Книги крови. Запретное

Books of Blood #4-6

by Clive Barker

Это истории, записанные в Книге крови. Это карта темных дорог, ведущих от привычной жизни в сторону неизвестности, а порой и к настоящим монстрам, которые живут как в иных измерениях, так и внутри нас. Ведь в мире Клайва Баркера против человека может восстать даже собственное тело. В нем демоны с пчелами вместо крови поджидают гостей в обычных новостройках, чудовища таятся в заброшенных зданиях, а обыкновенные фокусы оборачиваются темной и ужасающей магией. Здесь призраки возвращаются на землю, убийцам уготован свой собственный ад, а мироздание таит в себе множество опасностей и соблазнов. Это «Книги крови» — рассказы, которые навеки изменили жанр ужасов, один из самых легендарных сборников в истории хоррора.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Collections, Anthologies, Dark Fantasy

732 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

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,

Reviews

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What the boy had said was true. The dead have highways. Only the living are lost.”

14 more horrifying tales from the master of darkness and body horror... These are the stories written on the Book of Blood.

When I read Books of Blood Volumes 1-3, I was completely blown away by how much I loved pretty much every story in there. I'd find it very difficult to fault that collection in any way! Although Volumes 4-6 were still AMAZING, there were a few stories that I less excited about, and will no doubt forget quite quickly.

Short story collections are difficult to review, especially when they're SO GOOD, as I just want to gush about each individual stories and all the reasons I enjoyed them... but hey, we'd be here all day. So I thought I'd just highlight my absolute favourites (which is nearly all of them...)

- The Body Politic is an insane story where human hands have decided to rebel and depart from their owners' bodies. I realise this sounds absolutely ludicrous but Barker has the ability to make the ludicrous really freakin' cool and interesting!
- The Forbidden, the inspiration for the movie Candyman (and also the inspiration for a lot of people's childhood nightmares), is a gruesome and highly imaginative story in which the locals are keeping hush about a series of recent murders and mutilations
- Down, Satan! is a short (but not sweet) story about a guy who thinks that Satan has abandoned him and therefore builds Hell on Earth to summon him back
- In the Flesh was FUCKING AMAZING. This one is about a prisoner who claims he's in jail to obtain guidance from his grandfather who had died there years before. The ending was one of the best I've ever read in a short story... wow.
- The Life of Death involves a woman meeting a man who shares her fascination for death. The twists and turns in this one kept me on my toes!
- The Last Illusion gave me intense Hellhound Heart vibes, clearly Barker dabbling with the idea of Coenobites
- And lastly, the conclusion itself to the Books of Blood was just so beautifully written and reminds exactly why I love Barker so much

I really could have heaped praise on about 12 of the stories in here, there was only two that I really didn't enjoy that much - Twilight at the Towers and How Spoilers Bleed. I just found them a tad boring... and the general storylines weren't to my interest, I guess! But the rest of the collection is simply brilliant.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Barker has an imagination like no other. I'm actually devastated to be finished with the Books of Blood *cries*

Highly recommend if you enjoy horror short stories and don't mind a bit of blood and guts being added to proceedings!

4 stars.

[TheNeverendingTBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of hit-and-miss stories here. Barker is a very competent writer no doubt, just thought he did a marginally better job in the first three volumes. Good but not great.

[Maria Lago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barker me cae muy bien, en serio. Creo que es un escritor muy inteligente y altamente original. Estoy segura de que cualquier fan del terror leerá con curiosidad, como mínimo, esta segunda entrega de los Libros de sangre.
Le doy una puntuación algo tibia porque me resulta frustrante el modo en el que Barker se explaya en algunas historias; es decir, creo que la mayoría no deberían ser tan largas. Quizás sea una opinión personal (bueno, quizás no, seguro), pero cuando leo historias cortas me gusta ir directamente al meollo, me gusta un ritmo rápido. Un buen escritor sabe como poner al lector en antecedentes con dos párrafos.
Aun así, vaya... Las dos historias que más me han gustado son las que abren el volumen 5: The Forbidden, la ya merecidamente famosa historia de Candyman y The Maddona, una historia de laberintos en espiral y monstruos realmente escalofriante.

[SAM · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sweets to the sweet..."

[TheNeverendingTBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of hit-and-miss stories here. Barker is a very competent writer no doubt, just thought he did a marginally better job in the first three volumes. Good but not great.

[cosmic_truthseeker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's done. It's finished. I have finally read all six volumes of the Books of Blood, and what a journey it was.

It's hard to give any thoughts in this review that I didn't already give in my review of the first three volumes. Barker's writing is incredible, and I can already feel it's influence on my more recent work. Astonishing prose and grotesque scenes come together to tell stories that linger in the mind for days afterwards.

All I can really do here is list my favourite stories, though truly I don't think there was a bad one amongst them.

From Volume 4:
The Body Politic - sentient hands!
The Inhuman Condition - magic string
The Age of Desire - a killer libido

From Volume 5:
The Forbidden - Candyman!
The Madonna - creepy abandoned swimming pool
In The Flesh - a Hellish prison sentence

From Volume 6:
The Life of Death - macabre obsessions
The Last Illusion - the race for a magician's soul

All I can say is if you're a fan of horror and haven't read these yet, then I definitely think you should. They explore dark themes and definitely aren't for the faint of heart, but Barker touches the taboo parts of humanity's soul and drags it out into the public eye.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clive Barker's wildly imaginative horror short story collection is a must read for horror fans but will be appreciated by any who enjoy well-written dark literature (NOTE: contains graphic violence and sex - not for the squeamish). Perhaps the most shocking stories of the collection were contained in the first few volumes of this series but there are many, many gems in these volumes as well. Below please find a list of stories by volume, including a rating and song lyrics that you may find fitting and entertaining, or not:

