especially the evil bastards like Shadwell and Imaculada but it just goes bloody on and on. Maybe I just tried to read it too quickly, but 3/4 through, I'm like oh god, can't find reason to go on. I have to say I like Clive Barker's style, and that this is a well written book. Lots of great dark fantasy and horror stuff here. Yes, it's got some gore, but its no worse than the sort of thing you'd see in a Stephen King n...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Thea Guanzon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Utterly enchanting. Sensual and twisted. One of the most complex fantasy novels I've ever read, brimming with socio-political, moral and religious themes ingrained into a thrilling plot. A story where every character is given, not just a name and a face, but life as well. This is perhaps the only book where I've gone from hating someone's guts (in this case, Hobart) to fangirling the hell out of him. Weaveworld has no clear-cut villains, and that is partly what makes it such a powerful work. Vil...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Adrian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love this book! It took me awhile to read because it's soo big, but it was worth it.

It's a little hard to explain, but I'll give it a go. It's definitely a fantasy book and it takes place in Europe. The general story is about a magic carpet that has a city weaved into it. The people from the carpet have special talents (powers if you will) and they had to weave themselves and their lands into this carpet to hide from something that is trying to destroy them. That's the nutshell version, but th...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Rusty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A man loses his wife. As he grieves he seems unable to find interest in any part of his life. Even his beloved racing pigeons are cared for by his son, Cal. When one escapes Cal chases it and discovers an enchanting world which he views when he falls off a wall. A young woman receives a letter from her grandmother asking her to visit before it's too late. Thus begins a strange adventure for Suzanne when she meets Cal.

The enchanting world is enclosed in a carpet where inhabitants sleep and the w...more

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Feb 08, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A huge snowstorm left me stranded this weekend at home with no libray books other than a Joseph Smith biography that I really didn't want to read. What's a girl to do? How about read some of the books I own yet have inexplicably not yet read? I've owned this since Eric moved to Canada, and man, that was a long time ago. This was well worth it, and I'm pretty ashamed I let it sit on the shelf for so long. For that matter, why don't I read more Clive Barker anyway? While this is no Imajica, the st...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Lainie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Before I say anything I must admit that Fantasy is not a genre I'm find of. But I have owned this book since the day in 1987 or 8 when Clive Barker signed it to me at (the late) Bay Bridge Books in Oakland. Now, having just read Among Others, a recently published fantasy novel, I thought, it's time to give Weaveworld a try.

I wish it had been shorter. I wish Barker had done more Showing and less Telling. I wish I had not felt compelled to learn all the special place names, lore, and rules the st...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Read 01/02/2013 - 14/02/2013

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. Fantasy books, especially 700 page books about mystical worlds, usually put me off. But I think what was different about this, was that the fantasy didn't feel over-played. The two central characters were both human, and even the Weaveworld itself, and its inhabitants, felt human too.

I liked the fact that the novel was split into three separate books. My issue with very long books is that they tend to either still hav...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Brian McCusker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book, literally took me years to read. Started it over ten years ago, put it down and forgot about it, then rediscovered it and finished it. on picking it up for the second time, it stated reading from the chapter I left at and could remember most of what was going on. But i decided to restart from the beginning and was glad i did as there was a lot that had passed me by.
The story is indeed a weave of different threads and paths that ultimately all lead to the endpoint.
Clive Barker has wri...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Emma Glaisher rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 really. Maybe 4? I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading this, but got annoyed by the numerous typos in the edition I was reading. A well worked out version of 'magic lies alongside us' (cf. Harry Potter - muggles and cuckoos!), with a pleasingly gritty Merseyside backdrop.

The idea of the Weave is one of the most original I've ever come across and makes for a real sense of wonder. The maiden/woman/crone trinity of Immacolata and her sisters are chilling (but as I'm getting on a bit I wish the Hag ha...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Rick rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Suggested to me by friend of the family, long ago. Got my hands on it at a bookstore in Buffalo, and have had it on my shelf for years.

