Damn, the effort I have gone to in my search for a book that fits the “I” square!
I went through a bit of a horror-reading phase in my early twenties, and Clive Barker was one of the authors I had on rotation. But I never did pick up his fantasy doorstopper Imajica—I think I was just a little too intimidated. But in the age of e-readers, what’s to stop me?
Imajica is certainly epic in scope; the story covers the Five Dominions that make up the Imajica. Four of these are currently Reconciled. It’s the Fifth, our own, which remains Unreconciled and without magic. The previous attempt at Reconciliation failed spectacularly, and there are those have conspired to ensure another attempt won’t be made. Perhaps the separation of the Fifth is a blessing in disguise; at least three are under the threat of the Autarch, who plans to conquer them all.
In London, Charlie Easterbrook is so distraught that his wife Judith has abandoned him and fled to New York that he has decided to hire an assassin to murder her. Not long afterwards, one of Easterbrook’s servicemen—Chant— is murdered in a very supernatural fashion by a group linked to the Tabula Rasa. This is our first hint that not all its what it seems, and that Easterbrook is dabbling in something occult.
Easterbrook, being one of those very British, very upper class and very self absorbed men, starts to regret what he has done. He admits the only reason he wants to kill Judith is because if he can’t have her, no one else should. (What is it with British mystical types, by the way? Why are they all like this?) But, without Chant around, he’s unable to call off the assassin himself. So Eastbrook recruits Gentle a.k.a. John Furie Zacharias, to reign in the assassin for him. Gentle flies to New York where he does actually manage to have a run in with Easterbrook’s contracted killer, who turns out to not only be a shapeshifter, but much more resilient than the average man. Both Gentle and the assassin Pie’oh’Pah are weirdly drawn to each other. Judith is, of course, very weirded out. And Easterbrook is a stupid prick. Interestingly, both Gentle and Judith know each other—they’re one-time lovers—and share a common circle of friends. They also both also seem to lack memories of their younger lives…. There’s probably something to that.
One thing that really stood out to me is that this really is a book of the nineties. It’s from the age of sprawling doorstoppers. Prose and themes had become more sophisticated at this point in fantasy and Baker is not slouch here; some of his writing is beautiful. He is also very Clive Barker in the way he incorporates both psychosexual elements, horror and religion. There is no trace of the pulp to be found.
There’s also a part of the story that takes place in the very late 1700’s that gives off a very English Gothic vibe, which seemed very popular at the time. There’s the aforementioned stuffy upperclass British mystics, of which Easterbrook is not the only one; prickhead has a brother. There’s even a subplot involving a gay couple close to both Judith and Gentle where one of them dying of what seems to be AIDs*. Very 90’s indeed.
But I guess it’s all part of the package; if you’re an epic-length 90s fantasy, odds are you’re going to also experience the pitfalls of so many other doorstop fantasies from that era – the meandering. Imajica does have a very long setup—as I have outlined above—but this early part at least moves at a good pace. It’s, surprisingly, when the characters start crossing into the other Dominions that I felt things got sluggish. Sometimes I just had to put the book down and ask myself ‘Just what are we doing here? Why were the character’s stories more compelling when they were in London? How did that happen?”
The other surprise for me was invoked imagery—or the sometimes weird inconsistency thereof. Barker can be very, very imaginative when he wants to be, especially when it comes to things like body horror. And the more fantastical beings, with a prime example being the Nullianacs. Some locations are also very well described—everything about the Erasure, for example, is quite chilling. Landscapes come across as detailed; even if you’re not sure why we’re slowly traveling through the mountains, at least it’s invokative.
But others? Not so much. Which is a damned shame, as we’re meant to be traversing four magical worlds here, and not all places get the same attention; sometimes one location runs into the other. I mean, I expected the home of the Autarch in Yzordderrex, the sinful city, to be more standout for me than Patashoqua. But it never hit me as especially spectacular.
Maybe it’s my expectations—I was expecting these realms that have long been cut off from our own to have less resemblance to our world, but they don’t stand out that way. Also, Clive Barker is known for his art! I don’t think this was an overly high expectation to have. I suspect a reader might be able to guess which locations were the author’s favorites from the amount of attention each one got***
But there are some remarkable scenes to be had as the characters travel across the Imajica, and again, Barker does write exceptionally well, so it was never much of a chore. The pace builds up in the last third of the book as all the parts start coming together, and the crescendo near the end is epic. I am at times in awe of what Barker can come with. But I’m still not sure we needed all the wandering around in the middle.
I suspect that if you’re one of those people who loves a long fantasy though and knows how to just vibe with the story, Imajica might be a good fit for you. It was a slightly imperfect one for me, but I’m glad I read it none the less.
For cbr17bingo, this is I—obviously! And about four times as long as most of the other picks I’ve made for bingo so far?
*They are my favorite side characters in the whole book, by the way.
**But like we’d have any doubt.
*** There is apparently an illustrated version. I think I’ll have to hunt that down
Edit: Wait, the little counter said 26 – that’s my half cannonball!