Abarat

While I love Abarat, I was not entirely pleased with this particular book. It smelled strongly of cigarette smoke- a smell I was only able to get rid of after putting extensive amounts of dryer sheets in the book's pages. There were also some scuff marks on the cover. However, for a used book- not to mention in illustrated copy of this book- it was a pretty good deal.

The book itself is actually rather excellent. The copy I received, not so much.

The condition was listed as new, brand new unread copy in perfect condition. The copy I got had a torn cover, bent pages and someone's name written on the inside cover, not to mention shelf-wear.

At his best, Clive Barker demonstrates an imagination that's leaps and bounds beyond just about any author I can think of; whether it's the rug-hidden Weaveworld, the nightmarish pleasures of The Hellbound Heart, the mindbending powers on display in The Great and Secret Show, or the mysteries of The Thief of Always, Barker demonstrates a knack for visions like nothing else I've ever read. And in my opinion, Abarat ranks up there with the best work he's done, even if it is a young-adult novel; the visions on display in this opening volume of the series are staggering in their scope and imagination, and inspire wonder, awe, and horror in ways that few authors are capable of. Of course, the book is only aided and bettered by Barker's beautiful illustration work throughout; the lush colors and stark sketches only flesh out his world all the more, conveying the sheer scope of it all. The story is hard to get a handle on entirely, at least in this first novel; by and large, this novel is about getting the main character (a young girl named Candy Quackenbush) from our world into the mysterious Abarat, a series of islands where each island is an hour of the day. What follows is a series of adventures and fascinating characters, from the Mischief brothers (made up of master thief John Mischief and his brothers, who are heads dangling on his own head's antlers) to Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight who lives and breathes his own nightmares - literally. There are hints and glimpses of how this all ties together, but as a whole, Abarat is an introduction to this massive world - and while that lack of much resolution might normally bother me, my confidence in Barker's storytelling and my love of his imagination make this book an absolute joy to read, no matter what.

Abarat was long on creativity and short on story or plot. It started well - the traditional teenager that doesn't fit in with their town deal. We got a quick entry into wonder and strange things. And then after that, things got boring for me. Oh, there was wonder aplenty - strange things left and right. But that felt like all that there was. The weak story idea planted at the beginning just didn't get any stronger and was overpowered by "look at all the weird things I can come up with". And that certainly isn't enough to hold my attention.

Candy Quackenbush is unhappy on the rolling plains of Chickentown Minnesota. Then a sea washes up in front of her and the master criminal John Mischief and his seven brothers draw her into a nascent war between Day and Night among the 25 islands of Abarat. Candy is washed into a realm where Christopher Carrion plots the unification of the destructive forces of Abarat under his leadership and an eternal Night without Day. Abarat, where each island is a different hour of the day, except for the mysterious Twent-fifth Hour.

Abarat is a world of infinite variety, diverse races, and impending war that will marshall magic, technology, beasts, and peoples to choose between a balance of Day and Night, and one unending Night. At the center of this struggle is Candy Quackenbush. She doesn't understand why she's the center of this, or why Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, is determined to find her.

Abarat is an incredibly rich and detailed world, with characters who have both depth and color. Endless and diverse, Clive Barker has created and illustrated a fantastic world that begs to be toured.

Not for the faint of heart, Abarat has disturbing imagery and themes, violence and cruelty. But it also has compassion, hope, and beauty.

You'll usually find this in the Teens or Independent Readers sections, but it may be too intense for some younger readers, and has subtlety and depth to appeal to a much broader audience.

An outstanding beginning to a voyage through an incredible new Day and Night.

E. M. Van Court

The only criticism this book deserves is that it really leaves you hanging. It's a wonderful book, but you better buy both at once, because it'll be almost impossible for you to wait.
"Abarat" is a very rich, engaging fantasy, written for children but easily enjoyed by most. The protaganist is downtrodden but spunky, smart but not brilliant, curious but not reckless, introspective but interesting, and--this is the best--she's believable. Her reactions to the Abarat are realistic. Ccandy Quackenbush is an excellent leading lady, complex but not confusing. Barker made his heroine well.
The book does start off, not rockily, but ambiguously; if you're not at least a little patient, this book will drive you crazy, especially when it starts jumping between the two major groups of characters--who basically haven't even met each other yet. While "Abarat" ties together marvelously, you can't believe that it will at times.
As well, the writing at the beginning is a little static. While this is to emphasize the drudgery of Candy's life, Barker did it a little too well; however much we like Candy, neither she nor her situation is interesting. Luckily that changes fast--Barker gets the book off the ground as quickly as he can--it's easy to think you aren't really going to like it. Don't let it fool you, though. It might start with a little too much mystery, and a little too much--how shall we say--boringness, and it might end jumping around with not nearly enough resolution as one may like, but these are relatively minor problems. "Abarat" is a good fantasy, and is definitely worth the read.

