Sacrament
By Clive Barker
3.5/5
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About this ebook
A famous photographer lying in a coma holds the key to the salvation of the world. But first he must travel back into the traumatic events of his childhood.
Will Rabjohns has everything. He’s handsome, he’s rich, and he’s revered as the world’s greatest wildlife photographer. He’s also a haunted man, driven to risk his life for his art – to capture the raw tragedy of the wild, the beauty of nature’s violence.
After a near fatal encounter with a polar bear, he lies in a coma. There he must relive a central childhood memory: a meeting with ancient and terrible forces which revealed to him the mystery at the heart of nature. And he realizes that if he awakes, he must confront the darkness of his past and wage a war, not only for his own soul, but for the soul of the planet and every animal that breathes upon it.
Clive Barker
Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. His earlier books include ‘The Books of Blood’, ‘Cabal’, and ‘The Hellbound Heart’. In addition to his work as a novelist and playwright, he also iilustrates, writes, directs and produces for stage and screen. His films include ‘Hellraiser’, ‘Hellbound’, ‘Nightbreed’ and ‘Candyman’. Clive lives in Beverly Hills, California.
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Reviews for Sacrament
258 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was an absolutely fabulous read! Yet again, Barker astounds me with his use of language, weaving plot-lines, and adept and revealing characterizations of people who you actually are interested in and want to know about. This was a passionate, jarring, and emotional novel that throws off the shackles than contemporary fiction sometimes places on itself and instead goes for the heart and the mind at the same time. Any reader should view this as an astounding piece of art- for that is what it is. I was blown away by this and I intend to keep working on Barker's oeuvre.4.5 stars- and very well deserved!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5His most personal book to date. He exorcised a lot of demons with this one. My second favorite writer...but this one fell flat with me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was the first Clive Barker book i have read. I liked the book although there were points were it slowed down and was hard to continue, but there were points were you didn't want to put it down. over all i enjoyed the book and will read more of his work.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5His most personal book to date. He exorcised a lot of demons with this one. My second favorite writer...but this one fell flat with me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really fantastic read. Barker proves once again how effortlessly he handles urban fantasy. I'm a big fan of his work and writing style and the types of characters he writes, and I felt like this book fully delivered on everything a fan would expect of him. I'm actually shocked now when I think of how little I'd heard about this book. That's one of the reasons I picked it up, because it seems to be the one Barker novel that no one talks about. But it's just as good, if not better, than the ones that seem to get all the attention. It's hard for me to narrow down why I loved it so much. Partly the risks he took here, partly the mysterious nature of what made the plot supernatural. But suffice to say I loved it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book would certainly not be for everyone. It's a book that will make you think however about how you fit into the world. The book is longer than it needed to be and I did skim a little here and there, but that was because I wanted to get to the end to see how the story resolved itself. A decent Barker tale that remains true to the type of story he likes to tell. If you enjoy Barker's works and haven't read this, it's only a matter of time.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Ein sehr langweiliger und sich ewig hinziehender Fantasyroman, der vollgepackt ist mit Philosophie und Poesie. Für Horror- und Thrillerfans ein absoluter Fehlgriff.Ich kann bei bestem Willen nicht nachvollziehen, wie jemand das gut und lesenswert finden kann, der nicht unter Einfluss von Drogen steht.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A slow but interesting read. Suspense, mystery, action, creepiness, and love all in one well written book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sacrament might be favorite novel yet by Clive Barker. I am not sure how personal this was to Clive (I have yet to read his blog and interviews for background on "Sacrament"), but it comes across as an intensely personal novel. Wil Rabjohns is an incredibly talented homosexual who has an eye for photography, for capturing species at the verge of extinction.Like Dan Simmon's The Terror, Sacrament is a dark fantasy or supernatural horror that deals with the relationships between men and the world we live in. Wil Rabjohn's story, the story of Jacob & Rosa, and memory of Lord Fox all intertwine as Rabjohns later wonders "am I the dreamer or the dreamed?"Sacrament is very different from The Hellbound Heart or The Damnation Game. Even compared to Galilee, Imajica, Great & Secret Show, the pacing and story of Sacrament is much more sedate, much more a personal journey than a dramatic one. I can see reviewers and readers being caught up on Rabjohns' sexuality or the pacing, and missing the story because of it. I wouldn't recommend Sacrament to some fans, but I would to most.I loved Sacrament. This was my second reading, and I'm sure I'd read it again. I'd love to have a Lord Fox in my head, but I'd settle for trying to make the world better for dogs amidst their "meat and flowers."
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Having had Barker’s ‘Sacrament’ on my ‘to read’ list for quite a while I was not disappointed. Touted as an alternative to Stephen King, and having ‘O.D.ed’ on Mr King by the early 1990’s, it was a disturbing pleasure to re-enter the horror genre with Barker’s macabre images of death and animals, and with the raunchiest sex scene I have read in quite a while this was certainly a reading pleasure. I was very pleased to find a gay main character whose sexuality was important but not overplayed, and his sojourn back to San Francisco afforded me the opportunity to re-visit one of my favourite cities. Other reviews appear to indicate this is not one of Barker’s best novels, so I’m looking forward to exploring this author’s work.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The reader is introduced to Will Rabjohns, a photographer of soon to be extinct species. He has his deal of fame, an Englishman living in San Francisco and a gay.After we take a look at the average day of the main character, Will falls into a coma. This acts as a way for Barker to shift our attention to Will's childhood. The reader goes over the major events that made Will into who he is now and builds the basis for the rest of the book. At the same time, it's uncertain how the book's present interacts with the character's past. In many ways, I was reminded of time travel stories. It's also the first time we are introduced to the story's main antagonists, although their true nature isn't revealed up until the very last pages.I am not familiar with literature where the main character is homosexual but I am pleased that this fact isn't used merely for the sake of it. Will's homosexuality is part of the plot and one of the reasons why the main antagonist despises the photographer so much, it also correlates Will's perception of himself.The story overall is gripping. I found myself craving to read what happens next. However, the main reason it caught me as much as it had was that the author doesn't limit himself just to pleasantries. I would imagine some might find the images this book gives to be slightly disturbing if not obscene.