The Thief of Always in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Oct 22, 2021 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This story felt ... old. Not in a bad way (like a story that aged badly) but as in how the story was structured, what it was about etc. It felt like a classic children's story. Maybe it should be.

One dreary February day, there is Harvey, a boy bored half out of his mind - which explains why he isn't the brightest candle on the cake. You see, just when he's sure he'll have to die of boredom, someone comes a-flying (no, not Mary Poppins) and offers him a trip to the Holiday House / the House of Al This story felt ... old. Not in a bad way (like a story that aged badly) but as in how the story was structured, what it was about etc. It felt like a classic children's story. Maybe it should be.

One dreary February day, there is Harvey, a boy bored half out of his mind - which explains why he isn't the brightest candle on the cake. You see, just when he's sure he'll have to die of boredom, someone comes a-flying (no, not Mary Poppins) and offers him a trip to the Holiday House / the House of Always where the weather is always nice, Spring passes in the course of a day and it's Halloween every night. There is also mud cake and other yummy food for all the children flocking to the place. You can do whatever you want all day, the only rules being that questions are forbidden and that you should smile. And if you're worried about what your parents will say about you coming home late or missing school, just call them and they'll tell you that it's no problem at all.

If this sounds like a dangerous and creepy place where something is afoot, you'd be absolutely right. As is no surprise to attentive readers, things turn dark very soon.

The author did a great job at incorporating elements from all kinds of children's stories where we travel to magical places and blend those elements with other well-known but still lovely tropes such as (view spoiler) and more. The atmosphere was positively zizzling with magic and foreboding.

Truth be told, I wasn't too much a fan of Harvey's. I mean, he must have known that that phone call home was bogus, but he didn't care. This level of stupidity just means that you deserve what is coming, no matter how steep the price for your own stupidity is (no, the age is no excuse either). *lol* But he certainly did make up for it and show some cleverness at the end. ;)

Honestly, I was kinda surprised to read this type of story from this author. But he pulled it off very well and I was greatly entertained, chuckling darkly to myself a number of times (yes, I wanted the brat to be taught a lesson). ...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, fantasy, 2021-shelf, ya

This is my second read, but I'm doing it decades apart. It's really strange. I kinda feel like I'm Harvey.

Not bored. Definitely not as bored as him, or nearly as gullible or enticed by a house of holidays, myth, or changed children. But I do really feel the underscored notion that you really can't go home again.

But you sure can wish for it.

And if you can pay the price...

Ah, honestly, I was always really surprised by how this particular Clive Barker book subverted all my expectations. I mean, the ...more

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Dec 06, 2017 Linda rated it really liked it

Shelves: own_scanned-books, 2017

Although this was my second time reading this book, I didn't remember anything from the first time through given I read it 25 years ago when it was first published.

I'm used to the all out horror and gore of the other Clive Barker books I've read, and this one is definitely NOT that. Although his book definitely has its creepy moments, it is firmly in the YA genre. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half only because I thought the resolution felt a little too "easy". Howev ...more

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