The first time I picked it up I only got to read the first volume, through absolutely no fault of my own. Greater numbers might drift through the drama, of course -- thousands in fact -- but they could only ever be phantoms, agents, or, on rare occasions, reflections of the three real and self-willed beings who stood at the center. Through explanation by the Autarch and a vision he witnesses, the true events of what happened 200 years before are finally revealed.

I have to agree with other reviewers in saying that his style does grow very tedious as the novel progresses. It has a narcissistic womaniser become infatuated with a living being who embodies sexual fantasy, only to see through that fantasy and fall in love with the entity behind the glamour. The narrative unfolds within a multiverse of parallel dimensions, exploring the interplay between reality, magic, and the cosmic forces that shape existence.

They invent hundreds or thousands of characters to fill different nations, they create classes and culture, sometimes they even make new languages. It takes you to new lands and new places and paints pictures which draw you in to them with both skill and ease. Judith decides to head to Yzordderrex to see the Goddesses and find out from them whether or not the reconciliation should go forward. But despite these criticisms, this was a fantastic journey and I'm so happy to have finally read it. Once their battle is over, Gentle and the others head back to the house on Gamut Street where Judith captures Little Ease.

They also reveal to her that when reconciled, the Imajica is a circle and that Judith may one day be among the Goddesses. I tried the Abarat books, having read the first, and a large chunk of the second, and they're even worse.Read Imajica and when you’re 100 pages in and say “this isn’t fantasy,” be prepared to revisit those thoughts. Gentle chases Pie away, but Pie, who has the ability to change his exterior, later disguises himself as Judith and comes to Gentle's apartment with the intent of having sex with him. By rote, not only is the second portion clear and less despairing: it focuses on the magic inner workings of Clive Barker’s saga. I still cannot begin to fathom the fact that Imajica originated from a series of vivid dreams that Barker had.