The Thief of Always | Clive Barker
Another book by Barker that made it onto my short list. The Thief of Always quickly turned into a childhood fantasy I never knew I had.
The story is clear n simple.
A could-be child’s read.
Harvey Swick is bored – so he leaves to somewhere better. To do something more exciting, to see something more exciting, to escape the Great Grey Beast that was February.
The visuals are amazing, again Barker's prose are on point. As twisted and disturbing as the Hellbound Heart was, Thief took my rusty old childhood memories of adventures imagined and polished it back up.
Giving me back those feelings of wonder and joy. Remember when you watched Hook for the first time and Williams had dinner with the lost boys?
Still one of my favorite fluffy visuals. Like the dinner, it escaped the boundaries of what is and just made it so much better.
The story goes on, the house isn’t what it seems. I knew I should've cheered Harvey on as he took on the monsters but I couldn’t help but think : Fuck Harvey – I would kill to live in that house! Have my soul! Here! Take it!!
The only thing that bugs me when the book comes to mind is that I didn’t read it sooner. So I put it in my 10-year-old's library with hopes that he reads into all the underlying messages as well. Being bored with your old man and ma beats the hell out of being turned into a fish or getting eaten by demons… there’s no in-between.
One or the other kid.
