Pie and Gentle arrive in the Fourth Dominion and head to the nearby village of Vanaeph, where the Autarch is coming to investigate rumors of rebellion. The first two hundred pages of Imajica were as fun, mysterious and challenging as any Clive Barker material I've eve read, but as soon as Gentle and Pie'oh'pah stepped into the In Ovo to reach the Fourth Dominion, I knew exactly everything that would happen from then on. By breaking down their roles, the lovers transcend their divisions, go beyond gender, beyond sex, their relationship evolves and it changes them.

Meanwhile, in the Fourth Dominion, Gentle and Pie find the frozen bodies of a group of women who were killed by Hapexamendios during his journey across the dominions. Apparent female lead being brain-washed by repulsive fat man and then falling in love with him and having scene, after scene, after scene, of repulsive sex?I don’t usually do fantasy, but I’m a fan of Barker’s because he mixes in likable (well, relatable anyway) characters and gore and lots of erotica.

I have not sworn Barker off for this, as I am sure a second reading would help, but I think I am going to be a while before I pick up another book of his. Gentle ends up freeing the women, who then lead Gentle and Pie to a frozen doorway leading into the third dominion. It would steadily diminish as the story unfolded, three becoming two, two becoming one, until the stage was left deserted. I always enjoyed the sexual freedom of his works, often depicting same sex an opposite couplings in the same book, also the androgyny, but there is definitely a homosexual bias to his subtext, which I wasn't aware of when I was younger. 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.

When Gentle leaves the house, Little Ease releases all of Gentle's memories from the past 200 years into his mind, harming him tremendously. Quaisoir at first thinks Dowd is her lord but when Judith spoils the illusion by talking, Dowd tries to kill her. The narrative unfolds within a multiverse of parallel dimensions, exploring the interplay between reality, magic, and the cosmic forces that shape existence. Let us not mention the larger questions of spiritually and their supposed implications the book meekly presents. See if you read a book that's 1100 pages long, shouldn't it give you as much as 4 x 250 pg books or 3 x 400 pg books or 4 x 300 pg books?