Volume 4 - The Inhuman Condition:
The Body Politic - 3/5 - keep your hands to yourself
The Inhuman Condition - 4/5 - I've got the world on a string
Revelations - 3/5 - pulled my trigger now he's dead
Down, Satan! - 4/5 - I must love what I destroy and destroy the thing I love
The Age of Desire - 3/5 - what you get is what you seek

Volume 5 - In the Flesh:
The Forbidden - 4/5 - who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream...
The Madonna - 4/5 - didn't know how lost I was until I found you
Babel's Children - 3/5 - we've got the whole world in our hands
In the Flesh - 4/5 - tonight there's gonna be trouble

Volume 6:
The Life of Death - 4/5 - she had become like they are
How Spoilers Bleed - 4/5 - we got your disease, in the jungle...
Twilight at the Towers - 3/5 - secret agent man
The Last illusion - 4/5 - someday soon we'll stop to ponder what on Earth's this spell we're under
The Book of Blood (a postscript): On Jerusalem Street - 4/5 - if you want blood, you got it

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 5 out of 5]

El segundo tomo de los libros de sangre de Clive Barker también es una maravilla. Es soprendente e injusto que alguien como Barker, que obtuvo mucha fama en los 80 con las pelis de Hellraiser y esta serie de libros no tenga tanta relevancia en la actualidad puesto que esta al nivel de los mejores autores del género.
Puede ser porque ya no escribe con tanta regularidad como por ejemplo Stephen King, pero la calidad de todas sus obras es tan alta y original que me resulta difícil ser imparcial con este autor, para mí es uno de los mejores escritores que he tenido el placer de leer.
En este volumen encontramos pequeñas obras maestras de lo macabro como son:

La Madonna: Donde unas peculiares criaturas surgen de una piscina y cambian la vida de un mafioso y un empleado deprimido.

Abajo Satan!: Donde un millonario construye la entrada al infierno en una ciudad.

La edad del deseo: En un laboratorio se hacen experimentos para mejorar el instnto sexual en las personas quehan perdido la líbido. Un hombre con quien se ha experimentado huirá del laboratorio con la líbido explotándole y el deseo sexual desenfrenado, las consecuencias serán nefastas.

Lo prohíbido:: La historia que fué adaptada en la película " Candyman". Tan buena como la peli, el villano del cuento da escalofrios.

La vida de la muerte: Una mujer curiosea en una iglesia que van a demoler y observa unos esqueletos en una tumba. Una extraña enfermedad entrará en ella y todo aquel que la toque morirá irremediablemente.

La condición inhumana: Un chaval encuentra una cuerda con unos extraños nudos que al deshacerlos
invocarán a unas peligrosas fuerzas.

[Will Errickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anything the second three volumes of BOOKS OF BLOOD are even better than the first three. Barker's prose is sharper, his ideas more bizarre, themes more potent, his execution without peer.

Again: if you haven't read BOOKS OF BLOOD... you haven't read horror.

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second collection of Clive Barker's Books of blood and encompasses books 4-6.
AS per the first collection, this is not for the squeamish!

Plot ***Spoilers***

Volume Four


The Body Politic

In a bizarre version of a revolution, it appears that all our hands have their own consciousness and are not happy at being ordered what to do by their owners. The hands of a factory worker named Charlie plan to lead the revolution. Charlie's hands even have their own personalities, with Left being more cautious and Right being very determined and even proclaiming himself a Messiah. Right - against Charlie's own wishes - chops off Left, who scuttles away to summon other hands to do the same before returning to rescue Right, starting an unfortunate revolution for the population. This book was later adapted and used, in part, for the movie Quicksilver Highway.



The Inhuman Condition

A young man named Karney and his friends beat up a vagrant for fun. Karney steals a strange knotted piece of string he finds on the vagrant. A keen fan of puzzles, Karney undoes the knots that evening, not knowing that in doing so he is releasing a succession of demons who proceed to kill off his friends. The demons seem progressively more advanced, appearing to evolve with each knot. When he realises what he has done, Karney has to seek out the vagrant for help.



Revelations

A woman named Virginia is unwillingly taken on a tour of the USA by her unfeeling preacher husband named John. They stay at a motel which is visited by the ghosts of Buck and Sadie, who were married while they were alive, having visited the motel 30 years ago. Sadie murdered Buck at the motel and was subsequently put to death for the murder. Buck and Sadie find that Virginia has the ability to both see and hear them. Meanwhile a scuffle ensues when the preacher discovers their driver had been giving Virginia pills to deal with her anxiety issues, while looking for the driver to confront him about the pills, John finds the married driver in bed with the daughter of the motel owner. Virginia ends up getting her hands on the exact murder weapon Sadie used to kill Buck 30 years prior and accidentally shoots her husband while aiming for Buck.



Down, Satan!

One of the shortest stories relates the tale of a wealthy middle-aged businessman, Gregorius, who becomes depressed when he believes God has deserted him, and he comes up with a plan to build a Hell on Earth in order to summon Satan, believing that God will then sweep him (Gregorius) out of Satan's clutches and into His heavenly fold. In his vast Satanic Cathedral, Gregorious soon loses sight of his original intention of attracting God's attention, and he is captured after torturing hundreds of people to death in the well-equipped torture chambers. It is deliberately left ambiguous whether Gregorius went insane, or if he really did succeed in tempting Satan into taking residence in his own personal Hell.



The Age Of Desire

A private laboratory runs experiments on volunteers to investigate the libido and try to develop a chemical aphrodisiac. One of the experiments goes wrong when a man goes insane with lust. His perpetual state of arousal erodes his respect for morality or the law. He rapes, murders and mutilates one of the scientists and then escapes to cause wanton mayhem, eventually burning himself out and dying.



Volume Five


The Forbidden

A University student named Helen is doing a thesis on graffiti, and selects a run-down estate to focus her study. She notices disturbing graffiti in an abandoned building that makes references to some sort of mythical figure, known as the Candyman. Further enquiries lead her to believe this is connected with recent murders and mutilations in the neighbourhood, although the locals are seemingly reluctant to discuss the incidents. She eventually encounters the Candyman himself, gaining notoriety by becoming his latest victim.