Clive Barker, known as a master of fantastical horror stories, has ventured again into children's literature. Yet, his new novel ABARAT, is quite different from his earlier children's work THE THIEF OF ALWAYS, which was a simple and spooky tale. ABARAT is a vast and colorful fantasy in the tradition of the Oz and Narnia stories. The world of Abarat grew out of a series of paintings the multi-talented Barker created. Inspired by his own imagination, he wrote the story of the paintings and the characters and places they portray. The book itself (the first in a projected 4-part series) is full of these vivid paintings helping to transport the reader to the new universe Barker has created.
The journey to Abarat is undertaken by the unassuming Candy Quakenbush, a 16-year-old girl from Chickentown, Minnesota. Driven to boredom, anger and frustration by her cruel teacher, alcoholic father and distracted mother, she becomes intrigued by the mysterious story of Henry Murkitt while writing a paper about the history of Chickentown (previously named Murkitt) for school. Henry died in a room of the Comfort Tree Hotel and left behind his sextant, used to navigate the seas. When her mean-spirited teacher rejects her school report, Candy flees the classroom and finds herself in a field outside of town mesmerized by a cloud and in front of a dilapidated lighthouse. Before she can solve the mystery of what a lighthouse is doing in the middle of Minnesota, she finds herself face to faces with a seven headed man. He/they tell her the lighthouse, amazingly, once sat on the coast of the sea of Izabella, a sea Candy, with some help from her new friends (yes, each head is a distinct personality) is able to summon after a dramatic battle with another monstrous creature. This sea carries Candy far from her home, her school, and all that is familiar. Yet, it draws her closer to Henry Murkitt.
And so begins Candy's journey to Abarat, a land of 25 islands; one for each hour of the day and one for the time in-between time. The isles of Abarat are as diverse as their populations. Candy is enthralled by Abarat and its citizens, but those she meets think she, as a visitor from the Hereafter, as our world is known, is most exotic. But Candy hardly has time to take in the wondrous sites around her. Her presence is immediately known by several sinister men who realize the threat she poses to their evil plans for domination. It seems Candy was destined to make this journey (ah! now the prologue is beginning to make sense) and besides that she is a scrappy fighter! Soon she is teamed up with a gentle character named Malingo whom she has freed from slavery and together the flee the dark and powerful forces around them. This duo is surely destined for great things, narrow escapes and amazing adventures!
What usually makes a fantasy novel successful is enough of the familiar to make the New World easier to visualize and understand, to make it somehow more plausible. This element of familiarity is what has made other Barker novels, most notably WEAVEWORLD so wonderful and engaging. With ABARAT he discards this formula and presents many new creatures inhabiting a truly original landscape. While in many ways this works, it is a bit overwhelming and distracting. It is unbelievable that Candy would not be paralyzed with shock at the spectacular newness she encounters: she seems to so seamlessly make the transition between worlds. And, I can only hope that Barker comes back to sew up all the loose ends he has left dangling in this first installment.
However, Barker has succeeded in bringing a unique vision to his readers. Perhaps the pace of ABARAT is so frantic is because it is so clear in Barkers mind: it is obvious he has a whole new mythology he would like to share and he can't get it onto the page fast enough. As a novel, ABARAT is dense, detailed and sometimes confusing. As a landscape and fairy tale it is enticing, dark and beautiful. Most likely the young readers this book is intended for will not be critical of the occasional sloppiness in the text and most likely their attention will not be lost through the mental and physical obstacle course Candy finds herself in when she journeys to Abarat.
--- (...)

No one will ever accuse Clive Barker of having no imagination. As wild as it is, it is just as vivid - and that is what makes Clive Barker such a remarkable writer and illustrator. Abarat may be his wildest creation yet, and he brings this striking world to life in both writing and art, as the book is filled with some 100 color illustrations (reportedly drawn over the course of four years). You won't find any Cenobites here, though, as Abarat is a work of dark fantasy written primarily for a young adult audience - this is not horror. The protagonist, Candy Quackenbush, is a pre-teen girl who dreams of escaping her exceedingly boring hometown (Chickentown, Minnesota), where she finds little happiness at home because of an alcoholic father and a mother who seems quite defeated by life. There's really nothing special about her - not in this world, anyway.

Then Candy meets an extraordinary individual named John Mischief - actually, he's more than an individual because he has nine brothers, all of whom live on the horns of his head. The next thing she knows, Candy is running from a horribly malformed man named Mendelson Shape, hoping to reach a dilapidated lighthouse and light the light. The last thing you would expect to find in the plains of Minnesota is a light house, of course, but it marks the beginning of a story of high strangeness indeed. Candy succeeds in calling the Sea of Izabella, and its waters take her away from her own boring world to the fanciful world of the Abarat. Abarat is an archipelago made up of islands, each of which is a different hour of the day. For example, there's Yebba Dim Day (Eight O'Clock in the Evening), which appears in the form of a gigantic head; Babilonium (Six O'Clock in the Evening), where all sorts of entertainments flourish; Gorgossium, the Island of Midnight, a dark island ruled over by the morbidly dangerous Christopher Carrion; and the most mysterious island of all, Twenty-Fifth Hour where everything that was, is, or shall be can be found (but those who come back leave their sanity behind). It's almost impossible to describe the inhabitants of Abarat, so I won't even attempt to give a general description - each is wholly unique.

Parted from Mischief early on, Candy is forced to find her way largely on her own, although she meets up with a number of unforgettable characters along her way. As a rare visitor from the Hereafter (the regular world), she attracts a lot of attention. Most of it comes from Christopher Carrion, who wants the girl for his own dark purposes - even before he learns she also carries the mysteriously important Key of Efreet. He has magic at his command, but Candy proves an elusive prey - which is not to say that Candy doesn't find herself in perpetual danger. There's something special about her, though, and it's not just her ability to win friends or somehow slip through her enemies' fingers at the last minute. As her stay in Abarat progresses, she begins to feel as if she somehow belongs there, that somehow she might have been there before. This novel is really a tale of self-discovery on Candy's part. Signs indicate that she will have a major role to play in Abarat's future, a future threatened by the dark designs of Christopher Carrion as well as the elaborate plans of entrepreneur Rojo Pixler, who wants to stamp out the magic of the world and coalesce power in the hands of himself and his ubiquitous marketing creation, the Commexo Kid.

