A genre defining book and start to Clive Barker's career. The Damnation Game is a terrifying horror classic. #booktube #horrorstories Join the Your Brain on Books Discord: / discord
Damnation Game is grim, hard-core horror. It's probably my favorite because it's so shocking and original with exquisite prose. It made a big impact at the time. It's my first Barker novel and I got it through a book-of-the-month club. I think it was Stephen King's blurb that sold me on it. I immediately realized Barker is the better horror writer while reading through it for the first time. After that I bought all of Barker's books through the '80s and '90s.
This sounds pretty awesome Baron! I loved the clip from Barker at the beginning. He seems like a very dreamworld author. I think you said I needed to read Weaveworld and Thief of Always right?
Thanks Chas! Yes he certainly is, a painter first and author second. Both books are great but vastly different. Weaveworld is very Dark Tower and The Theif of always is a dark middle grade like Coraline/Graveyard Book
I read Sacrement back in January and now it's one of my favourite of his. I got myself a signed first edition hardcover. I think Galilee is next on my list. Great video! Any Barker content is appreciated.
This is Clives only true full length horror novel in my opinion, at least that I've read. But I haven't read all of Clives books. I'm not counting other short stories like the Books of Blood or novellas like The Hellbound Heart or Cabal. But in my opinion, this is the strongest full length horror novel Clive has ever written. I'm very surprised this has never been adapted into a movie. There are a lot of very creepy elements here, some solid characterization and some great action scenes that would translate to film very good imo. It's hard to talk about without spoilers, but the only thing that held this back for me is the vague ending. Still though, a very solid novel, and it incapsulates that classic horror that only Clive could deliver. Barker changed a lot over the years, but this was when he was in his prime, drawing on a lot of the traumatic experiences he had as a young man (such as male prostitution, drug addiction and abusive relationships). As Clive got older he moved away from a lot of these nihilistic writing themes. All that being said, the book could have been edited a bit more. It really started to drag on near the end.
This is my favorite book from Clive personally. Read it when I was 14. And at that time, certain themes kinda lined up with my emotions in such a crazy way. Was also my first book by him. Great review, gonna see if you have reviewed weaveworld, or imajica. He’s such a creative, also scary, author lol
Excellent review, Baron! I loved the movie clip at the beginning as well 😁. Loved the themes you described, and I haven’t read many books exploring hedonism. I need to read Clive Barker sometime, and you’re reviews really inspire me to do so!
Thank you Johanna! I’d love to get your thoughts on his work. An author I love but always hesitate recommending. It’s very different and a little niche. I have seen the widest range of reactions to it. But he changed the way I view fantasy and horror fiction.
Hello Barron! I'm a new subscriber your novel reviews are spectacular, I would love for you to review The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker. I have read this particular book, this a page turner! It's lovely novel execution but Mr. Barker. Worth the read for any horror fan base, thanks for sharing your review on CB, The Damnation Game. By Chance...Did you pick up Fairtale by Stephen King? It's in my current rotation to read!🥰
Thank you so much! I have yet to read the Scarlett Gospels but definitely will. I have been slowly making my way through the entire catalog. Yes! I read Fairy Tale on release day. Not my favorite King read but still enjoyed myself. I recommend it
Im near half this book and its sooo boring. Characters are flat, I cant connect with them. They all look very depressive and empty. Storyline is going very slow and pretty much nothing is happening. Writter sometimes jumps from story to story without any kind of sense, so you need to stop reading sometimes in order to understand what just happend. Also, writter is just too much describing things. Im like @Hey just stop and give me some story and dialogs so I can figure out by myself who the characters really are@.... I have feeling like they all are trapped in some sort of big house and yard and walking around and thinking too much about this and that. I dont know, perhaps when I finish this book I will give it a bigger mark, but for now its like 2/5 What do you think?
