Book Review: Thief of Always

Basic Information:

Format: Graphic Novel
Author: Clive Barker
Illustrator: Gabriel Hernandez
Publisher: IDW Publishing
ISBN:1-933239-38-7

Synopsis:
Harvey Swick is a very bored young man. Trapped in the 'great gray beast February', he is desperate for an escape from his mundane existence. Luckily for him, he's given a chance to get away from it all by a mysterious stranger who appears in the dead of night, and transports him to the Holiday House, a world where years pass in a day, every night is Christmas, and every wish is granted. Predictably enough, things aren't entirely what they seem, and Harvey will have to discover the secrets behind the House, as well as the price you have to pay for your dreams.

Review:

Thief of Always made a great first impression on me. I was sitting up late at a relative's house, with nothing else to do, bored in the dark hours of early morning. Therefore, the feelings of ennui and shadowy boredom evoked by Hernandez' art and Barker's writing struck home immediately. Even though a wish-fulfillment story is a fairly standard trope, Thief of Always starts off feeling fresh, and vividly evokes the emotions of a idle childhood, of heartsickness and depression and the lingering hope of a better, sunnier day. This for a person who hates the sun.

For a time, at least, the story grabs hold of you. It's quite moving, and Hernandez keeps pace with his gorgeously murky watercolored look. Harvey falls deeper under the spell of the House, and so do you, even as both reader and protagonist slowly but inevitably become aware of the rotten underbelly to a place where all your dreams come true.

It's only when Harvey makes his escape from the House, and the book moves into its third act, that the wheels come off the wagon, but when they do, they come off HARD. Horror-fantasy cliches abound, and neither Barker's writing nor Hernandez' art can cover their stink on the page. Particularly annoying is an egregious example of what I'd call "Horror Protagonist Syndrome", which can be defined as the process by which a character in a horror story deduces, on the basis of little or no evidence, under enormous stress and time constraints, the precise course of action to Vanquish Evil and Save the Day.

Why are we expected to put up with this sort of lazy writing? Why do we have to see, again and again, a climactic scene where someone just happens to figure out the magic artifact to break a spell, the secret to the puzzle that locks the maze, the precise method to kill the monster, completely without in-story justification?

It's an insult to our intelligence as readers. It's boring and trite. It's also a great way to ruin an otherwise fascinating story, as it does here. Pity.

In spite of the thousands of wish-fulfillment stories in our culture, Thief of Always had real potential. Pity Barker tossed it down a well for a tidy resolution.


Pros:
--Gorgeous Artwork
--Moody, Evocative Writing

Cons:
--Lazy, Sloppy Conclusion

Rating: 2.5/5