Barlowe seems to have drawn his visions of hell directly from some deep, primordial ancient memory within us. His illustrations are haunting beyond measure, and seem to resonate with a subconcious picture of what many of us must think the hell of religion and legend must be like. His illustration style departs from his work on Expedition and his other earlier work. His style in Inferno has an ephemeral quality, leaving the distinct impression that there is still something just beyond the edge of perception, beyond the ink on the page. The text makes a perfect accompaniment, providing palpable texture to this world of Barlowe's. As dark as the subject matter is, this is a beautiful book and should definitely be in your libary.

Depicting an artist's descent in to hell, Barlowe's Inferno is a richly stunning masterpiece. This hell is not a simple pit of torment, not limited to one religions preconcieved notions, and definitely not a place you would want to be. Everything about it screams of human suffering as the souls of the damned are cruely ground down in to the very stuff hell is made of. One of the other reviewers mentions that the depictions lack sympathy for the souls of the damned, but indeed how can you have sympathy for the souls able to wonder when every brick of the behemoth structures surrounding them is itself a soul, when the very dirt is constructed of souls so old and torn they have become agonized fragments of dust. From the Demons Major and Minor with their regal stances and manor bearing witness to their once grace filled state, to the lesser demons completely alien and yet frighteningly recognizable, to the bricks that stare at you with their sorrowful imprisoned eyes, this book is simply captivating.

Very highly recommended... but be certain all your lights are on when you open this beautiful but disturbing book.

Although Barlowe's searing INFERNO imagery is rendered in a somewhat less photographic, more "painterly" style than his earlier books I have, it's dead-on target for depicting this eternally skin-crawling, hyper-grotesque netherworld. Helpfully described by a sort of narrative text, the twisted inhabitants of Barlowe's raging nightmarescapes purposefully go about their unending torments with skull-shredding focus: their horrors make bizarre sense.

I first went through this visually and spiritually cacophonous, masterful work on Christmas day. What contrast: listening to carols about angels from Heaven, while staring at demon-shrieking souls in Hell.

Final note; don't miss the deliciously caustic JUSTITIA OMNIBUS at the bottom of page 2.

I'm a fan of science fiction, but before reading this book, hadn't been too exposed to sci-fi art. Barlowe is a gifted host in the fantastic world of science fiction art. I read this book over a period of three or four days, and couldn't wait to get back to it. The pictures are amazing, and the story is gripping. Barlowe is an incredible artist and storyteller, and I hope to see more of his work in the future! Highly recommended.

Barlowe has created a detailed world full of amazing flora and fauna! The incredible art work in the book is amazing and will let your imagination fly! The only two things that would top this book would be a sequal or a movie!

This book is amazing and far outpaces the nearest competition in the 'lets imagine if' category of illustrated science fiction. barlowe's artwork is center-stage and exquisitely detailed. my only complaint is that the book should have been at least 3 times larger...i wanted more creatures and siphonovores! maybe barlowe will read this and get to work on a re-visit to darwin or another new planet (hint hint!)

What a great book! Barlowe is a wonderful painter of aliens. I have been looking for this book for years, ever since I saw it in a science magazine. Some of the best illustrations in the book are those of the "Cryer", the "Old One", the "Pnume", the "Medusan", the "Sirian", and the "Overlords". The only problem with this book is that the pictures make you want to read the books they are from, and 99% of these books are out-of-print! Urghhhhhh!!!!

_Wayne Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials_ is my 12 year old son/fantasy/scfi fanatic's favorite book. It is dog-eared from so much love, reading, studying and attention. This is no kid's book, though--these are the wunderkind's Wayne Barlowe's illustrations that have appeared in many famous scfi books. Each alien has a full bio-ethnographic description, bring each to life.

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials is a really good book if you need to jumpstart your imagination. It has drawings of the different species, as well as back ground information like habitat, reproduction, things like that. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy artwork, fantasy/science fiction in general, and also who has a crazy imagination already!

Intricate, detailed, well-drawn images of various persons and creatures fill the pages of this incredible work. However, the text is rather slim for some of the latter entries, and I must say that I question the artist's choice of subjects - few creatures in here are truly alien, and far too many are simply human! Nevertheless, unlike some of the other artists, Barlowe manages to offer images which do not disrupt our own imagined images of the characters, but merely improve and clarify them.

Wayne Barlowe kicks butt, plain and simple. In this book, he takes a wide variety of classic and sometimes overlooked aliens and nearly allows them to walk off the edge of his pages (for an especially creepy example, check out The Ting from John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"-- not exactly like either James Arness' or John Carpenter's versions, but possibly more disturbing for its faithfulness to the original).
The accompanying text for each subject describes planet of origin, habits, culture (if any), biology, etc. Since Barlowe is obviously a fan, he avoids the dry, dusty words of the average ordinary critic, making the aliens more solid than mere paint can do alone.
Another benefit of the book is its inclusion of authors and book/story titles, which allow the reader to hunt down and capture the books for further reading (some are, alas, out of print).

Get this book. NOW.

The Guide to Fantasy by Wayne Barlowe is a superb look into the minds of authors and one man's ideas of what the character looks like. Full-color illustrations really capture your eyes. I'm in awe of the man.

We bought this book for our 3 year old who is fascinated with dinosaurs. I was pleased with the illustrations and the easy to follow layout, but when we got to the T-Rex, Xenotarsosaurus and the Yangchuanosaurus, the pictures became too graphic for my son. For example, the T-Rex is carrying what looks to be a severed limb from another animal in it's mouth. I realize that some dinosaurs are meat eaters, but I was hoping this book was a little less explicit. I think this book could be better for an older child.

My 3-year old is obsessed with dinosaurs. But most of the dinosaur books we have are for older readers, and while he loves looking at the pictures, he doesn't understand a lot of the text when I read it to him. This book is great: it organizes the dinosaurs by the letters of the alphabet, and he loves learning what dinosaurs start with what letter; the text for each dinosaur is brief enough that the entire book can be read at bedtime; and the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. Highly recommended!

The book goes from A-Z with different dinosaurs for each letter. The pictures are really neat and colorful! You'll know lots more about different dinosaurs after reading this book!

KDH--Age 5 1/2