This book was a bit long-winded. Maybe after having read one 700+ page book, I just wasn't ready for another one. But still, I just wasn't getting into this one as much.

There is some great imagery, and Barker is able to tap your senses in his descriptions of scenes and grotesque spirit characters. The evil creatures and spirits in this parallel dimension are qu...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Apatt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, top-20, fantasy-top20

Another day another hapless ordinary person wanders into a fantastical world. Quite a few of my favorite books have this basic plot structure (quite a few Gaimans), because when this sort of story works I feel like the ordinary protagonist is my avatar and I get to explore the magical world with him. Clive Barker is better known as a horror author but he is equally adept at fantasy and can probability write a great sf if he wanted to. Here the magical world and its magical citizens is woven into...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Tina rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

I have never done this before. I was at page 669 out of 722, a fairly negligible amount of pages left to read, but I just couldn't continue. This book was SO BORING. The concept was cool and the characters were alright (kind of wooden, really), but the writing was just... it was lacking... FIRE, I guess. I was just so hum-drum. There was nothing that drew me to read it.
When I first started it, I was into it enough to keep going. I gave it a good hundred pages and it started getting interesting....more

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Mar 20, 2009 Mark Howell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is really an enigma. At times fast-paced, at times slow and pontificating... In reality I'd say this book deserves more 3.5-3.75 stars, not quite the full four, but it's definitely closer to 4 than 3.
While in general I like Barker's writing style (having finished Mister B Gone well before this book), his pace towards the end takes on a seemingly unhurried "we'll get there when we get there" attitude, which left me frustrated, just like the kid in the back seat during a long road trip:...more

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Dec 19, 2008 Neil Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I haven't read this since I was about 14, but the main premise, of there being a whole world and people woven into a rug that survives centuries and is a sanctuary for the pursued inhabitants, still captures my imagination. I should read this again.

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Jan 22, 2013 Gary rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: one

Having finished this and put it back on my shelves about two years ago, I can say without fear of exaggeration that I will not look behind me with longing, only regret. Regret that I picked it up in the first place.

I'll admit it, the cover got me - not so much the centrepiece, but the carpet-border is fantastic. Compliments over. It was 20p from a Cats Protection charity shop, but don't let it fool you into thinking it's value for money. I'm happy for the cats, though.

The writing annoyed me, as...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, read-2010

Wow this is book to me was quite a disappointment. I found this book to be very long winded while at the same time it did not reveal much and left you wondering many questions. I found Cal to be a likable protagonist but did not care for Suzanne,the other main character. I felt the book should have ended at the three quarter mark where much of the main story lines were resolved. The last quarter of the book was painful to me as I no longer cared. I am giving this two stars even though I will pro...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Costa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Weaveworld is a fantasy novel for grown-ups, straddling the line between contemporary supernatural horror and classic world-building fantasy, Clive Barker's light, simple and clear writing propels the story forward.

The characters are exciting, and it is refreshing to have a strong leading lady centre stage, as well as a non-traditional (for a fantasy novel) leading men.

This story made me wince on more than one occasion - Barker does not hold back on graphic detail - however, despite my weak stom...more

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Sep 16, 2009 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read this first time when I was a late teenager. Been think about it ever since. Re-read it this summer and it was still great.

Complex story but a man and a woman finds them self caught in a fight between the good and evil. A world parallell to ours exist. And all it's good and bad sides connects to our world.

A more grown upp fantasy book. If they ever make movie about this one I will be the first in line for the theater. Love the conflicts they get caught in and the mix of magic and reality....more

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About Clive Barker

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It...more Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.

Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.

Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.

Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.

Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.

A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid, (less)

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Quotes from Weaveworld

“That which is imagined can never be lost.” — 102 people liked it

“Nothing ever begins.
There is no first moment; no single word or place from which this or any story springs.
The threads can always be traced back to some earlier tale, and the tales that preceded that; though as the narrator's voice recedes the connections will seem to grow more tenuous, for each age will want the tale told as if it were of its own making.” — 68 people liked it

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