The Madonna

A man named Jerry is trying to talk a local shady businessman into financing the redevelopment of an old swimming pool complex. However, the swimming pool has some mysterious inhabitants in the form of nude teenage girls who flee should Jerry or his would-be financial backer encounter them. A swimming pool in the centre is, unlike the other pools in the building, full, and glows with a strange light and appears to be inhabited by some misshapen life-form. Curiosity leads Jerry to return to the place, which somehow causes him to wake up one morning to see that he has been transformed into a woman.



Babel's Children

After breaking down in the middle of nowhere, a young woman happens across a secluded compound in which the world's greatest minds, a group of elderly scientists and scholars, are responsible for determining the outcome of major world events. They have lived in the complex for many years and by this point their decisions have degenerated to being made solely via games of chance. Chaos ensues when the woman and the men seek to flee the compound. They end up getting in a car accident and all the elders are killed with the exception of the single one who refused to go along. The woman is forced to participate in the games of chance with him until replacements can be found.



In The Flesh

A career criminal named Cleve has a new cellmate, a mysterious young man called Tait who admits that he committed a crime with the sole intention of coming to this particular prison. Tait believes he has been summoned there by his grandfather, a supposedly powerful sorcerer, who is buried in the jail having been executed for murder years before. Cleve is later haunted by dreams in which he is in a form of purgatory for murderers, where killers are obliged to spend some portion of their after life in a replica of the scene of their crime. In the end, Tait vanishes from his cell. His grandfather's coffin is exhumed and found to contain Tait curled up next to his dead grandfather. Once released, Cleve finds that he can now hear thoughts, as long as they revolve around killing people. He becomes disillusioned with humanity and later commits a murder himself. He is shot dead by the police and soon finds himself in the murderer's purgatory he previously saw in his dreams.



Volume Six


The Life of Death

Elaine, a 36-year-old woman, has just had a hysterectomy following a brush with cancer. Feeling lethargic and empty after the operation, she becomes fascinated by a church that is being demolished. She encounters a cheerfully morbid man named Kavanagh who shares her fascination. The church demolition soon reveals a tomb of plague victims that had been fermenting for centuries, and Elaine breaks in at night to view the bodies. Later, when her friends begin to die off and when the police come after her, Elaine takes refuge with Kavanagh, who she firmly believes, due to his mysterious personality and skeletal features, to be Death. It turns out Kavanagh is only a serial killer and necrophile; he strangles and rapes Elaine. As her soul flees her body, Elaine takes a sick glee in realising that Kavanagh will now be the carrier of the plague she contracted in the tomb and will spread it far and wide.



How Spoilers Bleed

Several European men, led by a cold-hearted man named Locke, have bought land in the jungles of South America, uncaring that it is inhabited by a tribe of Amazonian natives. When the tribe refuse to move, Locke's cohort shoots one of them dead accidentally. The elder of the tribe puts a curse on the men which, one by one, strikes them down with a gruesome condition that makes their bodies incredibly delicate; a mote of dust can slice their skin open, the soles of their feet crack when they stand. After his men die off, Locke goes back to the tribe to beg for forgiveness. However, when he gets there, the tribe has been massacred by some of his other colleagues. Locke begins to suffer the symptoms of the deadly curse just as he realises there is now no way of having it removed.



Twilight At The Towers

A British agent (Ballard) stationed in Berlin meets with a Russian KGB man (Mironenko). After their meet, the KGB man disappears. Ballard witnesses a vicious mauling, then soon learns that he and Mironenko are both werewolves, trained by each agency to defeat the other. Both governments raid their meeting place, causing Mironenko to transform fully. Ballard runs and wakes up in a fellow operative's house. Ballard's rival (Suckling) arrives and kills the agent, only to be killed by the transformed Ballard. Ballard seeks Mironenko, and finds him preaching to a group of wolves, verbally preparing them to overthrow humankind.



The Last Illusion

The private investigator Harry D'Amour takes a strange case where a magician named Swann has been killed under mysterious circumstances. D'Amour is recruited by Swann's wife to watch over his body so he can be cremated in line with a letter written before his death. Almost immediately, D'Amour is drawn into a mystery beyond this world and enters a survival battle with disgusting demons from the underworld seeking to claim Swann's body due to a deal he made with them which gave him the magical powers he possessed. With the assistance of Swann's underling Valentin, who is secretly a demon himself, D'Amour fights off the demons desiring Swann's body and manages to cremate it, but not before Swann performs one last magical act.



On Jerusalem Street

"On Jerusalem Street" is a sequel to "The Book of Blood" from Volume One told as a sort of wrap-around tale. Wyburd is hired to obtain the Book of Blood for a collector. He captures and skins Simon McNeal. Later, the skin starts to bleed and won't stop, and Wyburd eventually drowns. He ends up on the Highways of the dead where he tells his story.

[Dion Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are excellent.

with The Forbidden (the story that The Candyman movies are based off) and this story add an extra level of creepy to the movies. I loved it

The Body Politic, which is about hands rebelling against the body. this was just good fun, I loved it.

I loved the first book Volumes 1-3 more than this one, but I still loved all of the stories.

[Javier Lárraga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antes que nada quiero decir que este volúmen con los libros IV, V y VI me ha encantado y que el nivel de las historias se encuentra a un nivel muy por encima de los típicos relatos de horror contemporaneos que se encasillan mucho dentro de los cliches del género.

Con este segundo volumen recopilatorio de los libros de sangre; Clive Barker demuestra que el no es el típico cuenta cuentos, sus historias estan llenas de crítica social, de metáforas y a la vez son relatos muy gráficos que rayan en lo obsceno, en lo grotesco y en lo amoral que no dejan a nadie indiferente y por eso me siento muy satisfecho con la lectura de este libro, pero he de decir que a diferencia del primer volumen, este recopilatorio me quedo a deber un poco en el impacto de las historias.

