Classics Corner: Imajica by Clive Barker; A Parallel Universe Fantasy That Draws You In and Won't Let Go

Classics Corner: Imajica by Clive Barker; A Parallel Universe Fantasy That Draws You In and Won't Let Go


By Julie Sara Porter,


Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: First I want to thank my sister-in-law Tzyra Andreeva for giving me this wonderful book. It's definitely a great gift.

You don't read a book like Clive Barker’s Imajica. You inhabit it, you immerse yourself into it. The parallel world setting, the magical eccentric characters, the intricate plot and deep themes of religion, gender roles and realizing one’s own identity draw the Reader in and doesn't let them go.

This is the type of book that starts the Reader thinking that it's one thing but early hints show that it becomes a completely different work. Charlie Estabrook, an obsessive Englishman wants to hire an assassin to murder Judith, his soon-to-be-ex-wife and the Reader sits back ready for a psychological thriller. But certain things happen that prove otherwise about the narrative.


There’s the bizarre coincidence that both Judith and her former lover, John Furie Zacharias AKA Gentle can only remember the last ten years of their lives. There's the go-between with Estabrook and the assassin who is murdered by a strange man who not only appears out of thin air but murders the go-between by putting unearthly insects in his mouth that crawl through his skin. Then,there's the passage where the hired assassin,Pie’oh’pah transforms from male to female depending on who is observing it. Well that's horror master Clive Barker, the creator of the Hellraiser and Candyman franchises for you.

Instead of being a conventional thriller or a conventional well just about anything, Imajica reveals itself to be an evocative novel set within five parallel universes. The Universes called the Dominions (Earth is the Fifth Dominion) were connected as one called the Imajica but now have lost those connections. Many sorcerers and magic users have attempted to join the Five Dominions in a ritual called The Reconciliation to no success. Among them, the back story tells us, was a sorcerer who attempted the Reconciliation 2,018 years ago who not only failed but ended up on the wrong end of a cross. (Guess who?) The most recent attempt was made 200 years ago by a Maestro Sartori who failed miserably and made some very magical and destructive decisions that affected the rest of the characters and himself.

What happens next is a road trip through the unique worlds of the other four Dominions. In trying to defend Judith from the eccentric assassin, Gentle begins to bond with it. Soon he and Pie’oh'pah form a friendship and travel to the other Dominions. Pie’oh'pah has its own motives which get revealed later. For Gentle, an art forger and ladies’ man, the trip is to give him direction and possibly some answers for questions that have plagued him for the past ten years.


Meanwhile Judith goes on a magical journey of her own. Astral projection allows her to travel inside the body of a mysterious woman who has been imprisoned in a comatose state for over 100 years inside the home of a member of the Tabula Rasa. They are a secret organization who are driven to destroy any magic users and stop the Reconciliation and aren't particular about the methods to achieve these goals.

The Four Dominions are brilliantly captured in Barker's writing. They are individually characterized with unique details that describe the landscapes. One Dominion is surrounded by a frozen lake with killer tides...literally. Another has a green sky which turns purple at night. Another has a comet for a sun and another has two suns and an immense desert. Another looks like a living city and turns out to be one.

There are also unusual characters in these environments as well. There are human characters with gills, feathers, and fur (some with all three). Pie'oh'pah’s transformations from male to female are illusions to seduce its lovers into thinking that they are seeing their strongest desire. A little girl Huzzah is described as a very ugly girl but is one of the sweetest most adorable characters in the book. There are also frightening characters like the Nullianacs, creatures with hands for heads who devour their enemies. Once the First Dominion is revealed to be a living city, it becomes a thing of nightmares.

Besides describing unique settings, Barker provides brilliant rich characters in the novel, many of whom are more than they seem. The Second Dominion's capital city, Yzordderrex is ruled by the Autarch, a malevolent war mongering tyrant and Quaisoir, his mentally ill wife. In other books, they would be the direct villains of the piece. But Imajica isn't so clearly defined. As Gentle, Judith, The
Autarch and Quaisoir discover they are more connected than they thought, the lines between heroes and villains become blurry making the four very developed.

Judith and Gentle are very developed characters in their struggles throughout the novel to discover their identities. Gentle begins the novel as a dilettante artist who uses his talents to copy other works and hop from one bed to another. His journey through the Dominions becomes one of self-discovery. He and Pie'oh'pah fall in love when Gentle realizes what a loving and loyal creature his companion is. He also embraces some dormant magical abilities which he uses in the protection of his friends and loved ones.


Gentle becomes confused whether his role is to continue the Reconciliation or to stop it. He learns who he once was in a heartbreaking and frightening scene in which he is driven to insanity by the memories of not only his current life but the previous ones before it.
Once he remembers his former identity's cruelties and deceptions, he is determined to make things right in this life. When he confronts Hapexamendios, the God that was the true author of this destruction, Gentle is prepared to face Him to claim his identity for himself.


Judith also goes on her own journey.When she learns that she was created for the purpose of being a romantic object for someone, she seeks to break that pattern to become her own person. Like Gentle, she refuses to remain a plaything for others’ designs.
Judith also discovers some abilities that allow her to free the Goddesses who had been removed by Hapexamendios and The Autarch's theocracy. She recognizes the strength of many of the other female characters and in herself.
It is only when Judith and Gentle are able to accept their former identities and be willing to break their old patterns to become their own people are they able to truly bring completion to the Dominions in a very unique and clever way.

Like his magical characters and setting, Barker weaves a spell on the Reader that captivates them and holds onto them long after the book is closed. That is why this is the best book that I have read this year so far.