This isn’t a casual read. It represents a considerable investment in time and effort. Many characters, settings, plot lines and underlying principles to keep straight…. Yet, it is worth the investment of yourself. Even the language is of its own as you need to learn new lingo, so to speak to get the gist of the tale.
Like so many of Barker’s other novels, there is a hidden world behind the our natural world. Barker is such a master at interweaving mundane, and profane, details into the greater fabric of his realities that you find yourself totally drawn in. You find yourself immersed in the hidden reality of this magical tale.
Five worlds, five dimensions or Dominions make up this world. These make up the whole of Imajica. Two hundred years before, there was an attempt to reconcile our world called the fifth Dominion with the other four. This ended in a metaphysical catastrophe so great that almost all of the Dominions great theurgists, shamans, and theologians were killed. The result was that almost all magical knowledge passed from our world and for two centuries science and materialism held us in their disastrous clutches.
You get the picture. An amazing book to sink your teeth into with well written syntax and amazing story line.
Enjoy!
*****