Weaveworld

By: Clive Barker

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Clive Barker has made his mark on modern fiction by exposing all that is surreal and magical in the ordinary world - and exploring the profound and overwhelming terror that results. With its volatile mix of the fantastical and the contemporary, the everyday and the otherworldly, Weaveworld is an epic work of dark fantasy and horror - a tour de force from one of today's most forceful and imaginative artists.

©1987 Clive Barker, Ink (P)2014 David N. Wilson

Enchanting

Would you listen to Weaveworld again? Why?

Yes
This read has a lot of story and sometimes I felt as if I missed something.
Definitely have it on the list to read again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Weaveworld?

In the end when there was a unexpected twist I was hoping to see

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

The steady ness of his voice. When he is speaking as a woman you dont think about the person trying to be a woman. Just the person in the story.
His voice has tempo and seems to sing at just the right time. Its as if he wrote the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I very rarely stop and think about a book long after I have read it and its been months and I'm still thinking about this one

33 of 37 people found this review helpful

Ah, but what price Wonderland?

One of my favorites! Raw and dark fantasy from Clive Barker. A great story and wonderful narration by Mr. Simon Vance. Maybe not as polished as some of Barker's other works, but a grand modern fairytale nonetheless. Epic in scale and weight.

25 of 28 people found this review helpful

I love it!

So much so that im sad it ended. The narrator did a wonderful job. The story is superb. I recommend to anyone who is into fantasy and magical worlds.

20 of 23 people found this review helpful

A Chore I Gave Up On

This book was recommended to me by a fan of Clive Barker as a great first book to experience and I honestly struggled to finish it.

The set up was simple, fairies hid from the world to escape mankind and the fairy killer, an unlucky couple frees them from their hiding place, and a bunch of people interact while failing to make you care about any of them.

From the main villain, who isn't really a main villain because she is too weak to control her lackeys, to a secret back up villain who takes far too long to appear, and finally a lackey who hired his own lackeys that lack as much as him.

I never once felt the motivation for any of the characters, from a detective who is bad because... well I am not sure, too a jaded fairy who wants to watch the world burn simply because she wasn't allowed to be part of the rug, and finally a crazy nothingness that is just sad and angry it lost its charge.

I had a hard time finishing Weaveworld and found myself paying more attention to house chores hoping to hear the ending credits so I could move on to a better read. I am not feeling the urge to try anything else from Clive Barker which is rather unfortunate.

19 of 22 people found this review helpful

Great story perfectly narrated

Unique and imaginative story, a true work of art. The narrator was wonderful, great characterizations and even did women's voices believably.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

great reading, great story!

I'm bias, Clive Barker is my favorite author, but this story is such an amazing piece of fantasy! the world building and richness of the characters is astounding, and the reading is equally as great! I loved the character voices and personality in each. if you like epic style fantasy in a modern setting, this book is just for you!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

it was so good I cried

this is probably my favorite narrator and I got this book because of imajica, by the same author which he also narrated. both stories are so enthralling and emotional and adventurous and unique, and with both I cried both tears of sadness and tears of joy. I am not usually prone to tears, but these have been the best books I think I've ever read.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Finally, the audio!

My breath caught when I saw this was released. I read it years and years ago! And I already know Simon Vance is a good narrator. Hey audible, I'm also waiting for Imajica, and the Books of The Art! Please.....

44 of 56 people found this review helpful

Captivating

For a non-reader with adhd, this book kept me hooked. it became mental escape. bravo

9 of 11 people found this review helpful

Worth it, but not amazing.

The story meandered and that might seem good because the book is called Weaveworld, but it wasn't in a meta way. It was more the kind of meandering like when you take a winding path through not so impressive scenery that seems like it will blow your mind around the next corner and never does. Ecerything about this bookmwas almost there. The characters were fleshed out just enough so that you almost cared about them, but not quite. Barker doesn't succeed in connecting the rrader to the fugue to make it a place worth saving, which is the entire goal of the book, so everything on the way to that goal falls flat. It is very imaginative and there are patches where Barker writes this beautiful, poetic prose, the kind of which everlasting platitudes are born because they feel so true to deeper truths of existence. For that reason, I think the novel is worth the read, but don't go into thinking it's going to be as good as Imajica.