Aclaro que todos los relatos me gustaron y aunque la mayoria siguen conservando la escencia del Barker sucio, sádico y depravado, considero que hay algunas historias que fueron muy poco relevantes e incluso un par de menos de 10 páginas que al menos para mi fueron relleno, en el cuarto libro quiero destacar "El cuerpo político" y "La edad del deseo" que son trepidantes, grotescos pero a la vez tienen su toque de ironia y hasta de humor negro con unos finales verdaderamente impactantes, del quinto volumen recomiendo todas las historias, este fue mi favorito, con el mejor ritmo y tambien con el mejor relato de todos "Lo prohibido"; donde podremos ver los origenes del personaje de Candyman y por último, del sexto volumen quiero resaltar "La vida de la muerte", "Crepúsculo en las torres" y "La última ilusión" donde si bien el nivel de gore y violencia no esta a la altura de los primeros 3 libros, son historias bastante sólidas, con descripciones demasiado gráficas y que terminar de hilar y conectar todas los cuentos que hemos leido a traves de estos 6 libros sangrientos.

Como conclusión, este libro me ha parecido maravilloso y una experiencia bastante única en el género del horror, aunque no fue tan visceral e impactante como fueron los primeros 3 libros, si es un volumen más aterrizado, con historias más sólidas y con finales más concretos, donde los personajes dejan de ser etiquetados en los papeles de victimas y monstruos para pasar a convertirse en personajes que se desenvuelven y hacen las cosas a su conveniencia, dejando su juicio en manos del lector, y eso es algo que a mi me encanta a pesar de que no veremos tantas tripas ni tantos horrores sacados del mismisimo abismo como antes...

[Dreadlocksmile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in 1984, Clive Barker made his name within the deeply competitive world of horror with the publication of the first three volumes of the macabre short stories 'The Books Of Blood'. Written in his spare time, he admits that he was not expecting them to sell really at all, let alone predict the public response that followed. The release exploded within the horror literature genre, hailing Barker as an exciting and imaginative newcomer. Stephen King, already known as a master in the genre, went as far as to pronounce Clive to be "the future of horror." The books won both the British and World Fantasy Awards, as the public lapped up the gore soaked pages. After this initial success, Barker followed with a final three volumes, creating a collective masterpiece of horror. His two omnibus's were later to be broken down, to be sold as individual books which Barker was invited to be able to illustrate the covers for with his dark and twisted artwork. The books have since been put back together again into these two large collections.

The books were moderately successful in Great Britain, but found wide critical acclaim in the United States. Their popularity and the sheer amount of sales have found the books repeatedly reprinted and available in over a dozen languages. These books are a must-read for anyone who enjoys reading books from the horror genre. They are also an important stage within the work of Clive Barker forming a solid point for his writing to work from.

Here we have the last three volumes from the collection of six. Released in their individual forms back in 1985, this omnibus was later reprinted by Warner Books in 1994. The book was printed with different cover artwork (done by Bob Warner) and is the current version on sale of this dark and twisted masterpiece. This second collection contains the following short stories:

The Body Politic - 47 pages
"What if parts of your body, such as your hands for instance, suddenly decided that they wanted to sever their connections with you and be free? Human hands tear themselves from their masters to start a bloody revolution." A truly unforgettable tale of weird horror that screams paranoia from every page. Barker offers up this surreal treat that will please any horror fan. The short was later to be adapted for the movie 'Quicksilver Highway', which was unfortunately directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, The Stand, The Shining - TV version) in which he delivers his usual low-talent directing skills to complement the budget on offer.

The Inhuman Condition - 47 pages
"A knotted string unravels dark hungering nightmares." Bringing with it a brief glimpse at Barker's principal ideas for 'The Hellbound Heart', this short story packs in heart-pounding suspense and twisted horror to form a gripping and terrifying storyline. The premise behind the story is a clever and inspired one, as we see mankind's irresistible urge for curiosity.

Revelations - 56 pages
"In a Texas motel room, the living and the dead make love. Buck and Sadie Durning check into the Cottonwood Motel in June 1955. Buck never checks out and four months later Sadie is executed for his murder. Thirty years later, John and Virginia Dyer check into the same hotel where the ghosts of Buck and Sadie have returned to relive their fateful drama." A terrifying and disturbing tale that will haunt you for a long time to come. Barker paints a vivid picture of the murderous atmosphere that will chill you to the bone. The story was later adapted by Steve Niles in 1992 into the Eclipse Books graphic novel 'Revelations' where it was illustrated by Lionel Talaro.

Down, Satan! - 6 pages
"A palace is built to lure Satan back to earth." A very short one here from Barker, setting down a creepy and dark idea that sits there waiting to unnerve you. The story was later adapted in 1992 into the graphic novel 'Tapping The Vein - Book 5' where it was illustrated by Tim Conrad.

The Age Of Desire - 54 pages
"A powerful aphrodisiac creates ghastly sexual urgings." Here we have an erotic horror crossover with a fair sprinkling of black comedy mixed in with the dark and twisted storyline. The short story was made into a graphic novel at one time but the decline of Eclipse Comics resulted in the sad loss of this graphic novel illustrated by Timothy Bradstreet.

The Forbidden - 37 pages
"There are some taboos too terrible to be broken. Some stories too terrible to be true. Until you begin to believe them." Here we have the original inspiration for the film Candyman, which was adapted from the short and further developed upon. The Forbidden offers up an intense, atmospheric story of tension and horror. The story is very well-written, delivering a well-crafted and haunting story.

The Madonna - 38 pages
"She was older than legend: the Unholy Mother whose beautiful children were most men's dream, and every man's nightmare." A nail-biting short packed with more bizarre and horrific images vividly crafted from the mind of Clive Barker. The storyline is gripping and dark, with an atmosphere so chilling, it will haunt you for ages afterwards. The story was later adapted in 1990 into the graphic novel 'Tapping The Vein - Book 4' where it was illustrated by Stan Woch, Mark Farmer and Fred Von Tobel.