Abarat is a wonderful story, but it is Clive Barker's illustrations that really make it something special. The hardcover edition is a truly handsome piece of work, with its glossy white pages and plethora of intriguing color illustrations - I doubt the paperback version can recreate these wonders at all successfully. It's important to note that this is just the first of a four-book series. Abarat is a book of questions, with answers to be filled in later; its ending is really just the beginning of the whole story. Clearly, Barker fans have much to look forward to.

How would you feel if you were suddenly whisked away to a magical place separate from your own world? This is what happened to Candy Quackenbush in Abarat. In this magical world, the only land mentioned in the book is an archipelago called the Abarat. The Abarat is made up of 25 islands, each representing a different hour of the day, the 25th representing a "time out of time." After being criticized for her report in school, Candy runs away from school and out of her boring town. In the prairie just outside her town, she meets a strange creature with eight heads. He leads her into the Abarat, where she goes on numerous adventures to stop the evil Christopher Carrion from taking over all the Abarat.
I really liked this book and think it is memorable. I would give it 4 ½ stars. It was a great book, but wasn't the best book I've ever read. It has great description, especially of the weird characters, and crazy landscapes of the islands. This really helped me to visualize the strange world this book is in. Another thing that really made this book good was that it connected with our world. Candy Quackenbush comes from a small town called Chickentown, Minnesota. I like books that do this because it allows me to see where such a world would connect to ours. Further adding to the rich description of the book, in the early history of Chickentown, the sea, which is the connection between the Abarat and our world, was open, and people traded between the two worlds. Candy, the protagonist, is a very strong character. In the beginning of the book, she runs away from school. This is a brave display of insubordination. One of the reasons she did this was because she had been imagining about the sea for some time, but didn't actually know there was one until she met the strange eight-headed creature, later introduced as John. She also is calm even in such situations where her life is in danger. Candy is unique because she doesn't follow trends just because they are trends. In chickentown, the trend is chicken. Candy, however, doesn't like chicken. She thinks and knows that there is more to life than just chicken. That is probably another reason why she ran away. In conclusion, I would give this book 4 ½ stars.
One key scene in the novel is when she first meats John. They both then have to run away from a giant sword-bearing creature, and John is the main target. He instructs Candy to go up in an old skeleton of a lighthouse, which looks like it could fall apart at any moment. Candy goes up, shortly after followed by the giant. John tells her how to conjure the sea. The sea magically appears, and Candy and John barely escape with their lives. Another scene was when Candy was on one of the 25 islands of the Abarat. She met a man who turned out to be very evil. After a few drinks of alcohol, the man was subdued, allowing Candy and the man's slave to escape. But, once out of the house, there was trouble. Creatures called Terrie Cats, almost life size cats, were prowling around. It was much to Candy's surprise when the head of the Terrie Cats came up and introduced himself to Candy. Apparently, the Terrie Cats were friendly and were only evil to the man because they were guarding him under house arrest. Those two scenes really stuck to my mind because they were clever, well thought out, and fun to picture.
In conclusion, this was a very memorable book because it had wonderful imagery, flowing and rich descriptions, and a magical world just within belief. I would recommend this book for a reader who doesn't like fantasy. Even though this book is fantasy, there is something that makes it believable, perhaps the connections between the Abarat and our world. I myself hate fantasy and thoroughly enjoyed this book. Once again, this is a very memorable book that will make great reading material for any reader. So, next time you are hunting for a great book to read by yourself or for school, check out Abarat and look forward to starting even the first sentence.

Not only is this book a novel (and a fantastically original, bizarre, and intricate novel at that) but it showcases surrealistic paintings and very good poetry as well. Quite a deal for eleven dollars.

Candy Quackenbush lives in a town called Chickentown, which is almost as boring as it sounds. She longs to get away, but doesn't get her chance until her least favorite teacher bullies her and she walks out of the classroom.

In a deserted meadow she meets a strange creature who brings a whole new meaning to Multiple Personality Disorder, who tells her that "Light is the oldest game in the world" and requests a favor.

Playing the Game of Light, Candy accidentally summons the Sea of Izabella to Minnesota and is thrust into the world of the Abarat, a colorful, scary, wonderful set of islands that each have only one time all throughout the day, and stay that time forever.

But the Lord of Midnight wants Candy...and he has a whole lot of things to send after her.

This book didn't really have much of a plot resolution, but because of all the other amazing things about it I can forgive it that. It was a weird book, certainly, and can make you wonder whether the author is mentally insane at times, but if you allow yourself to just enjoy the story, you will realize it for what it is: a work of art.

I'll finish with one of my favorite short poems from this book, just as a taste of what it offers:

Life is short,
And pleasures few,
And holed the ship,
And drowned the crew,
But oh! But oh!
How very blue
The sea is!

Rating: Very Good

Candy Quakenbush lives in a small town named Chickentown in Minnesota. She always feels different from the other people in Chickentown and she is not really friends with anyone there. One day after running away from school, she meets a boy named John Mischief and his seven brothers, all of whom have the first name John, in a field outside of town. She is later swept away with John Mischief and his brothers to a strange, new world on the Sea of Isabella. This new world is called the Abarat, where there is and island for every hour of the day. Everything is different in the Abarat; the star constellations are completely different from Chickentown and a myriad of it's inhabitants are beyond Candy's imagination. But with all of these whimsical people, there all also evil ones, such as Christopher Carrion and Otto Houlihan the Criss-Cross Man. Follow Candy on her adventures and explorations in the amazing Abarat.

