Weaveworld, A Master's Worldbuilding

Weaveworld is a lyrical epic by shock writer Clive Barker. It has its nightmare elements and unlike many writers, Barker doesn't shy away from the surreal. His fantastic imagery light and dark is often far too original not to really startle with its intensity.

Many writers retell classic myths. Barker has done this in Weaveworld with a magical rug that opens a portal to a magical world. The contrast between that well developed world that could easily have stood on its own without the entrance of anyone from gritty London gradually builds until without any cinematic explosions, the magical effects and sense of magic spill over into the realist.

That takes a master craftsman. We've all seen Sliders and its ilk. We all know that parallel worlds and travelers between them are stock in trade - but well written magic will cross those borders before it crosses the borders. The prose itself will echo with a magical resonance. The coincidental events of everyday life will hold tiny important clues to the greater magical events once the boundary has been crossed and the roses sing.

The roses sing in this one and they do it beautifully.

Clive Barker takes as unique an approach with the women's magic, called menstruum - he takes something natural and inherently frightening to men because in reality that usually also means she's going to be in a bad mood and may lash out for no apparent reason - and then makes it the source of a destructive female magical power. Few men will dare touch that topic at all. Barker shows it at its cruelest and also at its intoxicating, mysterious best. Women are fascinating in this book. Quite a lot of horror is loosely linked to boy's adventure but in Weaveworld both sexes are presented as magical archetypes.

He isn't afraid to show the dark side of those archetypes or the best in his heroes despite their many flaws.

The world itself is a character and one well worth remembering. This is worldbuilding by a true master. Get sucked in and you'll want a Persian style carpet in your living room just to make you dream of it.

Robert A. Sloan, author of Raven Dance