Babel's Children - 27 pages
"A paradise island, lost in a sparkling sea, what better place to plot the end of the world?" A bit of a different short story here, compared with the rest of the shorts in the Books Of Blood. The plot is carefully unfolded, creating an air of mystery to the whole storyline, until the final conclusion hits you in the face. I wasn't that keen on this one, but it was certainly an interesting read.

In The Flesh - 46 pages
"Every night they locked the cell doors for twelve hours; locked the prisoners in with their regrets and their secret terrors, and something more. Something from the lunatic world of pure slaughter that waited just beyond the walls." One of the most loved and enjoyed of Barker's short stories is this dark and twisted tale that takes you on a trip through the weird and limitless imagination of Clive Barker. The storyline is extremely well-constructed, dragging you further and further into the story as it hurtles towards the horrific conclusion. This is a definite must-read for all fans of Barker's work.

The Life Of Death - 34 pages
"She nearly Died on the operating table. Masked men removed the cancers, and her womb. But Elaine Rider lived on, mourning. Until, after a midnight visit to the newly opened crypt of All Saints Church - A plague pit heaped with bodies, festering now they are exposed - she is suddenly a picture of health and vitality. Kavanagh's morbid preference was for the sad, fragile Elaine he met before. Before she had the power to kill with her touch. But who is Kavanagh? Elaine mistakes him for Death in disguise, her clean-boned guardian, her promised lover. He is something far worse, as she will learn." Barker carefully weaves this morbid and haunting tale, steadily building upon the tension, as you are taken to the grande finale with a nasty twist. I would say that this one is one of his best shorts from the Books Of Blood collection. The story was later adapted by Fred Burke in 1993 into the Eclipse Books graphic novel 'The Life Of Death' where it was illustrated by Stewart Stanyard.

How Spoilers Bleed - 31 pages
"They committed a crime no jury could convict them for. But there were other judges, other punishments." A gory and disturbing story that will anger and revolt you from the start. The plot slowly unfolds, bringing with it a tale of horrific revenge and cruelty. The story was later adapted in 1992 into the graphic novel 'Tapping The Vein - Book 5' where it was illustrated by Hector Gomez.

Twilight At The Towers - 31 pages
"Ballard was the perfect spy. A man with all the cunning of an animal. Or was it vice versa?" This story brings haunting glimpses of the novel to be later published in 1988 entitled 'Cabal'. This was surprising as the US edition of this volume of the Books Of Blood included the story of 'Cabal'. 'Twilight At The Towers' is a creepy and violent tale involving the manipulation of the flesh once again. A little slow-paced to start with, Barker soon gets you involved with the violent action and horror that follows. The story was later adapted by Steve Niles in 1993 into the Eclipse Books graphic novel 'Rawhead Rex' where it was illustrated by Hector Gomez.

The Last Illusion - 52 pages
(A Harry D'Amour Novella) "New York has shown Harry horrors enough for a dozen lifetimes. He thought he'd seen the worst that flesh could suffer. Then the beautiful widow walked into his life, with a husband who wouldn't lie down dead, and all Hell on her heels. And suddenly Harry was face-to-face with forces that could teach Manhattan a lesson in depravity." A bizarre and disturbing short story that pulls you into the unfolding dark and depraved madness from the very first page. The short spirals to a dramatic ending that could only come from the dark imagination of Clive Barker. This is one of the best short stories of the lot. The story was later adapted into the 1995 film 'Lord Of Illusions', which Clive Barker was the producer, director and screenwriter for. The short story differs from the film quite dramatically, with completely different storylines and endings.

The Book Of Blood (a postscript): On Jerusalem Street - 3 pages
"After the end, a new beginning: walking the highway of the dead." To conclude the whole Books Of Blood series, this postscript forms a perfect bookend together with the first short - The Book Of Blood (see Books Of Blood Volume One). A macabre little ending that ties the whole premise of the books together, leaving the collection feeling like a whole.

[Miloš · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dok sam prvim delom (Knjige krvi 1-3) bio oduševljen većina priča mi u ovom drugom tomu nije držala pažnju. Nakon obećavajuće prve priče ("Neljudsko stanje") naredne većinom gube momentum i ne ostavljaju poseban otisak na mom nervnom sistemu. Izdvojio bih još "Doba žudnje" i "Madonu". "Deca Vavilona" mi se takođe dopala, ali više zato što volim priče o zaverama i neočekivane obrte.
Sve u svemu, Barker je najbolji u prve tri knjige, posle bih rekao da malo gubi inspiraciju. No to ne znači da ovu zbirku treba zaobići, i dalje je on iznad proseka u horor žanru.

[Céfiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 estrellas penalizadas a ser 4 por el frustrante inicio que supone el volumen IV, con sus casi desesperantes relatos sobre extremidades rebeldes, nudos que encierran monstruos o el summum del priapismo… francamente decepcionante, quizá porque llegados a este punto se espera mucho más del autor y, aunque mantiene la atmósfera y la esencia de los anteriores, salvo “Revelaciones”, poco me ha parecido salvable.

Por suerte, el volumen V, al menos en su mayor parte, vuelve a cambiar las tornas y, salvo la presencia de un desconcertante relato sobre viscosidades palpitantes cuya significancia y necesidad estuve lejos se llegar a comprender, los demás son una genialidad.

Y, finalmente, el sexto, especialmente con las maravillosas “La vida de la muerte” y “Cómo se desangran los expoliadores”, pone una dulce guinda a un pastel en el que, aunque algunas capas sabían mejor que otras, el tiempo y esmero que el repostero le dedicó quedan patentes. Un pastel cuya consumición total (no considerar los seis volúmenes en conjunto sería ridiculizar) he disfrutado enormemente y que, aunque seguro que no es de fácil digestión para todos, merece la pena probar.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern classic!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was a decent collection of horror stories, there were not quite as many standouts as in the first 3 volumes of Books of Blood, and not as many that got under my skin. Some of the stories I highly enjoyed were:

"The Forbidden": I read more than halfway through this story before I realized it was the basis for the movie "Candyman." The setup took some time, but there was some disturbing imagery and the idea of evil being kept alive through rumor was very effectively done.