I really like this book a lot. It was very different from other books that I have read and it was unique. I thought that it was interesting how there was an island for every hour and that each island was different from all of the others. The only thing that I really did not like was that Abarat got somewhat boring and slow at times, but when it began to get too boring, something would always happen to quicken the pace. Also, I like how that characters and inhabitants of the Abarat were all different and no two characters look exactly alike or had a personality like another. Abarat was also very descriptive and everything was explained well. There were also pictures throughout the book to help readers imagine scenes, characters, and events well. Clive Barker, the author, used very good figurative language, so it was very easy to picture the book.

I think that Abarat is a book that both boys and girls, kids and adults, would enjoy. People that like the Harry Potter books might also like this book because it has some magic and fantasy creatures in it. If you have read other books by Clive Barker, you would enjoy Abarat, too. Any one that is a fan of fantasy, magic, fiction, or is just looking for a unique book to read would like Abarat. Abarat also has a sequel called Abarat : Days of Magic, Nights of War.

Abarat

I like fantasy. Sometimes I judge books by their covers. Abarat is fantasy and it has a great cover. With 15 hand-painted illustrations done by the author, it really makes you want to read the book. Even though the cover drew me to the book, the story kept me reading it.

The story begins with a mysterious prologue where three Abaratian women-Dimanda, Joephi, and Mespa- are on a mission. Apparently someone doesn't like what they are doing and summons a storm and even a falling star to try and stop them. Then Dimanda calls on the Lady Moon who enchants the ship and takes them to a place called the Hereafter. In chapter one, we shift our focus on Candy Quackenbush from Chickentown, Minnesota-probably one of the most boring places in the US. After doing a report for one of her teachers, Miss Schwartz, and through a very unlikely series of events, she is transported to a mysterious archipelago called the Abarat with one island for each of the 24 hours of the day.

Candy is taken to the Abarat by John Mischief and his brothers who live on antlers on his head- John Fillet, John Sallow, John Moot, John Drwoze, John Pluckitt, John Serpent and John Slop. (Whew! Quite a lot of names!) John is being chased by Mendelson Shape who works for the prince of darkness, Christopher Carrion. By following John's instructions Candy summons the Sea of Izabella and floats away on the tide with him, and after a couple of detours they arrive on the island of Yebba-Dim-Day-8 o'clock. The life forms are very diverse and Candy's adventures are just beginning.

This is the first of a series and I believe that the second book is out. This book is an unforgettable. I highly recommend it and I hope you will recommend it to your friends.

Abarat is a fantasy story about a girl named Candy Quackenbush who lives in the most boring town in the United States, Chickentown, where everyone works in a chicken factory. She lives with her mother and her alcoholic abusive father. She's very bored with her life and can be classified as "a little morbid." Her life changes forever when a bizarre looking and acting man called John Mischief brings her to Abarat, a place where there is an island for every hour of the day. Candy is fascinated by this new place but feels as if she's almost there before. She quickly learns that Abarat isn't a perfect place. Unknown to her at the time the ruler of midnight, Carrion, knows that she has entered Abarat from the "hereafter" and he's very interested in her arrival. So interested in fact, that he'd do anything to capture her. Headstrong Candy is not going to let that happen.
Talented artist, Clive Barker, spent years putting together various paintings for his new series, The Books of Abarat. Abarat, the first tale, contains over a hundred of these pictures. The art is not only beautiful but very original. As Candy meets someone new a picture of them is usually inserted, and let me tell you the people she meets neither looks nor acts normal. Abarat is an amazing original place filled with colorful characters and places. The story line is a little weak at times, which can happen whenever anyone makes their debut in a genre, and the ending is a bit disappointing. It leaves only lose ends for the next book and although that can often happen in a series I would have appreciated if Clive Barker would have tied together some of it! Still I can't wait to read the next book of Abarat. Candy's adventures are very interesting indeed.

I needed an imaginative fantasy romp, so I just finished Clive Barker's Abarat. It's sort of The Thief of Always (darkish kid's book) meets Weaveworld (for awesome otherworlds). And the thing that makes this book extraordinarily special: color drawings by Barker interspersed throughout the text. In a fantastical world like Abarat, it's immeasurably cool to see a piece of art depicting, say, a Sea-Skipper, sort of an elegant cross between a human and a sea horse, or a crazy island shaped like a man's pointed head.

The heroine, Candy Quakenbush, has an abusive father and an all-around dreary life in Chickentown, MN (guess what the industry is there?). When she's ripped out of her environment and gets swept away on a sea to the magical islands of Abarat, the joy I felt was similar to the relief I felt when Hagrid showed up to take Harry Potter to his first year at Hogwarts. Candy doesn't get a grace period to adjust, though - the bad guys are after her from the start. She's helped by wonderful creatures on various different islands - called The Hours, as each one is locked in a different time of day - and her sense of adventure and loyalty makes her an exciting heroine.

About 3/4 of the way through, I realized there was no way this book would conclude in a neat little package: there's a sequel on the way. It turns out that this is the first of five planned books (the 2nd is already out, so I'm off to the library for it soon...) This will be a fun story to follow in the coming years.

