I never read any Clive Barker. I watched a number of horror movies based on his work and thought they were pretty good. Hellraiser was good (I watched them all the way to #50. I know I know there aren't that many but that's fine. I saw almost all of them) and even the Candyman series was entertaining. I did not quite know what was in that anthology of short stories when I put it on in the car as I made my way to (and from) St Louis.
I won't go into too much detail about the individual stories. However, one stood out: The Forbidden from which the Candyman movie was taken stood out and is easily my favorite tale. The rest left me unimpressed or uninterested in reading more. And ever The Forbidden was enough. The Children of Babel was one that got me wondering where it was going but the denouement drew a groan from me. The Madonna was interesting but I felt it go nowhere. In the Flesh was Lovecraftian that kept me going until the end. The end was just odd and I had to go online to find out what the whole thing was about.
Now as an author, I must say that he is a MASTER WORDSMITH and storyteller. How he crafts his sentences and wording is just superb. Really drove me to better myself in that department so that was a big win.
So this leaves me in a pickle. I would rate the stories 3/5 but the writing a 5/5. Thinking about it, a 4/5 seems at once low and high but seems to be about right for my thoughts. A 4.25 may be closer to what I would be happy with, which rounds down to 4.
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