"The Life of Death": A story about a cancer survivor who meets a man at the site of a church demolition, and her ensuing obsession with the bodies in the crypt.

"The Body Politic": After reading this, I began to notice how often my hands do things without my consciously telling them to.

Overall, there weren't many memorable stories here. I also found this text riddled with weird typos (such as "facade" being written as "faade"). I partially read Book 6 on my Nook as a free download from Goodreads, and there were even more typos, as well as a reshuffling of the order of the stories that confused me. I'm not sure why it was so difficult to get my hands on a copy of this book, I couldn't find a copy at any libraries in New Hampshire or Massachusetts, and had to order it from the internet. Still, Clive Barker is a great horror writer and I hope to read more of his work.

[Miguel A. González · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Al igual que su primera parte, esta edición reúne los tres últimos volúmenes de Libros de sangre, de Clive Barker. En ellos encontramos una variopinta selección de relatos, entre los cuales se encuentran algunos de los más brillantes del autor.
Por ejemplo, ¡Abajo, Satán!, protagonizado por Gregorius, un multimillonario que, ante la ausencia de Dios, decide construir un infierno en la Tierra para llamar la atención del mismísimo Diablo; Lo prohibido, inspiración directa de Candyman y uno de los mejores relatos sobre folclore y leyendas urbanas que he leído, con una ambientación que deja en bragas a cualquier historia de casa encantada; o La última ilusión, donde seguimos los pasos del detective Harry D'Amour en un caso relacionado con la misteriosa muerte de un famoso mago.
Estos volúmenes incluyen otros cuentos igualmente notables —El cuerpo político, La condición inhumana o La vida de la muerte—, aunque tras terminar la antología y reapasar lo leído, son los anteriores de los guardo mejor recuerdo. En cambio, algunos me han resultado pesados y bastante por debajo del nivel y las temáticas habituales de Barker. Los hijos de Babel o Crepúsculo en las torres entrarían en este saco.
Con todo, lo bueno pesa más en estos volúmenes y, cuando se trata de Clive Barker, eso no es poca cosa.

[Squire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latter 3 volumes of Barker's horror anthology are not as diverse as the first three; but, taken together they present the reader with a darker, more focused and more accessible vision of the dream-like state of horror. For me, everything held up until "The Last Illusion" which gave a terrific story build-up the Hollywood action film treatment (I liked Lord of Illusions, the movie it was made into, better). The workman-like prose and thin plotting left a lot to be desired, but it didn't affect my rating at all. Even Barker at his most obtuse ("Down, Satan") I found more profound and terrifying.

Favorites in this omnibus (both from Volume 5):

The Forbidden, The Madonna

Highly recommended to horror fans (are there horror fans who still haven't read BoB?).

BUT: not in the Sphere (UK) omnibus edition. The typos it contains are the product of a rushed typing/editing job: you find things like "fro,m" instead of "from," and "(....)0" instead of (....)" quite often. But the most annoying item is "fasc[SS]ade" for "fascade." Fnd a different edition. As Barker notes (somewhere) in BoB 4-6: "Sanity is a moveable feast."

[Al Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clive Barker is master of the weird and horrific, mixing the mundane and the insane with few equals. He drags everyday people from their everyday lives and throws them into situations that defy rationale. The Books of Blood, Part II falls neatly into the above description, with six or so tales that might make you question the author's sanity (or your own). If there is a formula, it's "normal" people dealing with the abnormal, but that's as far as it goes. Each tale is patently different, and wildly imaginative.
I mentioned earlier that Barker is one of the finest horror writers (or words to that effect), but he is more than that. He is one of the finest writers of any genre. If horror is not your thing, check out his fantasy.

[Victor Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Body Politic: 5
The Inhuman Condition: 3
Revelations: 3
Down, Satan: 4
The Age of Desire: 2
The Forbidden: 5
The Madonna: 1
Babel's children: 3
In the Flesh: 2,5
The Life of Death: 3,5
How Spoilers Bleed: 4
Twilight at the Towers: 4
The Last Illusion: 1
On Jerusalem Street: 3

[Blackraven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los primeros relatos de este libro me recordaron mucho a los contenidos en el Volumen I editado por Valdemar. Relatos muy peliculeros. Hay escenas que parecen sacadas de una peli de bajo presupuesto de los 80. Quizá fuese un estilo transgresor cuando se publicaron los libros pero definitivamente creo que no ha envejecido nada bien. Así transcurren relatos como "El cuerpo político", "la condición inhumana" o "La edad del deseo". Quizás de esta primera parte del libro se podría salvar "Revelaciones" por lo bien desarrollado que está tanto a nivel de ambientación como de estructura. En cualquier caso, hasta aquí, 2,5/5.

Pero amigo, entonces te cruzas con "Lo prohibido". No conocía al personaje de Candyman ni he visto ninguna de sus películas, pero ese sabor a leyenda urbana y a rito pagano que ha trascendido a lo largo de los años en guetos marginales, o que se ha generado en dichos guetos como una involución social tras haber sido apartados en dichos guetos. Me ha puesto los pelos de punta, como cada vez que me cruzo con la Tradición y los Mitos. Y la muerte. Ese gran tabú que nos niegan a fuerza de mostrarlo de todas las formas inimaginables. Este relato vale por si solo el precio (y las páginas) de todo el libro.