How would you like to take a vacation from ordinary to extraordinary? In the book Abarat, by Clive Barker, young Candy Quackenbush does just that. One average day in Chickentown turns into the beginning of an adventure. Candy finds herself on the outskirts of the quiet, small town with a strange creature. This creature has a total of eight heads, with the extra seven sticking off of the original head. After her encounter with this creature, another weird being, and a broken down lighthouse, a sea appears out of nowhere. The sea takes Candy and the two creatures to the extraordinary world of the Abarat.

Abarat is a wonderful book full of adventure and great oddities. Its cover alone will draw you in, and what you find inside keeps you there. Not only did Clive Barker write the most creative story ever, but he illustrated it as well. His paintings give you a clear image of what everyone and everything in the story looks like. I was very intrigued by the fact that Mr. Barker could paint the same picture with words as the picture he painted with colors. His descriptions put such a clear image in my head, I thought I was in the book.

I would recommend Abarat to readers of all ages. I feel this because it can satisfy anybody's wants and needs. It contains humor, real-life experiences, fantasy, and much more. Abarat also contains a level of vocabulary that can be understood by all because of the amazing descriptions. This amazingly creative book is one of my favorites that can be loved by all.

What separates this fantasy novel apart from others is the wonderful marriage of art and writing found in the book. Barker's imagination gives the reader creatures so bizarre that describing them solely with text would be cumbersome to the point that it'd bog down the story significantly. Some of these characters are so strange that they probably couldn't be depicted with words alone. The novel is illustrated with a hundred fascinating paintings, done by the author, which depict the creatures and scenes using imagery in addition to writing to pass on the author/artist's vision. I find it impressive that an individual could possess such talent in both writing and art.

The story is that of Candy Quackenbush, an angst filled teenager living in what she feels is the most boring town in the entire world. While wondering out of town one day, she stumbles upon two creatures crossed over from an alternate land, the Abarat, one chasing the other. She becomes involved in their conflict and returns to their land with the first of many strange companions she will have throughout her adventures there. The Abarat is a tiny archipelago land where the sun is frozen in the sky such that each part of the planet has a specific time of day, and an accompanying mood to go along with that. The book is filled with the standard elements, good vs. evil, destiny, prophecy wrapped up in a complex, cerebral story.

Book Name: Abarat Page Num: 388

Author: Clive Barker Joanna Cotler Books 2002

ISBN: 0-06-028092-1 $24.99 (hard cover)

Candy Quackenbush is sick and tired of Chickentown where she lives, sick and tired of chicken feathers and chicken talk. She is tired of living with the smell of the slaughter house wafting around her town. One day she starts drawing wavy blue lines all over her text book, and she can not stop. Candy does not know what they are, but some how those wavy blue lines are calling her on an adventure.

In the first book of Abarat the reader gets pulled into complex family matters, a world with different stars and the mind behind Candy's brown and blue eyes. It is the most imaginative book I have ever read. It is full of mysteries that only the author Clive Barker could have come up with. For example, have you ever imagined anything as wacky as a living hat? Well Clive Barker has. When the first book is over you'll be running to the library to find the second.

I recommend this book to all ages, all interests, or just anyone who loves other worldly things that can shatter your perception of reality. And it has a deeper meaning for all those readers who love books that explain life. Abarat teaches the lesson of belonging, knowing, and being without the constraint of worrying about what has happened in the past.

The books of abarat are amongst the most underrated fantasy stories currently in print. This first novel introduces us to a most vivid imagined world of wonders,visions,monsters (humanoid and alien like but NOT alien in the E.T sense of the word!!),wizards, dragons and much much more. Ive read a few critical reviews by some Barker fans who tend to see these works as a step down the ladder for Clive and I totaly dissagree, they are a sideways step because the content is nowhere near as graphic sexually or otherwise, thats why its a step and any of those areas are totaly out of context for a novel of this kind,unwarranted.. The quality of story and world building is all here and some of the characters are truly memorable, wolfswinkel,mater motley, mischeif, Pixler! These books, to my mind are a far more rewarding experience than Clive's last "adult" novel, "Coldheart Canyon" and I hope the Abarat 3 hits the shelves no later than november 2006. One critic said that Abarat isnt going to make people forget narnia or middle earth!, how silly is that for a statement? has the mega selling Harry Potter made us forget them? in a simple word, NO! Does that matter?, in a word, NO! What matters is the enjoyment of the story and what mattered to my mind is that this story is worth every penny you pay for it. A must have series of books for sure for adults aswell as the younger audience.

This book is one of the most highly imaginative and masterfully told stories I have had the pleasure of reading in years. Clive Barker is at the top of his form with this book, which I have heard is his masterwork, the one that he has the most emotional involvement in. This book is so enjoyable that the fact that it is a bit slow going in some places is about the worst thing that could be said about it. That, and the ending is a bit disappointing, only in that wonderful way that makes one pine for the next in the series. I, for one, cannot wait for the next in the four-book series.
This series also makes me happy for Clive Barker's sake. This series was highly optionable - almost every major entertainment company wanted the rights. (Disney finally got it for 8 million.) Soon, there will be a full-length movie, and I'm exuberant that this could quite possibly mean that Mr. Barker will finally recieve the recognition that he so richly deserves.
One more wonderful thing about this book is the artwork. Personally done by Clive Barker, the paintings on almost every page give this tale a rich colorful life that only adds to the depth of the world that he has created. Get this book, read it, and keep it for future generations. Mr. Barker has greated a work of art.

