Imajica

Rating:
Summary: Imajica: Ever Into Itself a Masterful World
Review: Though never a fan of horror, to which Barker is an artist without peer, my friend offered me his copy and said if I read nothing else, I should read Imajica. Being in the middle of summer vacation, I sat down to pour through its pages, not knowing quite what to expect, figuring it was likely a tale of gruesomeness.

I was wrong.

From the first page I was enthralled in this masterpiece of fantasty. It was a tale which pulls you into it, it's psychological twists and turns as wonderous as the fantasy and intellectual humor that could come at you when you least expected, it's eroticism combining with the wonder that it is the human imagination. Hungrily, I made my way through it, the book in itself being filling to my soul much like the food I probably should have eaten had I been any less enraptured by it's imagery.

In two days, my mind took in what it had to offer and begged for more. Though varied and vast as the dominions themselves, the descriptions were no less amazing as I read on, and, when the end finally came, left me both satisfied with what I had read in its pages and tearful to its ending, which left me wondering exactly what lies inside the circle.

It is a book I have read over a dozen times since, like a movie that one never can forget and never grows tired of watching. It is, by far and away, the most masterful piece of fiction I have ever read. As my friend said, if you read nothing else in your life that is fictional, this should be the one choice you do pick up.

Rating:
Summary: A Monumental Metaphysical Marvel
Review: When I decided to reread this mammoth novel after thirteen years this is the edition that I chose. I picked it for the illustrations, for the badly needed explanatory appendix, and because it has been tightened up into a single volume instead of two 500+ page halves. This will no doubt be the definative edition in the years to come.

This isn't a casual read. It represents a considerable investment in time. There are also so many characters, settings, plot lines, specialized vocabulary and underlying principles to keep straight.... Yet, it is worth the investment in time and effort.

The basic framework, like so many of Barker's other novels, is that of a hidden world behind the superficial façade of our mundane world. Barker is such a master at interweaving mundane, and profane, details into the greater fabric of his realities that you find yourself totally drawn in. I found myself totally immersed in this hidden reality. For this is a story of five worlds, or dimensions, or Dominions. These make up the whole of Imajica. That is, they should. Two hundred years ago there was an attempt to reconcile our own fifth Dominion with the other four. This ended in a metaphysical catastrophe so great that that nearly all of the Dominions great theurgists, shamans, and theologians were killed. The result was that almost all magical knowledge passed from our world and for two centuries science and materialism held grim sway.

Now, conditions are once again ripe for an attempt to reconcile the Dominions. The great magus', or Maestros, know that this may very well be the last attempt to heal the rift in creation. To fail this time will undoubtedly mean two more centuries of isolation- plenty of time for the Fifth Dominion to destroy itself in nuclear or ecological suicide.

Yet, to heal the rift will require a Master of such power and confidence that he will try to succeed where all those that have gone before him (even the Christos) have failed....