El nivel vuelve a bajar (era difícil mantener ese nivel) con "La Madonna", un relato con tintes lovecraftianos que no obstante está bastante bien resuelto. "Los hijos de Babel" por su parte me ha recordado mucho a los relatos iniciales como "El cuerpo político ", una idea original pero que no tiene la profundidad suficiente como para que el relato funcione. El libro V termina con "En carne y hueso", una aventura onírica en la que quedan demasiadas cosas por explicar.

Por último, el libro final es bastante bueno. La calidad de todos los relatos es superior a la media. En definitiva, una lectura recomendable si el tipo de personas a las que recomiendas libros es de esos a los que les gustan estas cosas.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dead have highways. Only the living are lost.

[LaMalvenue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficile scrivere un pensiero su questo libro, mentre le mani si rifiutano di collaborare, nel tentativo di liberarsi dal mio comando. Vedo altre mani amputarsi dai propri padroni e spero che le mie ritardino il compito, almeno che mi lascino concludere questo discorso.

Ma non riesco a concentrarmi, troppa confusione per strada, con questi strani mostri evocati da una corda, quel vagabondo sembra preoccupato per la perdita del suo tesoro, non la smette di urlare mentre un gruppo di ragazzi lo sta picchiando per derubarlo.

Mostri per le strade, omicidi e vendette nei motel, strane divinità nelle piscine partoriscono bambini abominevoli. Il mondo precipita.
In TV passa la notizia di un pazzo miliardario che ha creato un'inferno sulla terra per evocare Satana, a questo punto mi chiedo quale possa essere il limite umano.

Perché mentre noi viviamo tranquillamente la nostra vita, uomini nascosti in un convento decidono le sorti del pianeta: guerre, carestie, olocausti.

Ogni giorno ci troviamo costretti a fronteggiare le nostre paure, la morte ci passa davanti, molto più umana di quello che ci aspettiamo, se ne va via concluso silenziosamente il suo compito.

Azioni quotidiane che possono diventare incubi, se siete arrivati fin qui probabilmente siete dei lettori coraggiosi, che amano immergersi nelle storie, nei libri.


Forse mi sono immedesimata troppo in questa raccolta. Ma non riesco a smettere di sentire alcune storie e voci che mi parlano, urla, panico e angoscia che i protagonisti di questi racconti provano.

Il senso di soffocamento, la libertà della caduta, la metamorfosi dei corpi e la paura del cambiamento, la sete di vendetta, l'oppressione religiosa, tutto ciò che è umano diventa motivo di paura.

E questa raccolta gentilmente inviata da Fanucci editore, è in grado di evocare tutto ciò, alcune volte in maniera più vivida, altre volte un po' meno.

Clive Barker descrive decisamente degli incubi, anche se purtroppo non sempre in maniera impattante.

Le mani cercano la libertà, sono costretta a concludere. C'è una figura rossa davanti a me che vuole raccontarmi anche la sua storia, alcuni incubi non finiscono.

'le storie continuano, notte e giorno. Non si fermano mai. Vede, sono loro stesse che si raccontano. Sanguinano e sanguinano ancora. È impossibile farle tacere, è impossibile curarle.'

[Persy · Rating 4 out of 5]

”The stories go on. They bleed and bleed.”

I’ll be damned if Clive Barker isn’t the master of creating a delightful and horrific short story. After the dynamite collection in the first three volumes of Books of Blood, I must confess that I didn’t hold out hope that the final three volumes would carry as much whizzbang. I love being proven wrong in moments like this.

My standout favorites were How Spoilers Bleed and The Body Politic.

If you’re sitting on the fence in picking up this massive short story collection, let me just say: it’s not overhyped.

Also, if you are a fan of the films based on Barker’s long body of work, you’ll be happy to find the source material here for both Candyman and The Last Illusion.

Werewolves, plagues, demons, severed hands, geriatric apocalypse orchestrators, and plenty of other creep factors await you. Turn out the lights and settle in for a treat.

Basically, if you haven’t read the Books of Blood yet, what are you doing?

++++++++++++++++++
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS
++++++++++++++++++

Inhuman Condition ⭐️⭐️⭐️
”Talk lent the fantastic credibility.

Well that was freaking weird. And Barker really likes his puzzles.

+++

The Body Politic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“What will it be like, when the world is ours?”

A delightfully original tale from the master of horror, Clive Barker. How do you fight a rebellion from the very appendages you use to fight?

Charlie is a normal man living a normal life… even as his hands conspire to sever themselves from the body politic in his sleep. His slow descent into madness as his hands get closer to the fruition of their plans is intriguing, but the best part of the story by far is the macabre march of severed appendages across the city as they recruit more hands to join their uprising.

Weird, twisted, and makes that tingly feeling in your limbs more than a little suspicious.

+++

Revelations ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“There was precious little sanity to be had on a night like this—it was a night for going crazy, wasn’t it?”

Two ghosts return to the scene of a murder, a motel room occupied by a preacher and his abused wife. Will the ghosts reconcile their differences? Is this room doomed to repeat a cycle of blood?

+++

Down, Satan! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“It was the Devil’s party, after all.”

When you search too hard for the Devil, you risk becoming him yourself.

+++

The Age of Desire ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“This new kind of life would, in time, demand a new kind of death.”

An experimental drug gone wrong, crazed simians, brutalities of a sexual nature, and rotting strawberries abound in this twisted tale from the mind of Clive Barker.

You’ll never look at Viagra the same.

TW: rape, animal torture

+++

In the Flesh - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
”People forget prime ministers, but they remember murderers.”

A mildly spooky tale coming at us live from a men’s prison where Cleveland is stuck in a cell with Billy, a man who’s gotten himself locked up for his own sinister purposes.

When Billy begins to transform at night and ghastly visions of a desert-city plague Cleveland’s dreams, Cleveland must hatch a plan to confront the apparition plaguing Cell B.20.

Tbh I made this story sound more interesting in my synopsis of it but it was still pretty good.

“The world had murder on its mind, and he could no longer bear its thoughts.”

+++

The Forbidden - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“What’s so taboo about death?”