Abarat marks something a of comeback from one time wunderkind Barker, who for a slew of books (The Books of Blood, The Damnation Game, Weaveworld, The Great & Secret Show, Imagica, The Thief of Always, and Everville) seemed to redefine fantasy & horror in popular fiction. Wildly imaginative and surprisingly literate, these leftfield blockbusters had little in common with what passed for genre publishing in the early nineties.
Then came trouble: the "personal" Sacrament, commendable but also, for the first time, dull in spots, the bizarro Galilee (stick with it for the first 400 pages and it gets interesting in the last 50), and finally the entirely unsalvagable Coldheart Canyon, a Barker novel of pure tedium.
Each of these titles was increasingly "realistic," and as Coldheart Canyon made abundantly clear, nothing bores Barker like the real. In seemingly reaching for the NYT Bestseller List, the master magician was starting to put his core audience to sleep.
Abarat does a reasonable job of rectifying the situation. J.K. Rowling has set free Barker's prodigious imagination with that suddenly common refrain "it's a children's book," and the conjurer is cooking again.
While Abarat doesn't immediately climb the heights of Weaveworld or Imagica it is cut from their fabulist cloth -- with stiches of Everville's Lewis Carroll influence worked in. The series won't challenge Harry Potter -- Barker has neither Rowling's quick wit nor narrative drive -- but its boldly colored new world teases and pleases with Barkerian monsters, eccentrics, and wacky place names, and if this first volume is more travelogue than tale, it promises much fun to come.
As to it being a children's book, well, the language is simpler and there's less disembowlment than usual, but Arabat will likely please mature fans of Barker's early work much more than the "adult" Coldheart Canyon.

..and I'm not just referring to the pictures. Clive Barker's book, ABARAT, is an extreme change in topic from his usual thrillers and horror novels. However, ABARAT makes you wonder why he took so darn long to write a fantasy.
ABARAT is a book that sweeps you away before you even realize it. The heroine is a normal, everyday girl who just happens to stumble across a lighthouse in the middle of the prarie while being pursued by a monster. Typical really!! She is swept off by an ocean that comes out of the sky to the islands of the Abarat, an archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day. This is where the true magic begins.
Clive Barker paints a very realistic picture of a girl lost in a strange new world. His descriptions are vibrant, his characters deep, their actions thought provoking. Every hour has a distinct feel to it, that is only heightened by the gorgeous paintings that pop out of every page. This is what ALL picture books should look like!!! The only disappointment in the whole book was the last page... "so ends the first book of the Abarat." The "ends" part is what sucks.... (tee hee)
Abarat is addictive, you'll want to buy a copy for every friend you know, so they can share the magic too. Can't wait for the second one!!!

Candy Quackenbush has a terrible, boring life in Chickentown, Minnesota. Her father hates her. Her teacher hates her. Everything starts to go even further downhill when she is sent to the principal's office for talking back to her monstrously horrid teacher. But instead of going to the principal's office, she runs out the gate of the school, leaving her old life behind. Candy happens upon a field, and a strange man who houses all of his eight brothers on his head- and from there on out, everything she thought her life was begins to change.
The man with his brothers on his head, John Mischief, instructs her that she must bring light to a broken-down lighthouse- in the middle of a field- to bring the Sea of Izabella in before a less-than-a-man called Mendelson Shape shows up to throw a wrench into everything. Lo and behold, a sea washes through and carries them all away, and Candy is off to the Abarat- a collection of islands where every island is a different hour of the day, and legends are spoken of the 'Hereafter' (Candy's world) where time is 'rumored to go on forever'.
Between the beautiful illustrations and writing, this is definitely a good buy. To be honest, I enjoyed it more than Chamber of Secrets. (I reread them together recently) I like this book because it brings out the dream in all of us to escape to another world where we can 'start over'- with a new identity.
While Abarat is somewhat geared towards children, it might be a good idea to read the book yourself if you are considering buying it for a child under 13- some of the paintings and language are rather vivid and may be frightening to younger readers. (I loved it, but hey- like Candy, I have a morbid streak)
If you do buy it, when you get to page 224-225, don't miss the painting of the Abarat. It's a sight to behold. (I'm waiting for a poster)

ABARAT is Clive Barker's best and most consistent book in quite some time. As with Barker's previous children's book, THE THIEF OF ALWAYS (which he wrote long before the Harry Potter craze), there's a simple purity about ABARAT that makes for a truly riveting and satisfying reading experience.

The first in a planned quartet of self-illustrated children's books, Clive Barker's ABARAT tells the story of Candy Quackenbush, a young girl from a conservative Midwestern town who finds herself drawn through an oceanic portal into an alternative world called the Abarat. The Abarat is actually an archipelago of twenty five islands (one for each hour of the day, and another existing outside of time). As she travels from island to island, the precociously independent Candy makes many strange humanoid and not-so-humanoid friends and not a few horrible enemies. Chief among her foes is Christopher Carrion, the Lord of the isle of Midnight, whose powers include the ability to make nightmares real.
This lavishly illustrated volumes is beautiful to look at and is also a pleasure to read. Barker's imagination is in top fertile form. There are no missed steps or idle meanderings as there have been in some of Barker's recent efforts. This is a great book for all ages, and for all kinds of readers. A great celebration of the imagination.

The Abarat

By Clive Barker

Book review by Hannah .H

Candy Quackenbush thought - and still thinks, that Chickentown, Minnesota is the most boring place in the world. She hated her life. Chickentown revolves around - what else - chickens. Stupid, worthless, chickens. She lived there all of her life, and knows nothing else. Candy longed for something new and exiting, and one fateful day, she finds it.

