Review: Imajica: The Fifth Dominion and The Reconciliation
Clive Barker’s Imajica was first published in 1991. This book is a riveting fantasy (or fantastique in the words of Clive Barker). Imajica is a huge book, not just in page length, but also in the scope and breadth of the number of characters, subject matter, and themes that it includes. Themes such as God, gender, death, love, and sex.
Imajica is a book that is easy to find yourself immersed in, but pay close attention to detail as there is a plethora of characters and information constantly rolling by your gaze as you take in each word. Imajica is a tale of five dominions. It begins in the fifth dominion, which is the world as we know it, where Charlie Estabrook has hired assassin Pie’oh’pah to kill off his estranged wife Judith. When the realization of what he had done hits him, Estabrook contacts Gentle (John Furie Zacharias) to protect Judith, bringing Gentle into the madness that is soon to ensue.
Despite Gentle and Pie’s first unnerving encounter, they grow a friendship through their travels through the dominions, this friendship continues to grow into something more, until you realize this epic adventure also has a heartbreaking love story unraveling in front of your eyes.
As you travel through the fourth dominion, the third, and then the second you can see why Clive Barker said, “…it was a book which obsessed me, right from the very beginning.” The obsession he felt while writing this epic tale is evident in each and every scene.
The first edition of Imajica comes in at 824 pages. Unfortunately, that is not the version that I own. I own the paperback that was divided into two parts; The Fifth Dominion and The Reconciliation, but this didn’t affect how I read the book as I jumped straight into book 2 within moments of reading the last sentence of book one. The artwork on each paperback cover was created by Jim Burns. The artwork, while beautiful doesn’t seem to quite do the books justice in my opinion. I would have loved to have had more color blazing forth from the cover.
While it has been several months since I read it Imajica is still a very special book that I turned to while coping with some trials and tribulations of my own. It took me deep within its pages allowing my mind peace from the outside world while I allowed myself to have a breather from bad news and extreme stress. My personal feelings toward this book go deeper than they do with most books I’ve read, as in this book I found laughter, tears, and friends amongst the characters when I felt too vulnerable to turn to my friends in the real world. Clive Barker not only writes amazing stories, but he also writes in a way that offers a bit of therapy to those of us who turn to books when we need a shoulder to lean on.
Imajica Book 2 The Reconciliation
Imajica Book 1 The Fifth Dominion