When I started reading this story, I had no idea it was the source material and inspiration for the Candyman film, and was pleasantly surprised when the man himself was revealed.

A very interesting rumination on the enticing nature of death and how we remember the dead. The grislier the death, the better the story, after all.

“Sweets to the sweet.”

+++

The Madonna - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Death was no more certain than the dream of masculinity he’d lived all these years.”

Barker explores the seedy underbelly of the masculine urge to conquer and the feminine urge to create in this disturbing tale that involves a spa labyrinth, a crime boss, and genital mutilation.

TW: rape

+++

Babel’s Children - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Does it sound selfish if I say that my life seems too great a sacrifice to make for global peace?”

When a woman stumbles upon a hidden commune that has imprisoned a gaggle of the elderly under armed guard, she finds herself at the center of the greatest political conspiracy of all time.

This was decent. I feel like the storytelling here could have been a bit more subtle; the point Barker was trying to make kind of smacks you right in the face.

”Only tragedy demanded laughter; and that, with the aid of the frogs, they might yet prevent.”

+++

The Life of Death - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
”We cry for ourselves, don’t we? Not for the dead. The dead are past caring.”

Imagine being so devastated you’re unable to carry children and then you become the unwitting carrier of the next plague.

There’s something about how Barker captures feminine intimacy and lust that is extremely appealing in this story.

”Every love story was—at the last—a story of death.”

+++

How Spoilers Bleed - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
”But the gun had been used before, and would be used again, until every unwashed Indian had put on a pair of trousers and given up eating monkeys.”

Wow. A devastating and horrifying tale of genocide. The colonizers come to claim unclaimable land from its inhabitants are soon infected with a deadly disease that cuts and splits their bodies at the slightest touch… rotting, just like their insides.

I was entranced by this story and honestly I love a little comeuppance for the wicked—despite the devastating effects the Indigenous people still suffered.

+++

Twilight at the Towers - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I think the man who does not believe he is lost, is lost.”

I am an absolute shill for a werewolf tale and one from the Master of Darkness himself, Clive Barker? Say less.

With a touch of espionage, mystery, mind control, and a fair amount of gore, this KGB-studded werewolf story was a delight to read.

More werewolves in horror, please.

”Somewhere near, a beast was crying.”

+++

The Last Illusion - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
”Better Hell than a false Heaven.”

Zero percent of me expected to see Harry D’Amour in this tale of magic, demons, attempted cremations, and more than a few bullets.

If you don’t know, Harry D’Amour is the protagonist of Barker’s The Scarlet Gospels (which I did not like) but, to my surprise, I quite liked this dark fantasy mystery. I would read a string of horror detective novels where D’Amour unravels the occult if they read more like this and less like The Scarlet Gospels.

Dark fantasy will always tickle my fancy; this story felt a little reminiscent of Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy, which is basically the highest compliment I can pay because I love that series. Do I need to re-read them in 2025?

Anyways, this story was pretty dope and if you fancy an occultist detective who goes from body babysitting to plotting an impromptu cremation before he’s murdered by demons, this will hit the spot.

[avery (avereads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We're living; but we impersonate the dead better than the dead themselves.”

Clive Barker has really found a way to encapsulate horror and dark fantasy in a short story. These stories are classics to the genre and have been adapted into so many iconic films for a reason. I think I preferred volumes 1-3 a bit more, but there was still tons to enjoy about these stories! Here’s my ratings:

The Body Politic 🌟🌟🌟💫
The Inhuman Condition 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Revelations 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Down, Satan! 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Age of Desire 🌟🌟💫
The Forbidden 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
Madonna 🌟🌟
Babel’s Children 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
In the Flesh 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
The Life of Death 🌟🌟🌟🌟
How Spoilers Bleed 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
Twilight at the Towers 🌟🌟
The Last Illusion 🌟🌟🌟💫
The Book of Blood (a postscript): On Jerusalem Street 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My favourites were Revelations (follows a ghostly motel shoot out), The Forbidden (later adapted into Candyman), Babel’s Children (the decisions of the world a result of elderly scientists and a game of chance), In the Flesh (a ghosty prison purgatory story that is awesome), and How Spoilers Bleed (curses! karma! lovely!) I feel like I’m just another voice in the crowd of the horror community shouting to read these stories, but they’re so fun and unique and definitely worth the time that would be spent with them. I still constantly think about In the Hills, the Cities from the first volume. Anyways, rounded up and averaged out, my ratings lead to 🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Austin Sheehan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books of Blood v. 4-6 is a collection of Barker's short stories.
Each of the three volumes is a collection of short stories, of course, so there are an awful lot of short stories in this collection.
And quite a few of them were pretty good, and every now and then there was a wonderful sentence, demonstrating that Barker actually can write well.
But in the end I ask myself if I enjoyed it, if I would read it again, and if I would recommend it to others. The answer to every one of those questions is a very strong 'no' - though that may partly be because there are too many short stories and when you read it from cover to cover it just becomes a tedious grind.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same excellent Clive Barker nastiness that made the first book so compelling. Not even the ridiculous overuse of the word 'din' could hinder these excellent stories, the best among them being "Revelations", "Babel's Children" and "The Forbidden" which was turned into the film Candyman (1990). There's a few towards the end which aren't quite up to scratch but they're acceptable when you have so much brilliance before it.

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 5 out of 5]

El éxtasis de la nueva carne, el festín de la otredad, la celebración de la inhumanidad. Aquí están, éstos son los relatos que hicieron temblar los cimientos del género fantástico cuando se moría la década de los 80 y más que nunca hacía falta una verdadera revolución. Y lo que Barker aportó fue una verdadera revolución sexual, libre de los solapamientos y maniqueísmos en los que habían caído King y tantos otros representantes del Horror.

[Alan Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just completed a reread of Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" and every volume of the six constitutes part of a masterclass in dark fiction, especially short (including novelette/novella) fiction. Truly a staggering achievement in every way, they're at least as good now as when I first read them.