Here is storytelling on a grand scale — the stuff of which a classic is made. Weaveworld begins with a rug — a wondrous, magnificent rug — into which a world has been woven. It is the world of the Seerkind, a people more ancient than man, who possesses raptures — the power to make magic. In the last century they were hunted down by an unspeakable horror known as the Scourge, and, threatened with … with annihilation, they worked their strongest raptures to weave themselves and their culture into a rug for safekeeping. Since then, the rug has been guarded by human caretakers.
The last of the caretakers has just died.
Vying for possession of the rug is a spectrum of unforgettable characters: Suzanna, granddaughter of the last caretaker, who feels the pull of the Weaveworld long before she knows the extent of her own powers; Calhoun Mooney, a pigeon-raising clerk who finds the world he’s always dreamed of in a fleeting glimpse of the rug; Immacolata, an exiled Seerkind witch intent on destroying her race even if it means calling back the Scourge; and her sidekick, Shadwell, the Salesman, who will sell the Weaveworld to the highest bidder.
In the course of the novel the rug is unwoven, and we travel deep into the glorious raptures of the Weaveworld before we witness the final, cataclysmic struggle for its possession.
Barker takes us to places where we have seldom been in fiction–places terrifying and miraculous, humorous, and profound. With keen psychological insight and prodigious invention, his trademark graphic vision balanced by a spirit of transcendent promise, Barker explores the darkness and the light, the magical and the monstrous, and celebrates the triumph of the imagination.
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Come into the magical world of the Weave people.
In this book you meet a man named Calhoun and a women Susanna. They come together to help save the Weave which is a magical rug that hold the Weave people.
But others want to possess the rug and hold its magical power.
Clive Barker is the reason I became a constant reader. He has an amazing gift of delivering us to the place he is writing about. Weaveworld has always been one of my favorites. It still amazes me that he could take this magical idea and have me living in that world for the duration of my reading experience.
I first read WEAVEWORLD back in the late ’80s just after it came out, and did so while on a boat trip around the Chester area on the Shropshire Union canal, so it was an episodic reading experience, punctuated by working locks, taking in scenery, and visiting a huge number of pubs. It’s a surprise any of it stuck with me at all really, but I found on rereading this weekend that large chunks of it were there in my memory, flickering lights, raptures as Barker describes them, seductions and visions of elsewhere to make your heart break.
I got more out of it this time round, reading it in a solid chunk over two days. It’s a masterful piece of work, full of Barker’s vision, parts of it poetic, other parts showing off his visual imagination to the full, and all of it grounded in the character of Cal Mooney, lost in the lights of a vision of something he doesn’t understand, but knows that he needs.
The central conceit of a magic carpet, and the wonders it contains is a great one to hang a fantasy on, and this is indeed fantasy, albeit one with a grotesque edge of horror, particularly in the villains, who are among the nastiest in fiction.
It’s a big slab of a book, but I didn’t notice, as I was lost and away with Cal in Wonderland most of the time, and I was almost sad to finish it.
It reminded me of something I’d forgotten, a need for wonder, something my own recent writings has lacked, and something I’ll be trying to rectify. But I can’t hope to reach Barker’s flickering, glorious, raptures of body horror; that vision is his and his alone.
I was sorely disappointed with Barker’s SCARLET GOSPELS, but reading WEAVEWORLD again reminded me that, on his game, he’s up there with the best.
And this is one of the best.
This book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but, for me, it took escapism to whole new levels. Clive Barker has an imagination that is both impressive and intimidating; he understands human fears and plays on them.
My person favorite Clive Barker book.
excellent interesting characters, rather complex, convoluted story line.
The first time I read this book I was in my teens. For me this was like going back in time. And I did not regret it. The amount of description that Clive Barker puts into his world(s) is amazing. It captures you and enthralls you. You get carried to another dimension. I had to take breaks from this book and digest it because I had to get back to the real world. This is an amazing book and it has a great deal of emotional impact. The characters are extremely three dimensional and will wrap you up inside them if you let them.
I enjoyed the book, it was a bit hard to follow at times, but I’d say that was my having to read it over a period of a few weeks, had I sat and read over a weekend and engrossed myself a bit more in it I may have followed it easier. That said, what world inside an existing world would not be at least a bit confusing. Thumbs up for some highly imaginative writing!
Fresh concept. Intriguing characters. Definitely a book to read again!
I read this decades ago and loved it! I fully plan to re-read ASAP.
First time I’ve read this one, even tho it’s been around for quite a while. I read Galilee a while back and that made me want to try this one when it came across my Bookbub feed. I love a good long book, so long as it keeps my interest and this one did! Good characters and imagery.
Love love live it!!
I am probably biased because I love Barker’s work. This is the second time I have read this book. Second time was as good as the first.
I have read this one multiple times over the years. One of my all time favorite Clive Barker novels!