This imaginative story works as either fantasy or horror. (Updated 7/1/01)

"Weaveworld" is a tapestry woven of many characters and places. Its primary idea of a rug containing the entranceway to a magical land reminded me a little of "The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe", but it quickly transcends that children's fantasy tale into one of both horror and wonderment.

Calhoun Mooney seems to be an ordinary person, doing ordinary things, until one day he finds himself standing on a tall fence trying to recover a lost pigeon. Looking down from the fence he sees a rug which two workers have unrolled from an abandoned house. In the rug's pattern is a complicated view of another world. While transfixed by it, the intricate patterns begin to subtley move, and he realizes that this is another world he is witnessing from high above. And he realizes that his life will never be the same again. He soon finds himself entering this strange world, and later brings forth both fantasy characters and monsters from within its depths.

The full plot is far too complicated to ever do it justice with a simple breakdown. There are some truly wonderful moments in the book. One of my favorite passages of Barker's is his brief description of the desert land that is such a dangerous void that planes eschew flying over it. On maps, it is commonly referred to simply as "The Void". One of my favorite scenes in the book has a character trying to hide in a kitchen from a hovering blind ghost searching for him. The ghost is blind, but sees heat, so by opening up the refrigerator door, the ghost is confused and cannot make out heat patterns. Like most of Clive's better stories, it leads us consistently into new territories. Not just geographically, but of the mind. I'm always amazed at how many completely new characters he can give us with each new story.

This being one of Barker's first full length stories (after writing many short stories) has a very odd pacing where many chapters may consist of only a few pages. Reading this feels a little like watching a heavily edited movie or a MTv video. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however.

This book is not easily put down because you always feel like you could read just a little more.