One day, her middle school class was giving presentations about ten important things about Chickentown. She gave a presentation about Henry Murkitt, whose Grandfather founded Chickentown. She also wrote about Henry's demise, supposedly a suicide. Her teacher was in a bad mood, and gave her an F. She threw the paper onto Candy's desk, and knocked some of Candy's supplies off the desk. "Pick that up!" the teacher said, her voice rising, " Pick that trash up!" Candy was not feeling so joyful herself. "No," she said, "you knocked it down, you pick it up." From there, Candy was sent to the principal's office and instead of going, she ran. Down the hallway, through the door, she ran out to an old lighthouse in the middle of a huge field outside of town. This is where the adventure begins.

When she came to the field, Candy saw a very odd sight. A little man with antlers! And on his antlers were heads! She befriends this man and helps him get back to his world. She does this by climbing up the lighthouse steps and throws a ball into a little cup. Somehow she summoned the sea to Minnesota! Candy is swept off to the Abarat with this man. Abarat is a world of wonder and mystery, kind of like a young child's imagination. The Abarat is made up of many islands, and each island is a time. There is midnight isle, where it is always midnight, and many other isles where it is always one time. At the Abarat she meets card-playing sea-sippers, Tarrie cats, and geshrats. Clive Barker has created a fabulous mixture between Alice in Wonderland and, well, something out of his own imagination.

When Candy gets to the Abarat, she finds herself being pursued by Christopher Carrion, the prince of the Midnight isle. He sends Mendelus shape after her. Shape is a vicious and brutal... well, I cannot call him human, but he is an amazingly horrible being. He enjoys singing lullabies to his victims such as this one. " Forget the future, forget the past, life is over, breathe your last." Candy finds herself lost in the mystery of the Abarat, and the mystery of the Princess Bella. Want to find out more? Read the book, and let yourself be swept away by the waves of the Abarat.

If you liked Harry Potter, then you will love Abarat. This is the first book that I've read by Clive Barker. Now I want to read all his books if they are as good as this one. As soon as I opened the book, I was immediately taken with this wonderful story told by Clive Barker. It's about a young girl named Candy, who deep inside wants more than what her life is offering. Her home life is not going well, and she isn't treated very well at school by her classmates or her teacher. Not being able to take it anymore, she runs away from school and just starts walking as far away from Chickentown as she can. She ends up in this field right outside of town where she meets a strange creature with many heads which she befriends. She helps him return to his world Abarat, so he ends up taking her with him. They get separated at the beginning of the story. So Candy is left by herself, but she meets new creatures along the way. She knows that she has a purpose in Abarat, she feels that she has been there before. During the story, The Prince of Midnight finds out she is there and is desperately trying to find Candy. He wants to make her his. His obsession of her grows strong, and this leads to others trying to capture her. This story can get really strange, but I loved it. I like when I'm reading a book and it takes me to that world. I would definately recommend this book to anyone. Also, I heard that Abarat the movie will be coming out in a couple of years. I know I cant wait to see it, and after you have read this book, you wont be able to wait either!

Close, but its no Harry Potter...

Barker is, as always, highly imaginative and inventive, Abarat is a lot of fun. The goodies are weird and wonderful, especially the beautiful artwork by Barker himself. Villains are weird and terrifying as they should be, and the landscape is ingenious - a group of islands where each represents an hour of the day! It's a wonderful concept.
My biggest complaint is a slight lack of character development. Our heroine, Candy, is interesting, but we just don't know that much about her. Consequently, it's sometimes hard to get involved.
Additionally, Abarat isn't one of those children's series' that adults can really enjoy (Harry Potter) The plot and the characters are all there, but the narrative is definitely pitched at kids - quite simple, with no real sub-plots or 'big' concepts. Thus, it makes a nice quick read without too much thinking.
That being said, many may find the sheer inventiveness makes up for a lot. There hasn't been a world this magical in a long time. I look forward to the next one, hopefully the story becomes more complex!

Relic113

Clive Barker, Abarat (Joanna Cotler Books, 2002)

Clive Barker can't be said to have hit a slump after Sacrament, because his books are usually (The Damnation Game excepted) a cut above anything else anyone's releasing, but is two post-Sacrament books, Galilee and Coldheart Canyon, didn't seem up to the standard Barker had set for himself in such fantastic journeys as Sacrament, Imajica, and the books of the Art. With Abarat, however, Barker has returned to the fantasy milieu in which he is the strongest, and has turned in quite a fine piece of work.

Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, Minnesota, a place that really defines "nowhere special." She feels, however, that she should be somewhere else, and very soon after the book starts, she finds that somewhere else-- the Abarat, an archipelago in a sea somewhere not of this earth. Abarat, the first book in a projected series, introduces the main players, sets up (we assume) the events of the forthcoming books, and introduces us to the Abarat itself.

