neko cam’s Reviews > Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three > Status Update

Note to self: vol 1 is The Book of Blood to In The Hills, The Cities, vol 2 is Dread to New Murders in the Rue Morgue, and vol 3 is Son of Celluloid to Human Remains. Where the hell are The Inhuman Condition to Twilight at the Towers from?!

'The Book of Blood (a Postscript): On Jerusalem Street' was an unfortunately uninspired ending to the anthology that illustrates what happened to the living Book of Blood from the introduction story.

'Twilight at the Towers' seemed promising for a while, but fell to mediocrity towards the end. An unfortunate closing story, though hopefully the postscript will make for a sweeter final note.

"The scars themselves still looked and felt tender, but her eyes read their lividness as a sign of her cunt's ambition, as though any day now her sex would grow from anus to navel (and beyond perhaps) opening her up; making her terrible."

'The Last Illusion' is probably my favorite story of the collection. Perhaps less horror than adventure, it concerns a mad dash to have the remains of a famous magician cremated before his body and soul can be claimed by the infernal beings with whom he made the deal to gain his powers.

'In the Flesh' was a bit longer than most of the other works in this anthology, and it was of above average quality too. Instead of stretching too thin a single gem of an idea, Barker weaves together a few loose threads to keep things interesting throughout the whole story. There are a couple of interesting characters and a couple of really nifty locales too. This isn't your standard transformation story.

'Babel's Children' is a familiar tale of the secret rulers of the world - they who pull the strings from behind the scenes - but with a fatalist turn.

'The Madonna' had some tinge of Lovecraft but, on the whole, felt more of Unknown Armies (the RPG). Another story that was alright without being great.

'The Forbidden' could have gone in any number of ways, and while the chosen direction had a gem or two of interesting idea, I didn't think it was all that great.