Customer Reviews
Barker's books need a better editor - By: M. Brown, 15 Apr 2008 
Okay, I'm only halfway through this book, & I've enjoyed the content quite alot. But a problem with Barker's books is the lackadaisical editing. Alot of errors are overlooked that a reallly good eagle-eyed editor would have seen & dealt with. This is very frustrating, when Barker is such a gifted writer. The most laughable thing is the praise that he heaps on his editor in the acknowledgements. The bad editing puts me off reading his work, which on the whole, tends to be of high quality (if you overlook the fantasy piffle he's been writing lately). The person complaining about the degree of sexual content in the book needs to loosen up a bit. It's an exploration of Hollywood stars' corrupted sexuality, which is legendary, & as such, there is no virtue in Barker being coy in his account. In fact the more extreme it is, the more authentic it is. It's not porn, & it's not even erotica. It's merely a document of decadence. Editorial dubiousness aside, what I have read of the book is impressive, although it's not of the same calibre as Books of Blood, but then nothing else he's written is.
Worst book I have ever read! - By: S. Finley, 04 Dec 2007 
Whilst Barker's imagination is fertile, wierd & capable of both gruesome & beautiful narrative his stories just don't seem to have any power over me. I have found his books boring & hard work. The language he uses is like that of a literature student trying to squeeze in as many lengthy, overly complicated words as possible. I need a thesaurus to read his books & I consider myself reasonably bright.
This effort is no better. In fact it is terrible. Whats worse, as well as being far from what I would calll horror, it descends into nothing better than semi-pornographic filth. This is both unpleasant & unnecessary & (in my opinion) the main trait of alll the worst horror, both written & visual (particularly trashy Hollywood horrors). Unfortunately the immense effort of trudging through this lengthy tome is simply not worth the few cheap thrills this might provide you with.
Sex, Dogs, and Roc and Role - By: Trelloskilos, 24 Jan 2003 
Firstly, let me say that I am a big fan of Clive Barker's work. I have read pretty much every book that he's ever published, from the 'Books of Blood' right up to his first novel of the 'Abarat' series. I'm currently reading Imajica for the 6th time in my life (I always seem to start reading it after evey New Year's day, now). Needless to say, I would reckon I'm familiar with the style & diversity of his books.
I wasn't expecting 'Coldheart Canyon' - I was waiting for Galillee 2, the third book of the Art, & the first book of the Abarat Quartet, so to hear that Barker had released a new 'dark' novel, was a nice surprise.
Coldheart Canyon is a tale about a Hollywood Star who's coming to the end of his shelf-life. In a desperate bid to prolong his carreer, he opts for plastic surgery. However, when it goes wrong, he retreats to a recently-bought mansion which houses, amongst other things, an exquisitely-tiled cellar that contains more secrets than anyone dared imagine.
Qhile many authors are good at 'lifting the surface to reveal the rot', Clive usuallly goes one better, & also lifts the rot to reveal something even more fascinating & disturbing. Coldheart Canyon is no exception to this. It deals with the shalllowness of Hollywood, & the disillusionment of discovering that the persona that celebrities portray is just a mask. However, this is merely the rot. The core of the story extends to the metaphysical & supernatural, & of the effects of selling your soul for the price of fame.
The book starts off fairly slowly (admittedly), focusing on the main character, Todd Pickett. The first chapter deals with Todd's declining career, & the loss of his dog. I was aware that Clive Barker's dog died, & I extend my sympathies for his loss, I'd even appreciate the fact that Clive does 'exorcise his demons' through his writing & artwork, but I felt that devoting a good chunk of the book to it was sheer indulgence. I don't want to sound harsh, but other authors also lose dogs, but if they incorporate their memories of that loss into a work of fiction, it should be somehow relative to the story, & not appear as a mini-novella that has no real place.
When the novel finallly gets moving, we are back on (un)familiar ground. There is again, a strong creepy vibe that builds up as you read the story (another thing that Barker is good at), & before you know it, you're tearing through the pages....
All of a sudden, however, there is a sudden halt with a string of sex scenes, one after the other, with increaingly diverse & unusual positions & practices. I think I'm reallly too liberal to be squeamish or disgusted with any erotica in a novel , (and I must admit, it made more interesting reading than the chapter about the dog) but it just went on for ages, & I felt the balance between the erotic & the gratuitously pornographic lose itself. It got to a point where it became a bit boring. Barker has written short passages involving sexual imagery in many of his other books that have more erotic charge than this! (I suppose if I wasn't reading it on the tube at the time, I may have been able to appreciate it more.)
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE EASILY SHOCKED, OR YOU FIND SEXUAL IMAGERY DISGUSTING!
Coldheart Canyon is not Barker's best work. It could have been improved on, but the book is still thoroughly enjoyable. I just don't think I'd read it again (even the sexy parts). It just doesn't have the same power as Imajica or Weaveworld, & the editors should have done something to control this. It would have got four stars from me if the above two 'unneccessary elements' that I comented on were left out.
Classic Barker depth and genius. - By: the great amphibian, 18 Oct 2002 
First of alll, this is a reallly good story, with original characters, (geniously so in the case of Todd Pickett, due to the mix of public perception & his underlying real personality not being a cliche), & some real classic Barker details thrown in. (Read on if you don't mind a few potential spoilers). The 'other world' in this story is a land inhabited by wonderful creatures, created by Satan's wife to accomodate three classic sword & shield knight's to hunt for countless years until they catch their prize. I personallly thought Barker's insight has matured to a highly refined plateux, (the only Barker I had hitherto read was penned over a decade before Coldheart), & his description of this 'other world' is far better than his attempts at expressing those images he trys to convey than Weaveworld's 'The Fugue'. Remeber: not only does Clive Barker use more imagination & insight than any other author I can imagine, but his general quality of writing is excellent; with a great range of techniques used to make not a sentence dull. Clive Barker has insight shown by no other authors, or other artists, that I have studied the work of. I use the word 'study' because Barker's work is not only cogent & readable, but highly complex. I don't claim to understand alll of Barker's ideas & insights, but through the countless clever little details, some ideas reallly tested by brain's metal. You can't look at a passage & expect it to make sense on it's own in many cases, with these complex concepts, & you generallly have to 'get to know' Barker a little, (however stupid that sounds, you need to read a bit of Barker before you can expect to follow alll of the undertones). Trying to convey quite how amazing Barker's work is is a thankless task, & I would reallly rather not do it; so if you have any sense, (which I'm sure you do 8), then read Barker. A few ideas of Clive's were better than anything I have heard from him of any other books of his I have read, (eg. HBH, BOB, WW), such as the way Epstadt expends by blooming flowers, the description of the air expelled from hell when Lilith visits The Hunt, & Barker's vision of an angel. There is too much to write, so this can't be a comprehensive review, & I will stop now.
Clive is fabulous...... - By: Tequilatoes@hotmail.co.uk, 18 Sep 2002 Coldheart Cannon was my first Clive Barker novel....
Bullied into reading it by my flatmates I reluctantly picked it up.
I have never missed so many of my tube stops - completely hooked from the first page.
Beautifully written with glorious imagery that twists from the sublime to the horrific on nearly every page.
There are some great characters & a mesmerising story, which stomps along at a great pace.
I have gone on to read Imajica & now am devouring Weaveworld both of which have not disappointed. Clive is fabulous!