29 of 37 people found this review helpful

Fresh and vibrant after all this time

25 years. Or more, and after all that time I still had vivid memories of it such is the impact it had on me then.
I was slightly scared going back in after all this time, I've ruined some of my fondest old memories by re-watching old tv shows but in the end I could not resist one more look at the old carpet and I was not disappointed.
Some of the accents were mildly annoying when I first started but I soon settled in and actually enjoyed the characterisation by the time I got to the end. Anyway, decent though the performance was it is irrelevant really, this is all about the story. A beautifull woven fairytale with allegory both subtle and bold and wonderfully written snippets describing a wondrousl world.
I have almost literally been somewhere else for the last 20 or so hours, laughing inside at the other commuters who have no idea I have another world in my headphones.
Bravo.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

More please!

Superb story read by excellent narrator. Weaveworld has always been a favourite story of mine, I got my hardback signed by Clive Barker at the Forbidden Planet bookshop in London years ago, The audio version is amazing and highly recommended.

Now Audible, can we please have The Damnation Game, The Great and Secret show, Everville, and Imajica as soon as possible please!

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Great story, mediocre performance

Great story but badly let down by the poor performance. The narrator's stylings of the two main characters; Cal and Susannah was abysmal. I struggled to finish it, the story was the only saving grace

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

excellent story

narator didn't do accent well and mispronounced words butt over all as excellent as i remember it

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Story. So-so reader

Where does Weaveworld rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I looked forward to this one more than most. I have getting on for twenty audible titles in my library, about half of which, I'd read at some point, usually many years ago. Weaveworld was one of those that I was revisiting. It's an exceptionally good story, narrated by an adequate reader.

What did you like best about this story?

It's the best Clive Barker I've encountered. One of the best I've ever read in any format, and as an unabridged audiobook, it retains everything from what I remember reading.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator uses only a small range of accents. That the voices don't agree with my mind's ear is inevitable, but the lack of range was noticeable, particularly in the dialogue. The narrator is not local, and that quickly becomes apparent if you're reading this from the perspective of someone who lives in the area. Specifically, the pronunciation of "Thurstaston" was jarringly inauthentic. Not something that would matter to a listener from even 50 miles away, but it stopped me in my tracks. The stress is on the first syllable, not the second. THURstaston, not Thurst ASTon. I was listening to this audiobook in my room, and my wife came in. She'd been in the room next door, reading, and generally ignoring the muffled sound of this audiobook, but she too had been distracted by the obviously fake and forced Scouse accent. If Scouse was halfway between Irish and Brummie, the voice would have been spot on, but it isn't, and while a less local listener would either not have noticed, or could have shrugged it off, for me it detracted from the overall experience.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

None of the books I want to listen to are intended to be listened to in one sitting. I travel locally between clients in my car, and get perhaps 15-20 minute slots of story. For reasons that are probably almost entirely beyond Audible's control, almost all of the audiobooks on my ipod fail to work properly in my car, so I've been listening to this on my PC instead. It's too long to even consider listening to in one sitting, unless I planned to either sit or drive for a ridiculously long time.

Any additional comments?

The introduction, where Clive Barker recaps his own thoughts, ideas, and feelings about Weaveworld, many years after it was written and released were informative, interesting and thought provoking.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

One of my fave Clive Barker novels

Great story and narration only let down slightly by the poor Liverpudlian accents. Simon Vance is usually great and he is throughout the rest - but in places where Cal and Brendan's accents were wavering between Yorkshire, Birmingham and Liverpool it was pretty jarring.

feels like 4 books squeezed into one

this book feels like too much happens, and could have be drawn out across a series. a grand event would happen for me to only realise I was 1/4 through the book.
I also disliked how often people just 'knew' what to do, who was there, what was going on. I understand this is fantasy, but that felt lazy.
I'm sure other people would really enjoy this, but it wasnt for me.

Magical

1st read this 30yrs ago and its just as magical now as it was then

It's a lot for a Cuckoo to understand

I was happy having the audiobook assessable on this app as reading it was going to be troublesome. Brilliantly read, I foud this very captivating. Clive Barker's opening was a real treat.

So very boring

What can I say. I was looking forward to this novel but found it to be very tedious. That's it