Ancient Sorceries vs Cabal: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: English Horror tales, Short Stories, Horror, Fiction

Ancient Sorceries Algernon Blackwood · 1906 ★★★★☆ 3.7 227 pages · ≈ 4 h 12 m · Challenging

By turns bizarre, unsettling, spooky, and sublime, Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories showcases nine incomparable stories from master conjuror Algernon Blackwood. Evoking the uncanny spiritual forces of Nature,…

English Fantasy fiction English Short stories Fantasy fiction Fantasy

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Cabal Clive Barker · 1988 ★★★★☆ 4.3 268 pages · ≈ 4 h 58 m · Moderate

“Of all the rash and midnight promises made in the name of love, none, Boone now knew, was more certain to be broken than "I'll never leave you."”

Cabal is a 1988 horror novella by the British author Clive Barker. It was originally published in the United States as part of a collection comprising a novel and several short stories from Barker's sixth and final…

1 film adaptation

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Side by side

The verdict

Readers rate Cabal highest: Cabal 4.3 · Ancient Sorceries 3.7.
Cabal has the widest readership — 636 ratings behind its score.
Cabal runs the darker storyline; Ancient Sorceries stays the lighter read.

How to choose

Just want the better-reviewed one? Cabal 4.3 vs 3.7 from readers New to the genre? Cabal Moderate vs Challenging for Ancient Sorceries In the mood for something dark? Cabal a darker storyline than Ancient Sorceries Want something lighter? Ancient Sorceries an easier tone than Cabal

Scores by source

	Ancient Sorceries	Cabal
Goodreads	3.7 (268)	4.3 (636)
Hardcover	4.0 (1)	3.8 (79)
Apple Books	—	4.5 (82)

Reception

	Ancient Sorceries	Cabal
Ratings	268	636
Editions	20	16
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	422	585
Reading it now	34	13
Written reviews	70	18
Wikipedia attention	—	2109
Pages	227	268

Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Ancient Sorceries or Cabal?

Cabal has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Cabal 4.3/5, Ancient Sorceries 3.7/5).

Which is shorter to read: Ancient Sorceries or Cabal?

Ancient Sorceries is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Ancient Sorceries (227 pages, ≈ 4 h 12 m); Cabal (268 pages, ≈ 4 h 58 m).

Which is harder to read: Ancient Sorceries or Cabal?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Ancient Sorceries: Challenging; Cabal: Moderate.

Have both books been made into films?

Ancient Sorceries: no film adaptation on record; Cabal: 2 film adaptations.