- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (April 20 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0765302853
- ISBN-13: 978-0765302854
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,433,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Horror master James Herbert serves up a blend of faerie, supernatural chills, eroticism, and identity quest in Once...--a fairy tale with a darker side.
Thom Kindred suffers a stroke and returns to his childhood home to heal. Castle Bracken seems like a pastoral paradise, but almost immediately, Thom begins to experience strange things, both beautiful and frightening. Soon, he finds himself the inexplicable target of hostile magic, even as he begins to recover his childhood ability to perceive the creatures of faerie that inhabit the land. As he struggles to heal, Thom finds himself at the center of a cataclysmic struggle between good and evil that demands all his physical and spiritual strength to survive.
Herbert's fans may find this story, with its bare-bones plot and extended descriptions of the faerie world, slower-moving and more predictable than his more energetic works Others and The Fog). Explicit sex and scenes of Herbert's trademark disturbing horror (including every arachnophobe's nightmare) make this a fairy tale strictly for adults. --Roz Genessee
From Publishers Weekly
Pastoral fantasy and graphic grue congeal immiscibly in this peculiar fairy tale from British horror laureate Herbert (Others). Set on the grounds of Castle Bracken, a verdant woodland estate with a shady history, it follows the trials of Thom Kindred, who returns there to recover from a stroke. Thom's mother worked for Sir Russell Bleeth, the estate's owner, and the grounds hold fond memories of years spent with his mum before she inexplicably abandoned him. No sooner is Thom comfy in the natural surroundings than he is subjected to seemingly unnatural experiences: displays of multicolored lights in the foliage, an encounter with an ethereal young maiden in the woods and increasingly persistent advances by a Wiccan nursemaid. In time, Thom discovers that the estate is a refuge for the faerie folk, whose blood he shares, and that he'll play a pivotal role in saving them from an occult menace that's already infiltrated Castle Bracken. Herbert does nothing original with this familiar fantasy theme of the individual who discovers his faerie heritage. Rather, he dwells at tedious length on the society of the faeriefolkis, indulging in twee descriptions of their world and endowing some with proper names that are titles of his previous books spelled backwards. Prolonged erotic interludes, spliced in to alert readers that this is a fairy tale for adults, do little to relieve the monotony. Only in the final moments, when Thom battles a series of viscerally horrific assaults, does the book show a glimmer of the vitality and drive characteristic of Herbert's best fiction.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
HE'D HAD no idea how he would feel returning to Castle Bracken after all these years. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
HE'D HAD no idea how he would feel returning to Castle Bracken after all these years. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
how the mighty have fallen,
By Altttuning (Ont Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Once (Audio CD)
Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and James Herbert, My three favourite authors now I make the stipulation of EARLY James Herbert. This book had no redeeming qualities, it has a weak story line, poorly written characters, the most pathetic erotic episodes (over long, over used, and usually unnecessary to what little story there was.) Please if you are new to James Herbert go to his earlier work and enjoy a master of the horror genre, if you are familiar with his writing, then you will probably read Once anyway. This book was so bad it's the first time I've ever reviewed a book on Amazon that I didn't get from Amazon, but I would have felt guilty knowing that people could be spending hard earned money on this when James Herbert has written so many great works.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unusual but compelling story.,
By
This review is from: Once (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book...a fairytale that's definitely for adults. I enjoyed the dreamlike descriptions just as much as the shockingly graphic parts. An interesting story which intrigued and absorbed me.If you enjoyed stories about forests and woodland folk as a child and now like horror...this is the book for you!!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who cares what everyone thinks,
By Debs "Debbie" (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Once (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoy a book when I can root for the bad guy. This is one of those books. I cannot stress enough the importence of getting emotionally involved when I read a book. This book did that to me. I laughed, I cried, I did some other stuff(when you read it you will know what I mean)On reading some of the other reviews on this book and others I begin to see a certain trend by reviewers. They review the book like they were professors of literature. I review like a common reader. I loved this book becasue it took me away for awhile into another world. I loved Thoms Faery world. I loved the evil sperm guzzeling witch. the ending could have been better, but hey I'm always dissapointed when a fun ride ends.
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