Barker's strength has always been the creation of dense, detailed mythologies in which to set his stories. He doesn't reveal everything, so the reader doesn't feel the need to sit with copies of a Biblical concordance and various creation myths in attendance while reading one of Barker's novels, but he gives the reader enough that there's an understanding that there's a whole complex scenario working behind the scenes. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings series operates in the same way, as do Herge's Tintin graphic novels. Barker's worlds often feel as if they have that same level of detail, which is one of the things that separates him from other writers of books like this, and make his work such a pleasure to read. Abarat may well be the most detailed of the lot to date, surpassing even the attention to detail paid to Imajica. Though it's obvious that Abarat is mostly setting up things to come, it's a joy to have one of the modern masters of high fantasy back on form and writing stuff this lovely. ****

this is one of the most memorable and entertaining books ever written. clive barker created a whole new world that is completly fictional, but provides so much information and detail into this magical place that it seems well...real

once candy finds herself being swept away to the abarat, her mystical adventure begins in this mysterious archapelago, where every island stands for an hour in the day. during her experience here, she meets new friends, including an orange 'geshrat' named malingo, and narrowly escapes the clutches of christopher carrion, the prince of midnight, who unexplanably wants her. in the end, she is wisked away to the mysterious 25th hour, where she meets the sisters of the fantomaya, and realizes that, yes, she does belong here after all.

the book contains not only a great, fantasy setting, but hundreds of painted illustations by the author, which at times, seem to 'interact' with the text.

excellent book, excellent author, excellent illustrations, excellent everything. another masterpiece that will go down in history!

Clive Barker's "Abarat" is a wonderful story about a young girl, Candy Quakenbush, who would rather be somewhere else but home. She enters a field and finds she is no longer in her home town, but is transported to the Abarat.
Once she is there, she finds a strange world where evil forces are already after her. On her way, she meets a host of strange characters, some of whom are very interesting, and others which are simply too bizarre to be taken seriously.
The only real flaw with Abarat is that the stakes are not very high. Yes, Candy is sought after by the evil Lord Carrion, but neither character is developed enough for us to care about them too much. Granted, this is the first book in a series and Barker apparently did not want to show us everything in Book 1, but I did not feel the tension of the Harry Potter books here.
Barker's imagination is incredibly fertile and the paintings he includes in this work are worth the price of the book alone. The painting of the Abarat itself is marvelous! Overall, Abarat is a good book and recommended.

Clive Barker's first novel in his four part series, "Abarat" is a fantastic fantasy story for children and adults of all ages who might have enjoyed the classics such as the "Chronicles of Narnia" or "Alice in Wonderland". It all starts with Candy Quackenbush who is bored with life in the small town of Chickentown, Minnesota. One day, after running out of an embarrassing situation in school, Candy comes to a mysterious lighthouse in the middle of prairie and with the help of the character of John Mischief (whose brothers all live on his antlers!) Candy summons the sea of Mama Izabella and journeys to the fantastic land of the Abarat, where only the imagination is your limit. But trouble awaits there where villains are anxious to get their hands on the mysterious girl who comes from the human world of the Hereafter. "Abarat" accomplishes everything that high fantasy needs to have to be successful; believable and likeable main characters, scary villains, imagination, a wonderful world to explore, and magic! Barker's talent for storytelling results in a wonderful new fantasy series that is worthy to be held in the categories with all of the other children classics. The full color paintings and illustrations also painted by Barker are an added bonus to the story and they will draw you in even further to the adventures of Candy. This story is not to be missed and it is highly recommended fantasy!

How would you like to take a vacation from ordinary to extraordinary? In the book Abarat, by Clive Barker, young Candy Quackenbush does just that. One average day in Chickentown turns into the beginning of an adventure. Candy finds herself on the outskirts of the quiet, small town with a strange creature. This creature has a total of eight heads, with the extra seven sticking off of the original head. After her encounter with this creature, another weird being, and a broken down lighthouse, a sea appears out of nowhere. The sea takes Candy and the two creatures to the extraordinary world of the Abarat.

Abarat is a wonderful book full of adventure and great oddities. Its cover alone will draw you in, and what you find inside keeps you there. Not only did Clive Barker write the most creative story ever, but he illustrated it as well. His paintings give you a clear image of what everyone and everything in the story looks like. I was very intrigued by the fact that Mr. Barker could paint the same picture with words as the picture he painted with colors. His descriptions put such a clear image in my head, I thought I was in the book.

I would recommend Abarat to readers of all ages. I feel this because it can satisfy anybody's wants and needs. It contains humor, real-life experiences, fantasy, and much more. Abarat also contains a level of vocabulary that can be understood by all because of the amazing descriptions. This amazingly creative book is one of my favorites that can be loved by all.

A lot of people have been waiting for Clive Barker to unveil his newest creation since Coldheart Canyon earlier this year. We all knew it was going to be for kids, but we also knew it was going to be classic Clive Barker, and would be a great first book in the series. Having read this first installment, I concur with every fan's automatic assumption.

Abarat is the first book in the series about a young girl, Candy Quakenbush, who lives in Chickentown, USA. She has never felt she truly belongs in the dead end town which prides itself on maintaining the industry of its name. And so one day she heads out into the fields, where he finds what looks like the ruin of an old lighthouse and an old pier. Soon she meets a couple of characters, one good and one bad, and she has just seconds to start up this old lighthouse using a magic she never knew she possessed. Suddenly the sea comes rushing in from nowhere and she is whisked away to the Abarat, a vast archipelago where every island is a specific hour of the day. And so Candy is taken on many different adventures, both good and bad, where each time she comes close to losing everything, she somehow manages to break free.

With a vast cast of crazy and unusual characters, any reader would be struggling to deal with what they all look like and how to separate all these places. Fortunately, Barker hasn't only been busy writing, but he has also been busy painting for this series. Abarat features over one hundred original designs and paintings by Barker which he has spent the last four years creating, all to do with the current book at hand. The result is a visual opening into an impossible world that could only exist within the mind of one man.

The book ends with Candy alive and well on towards another adventure, as Barker ends with a familiar phrase: "So Ends the First Book of the Abarat." With three more to come in the series, one can only wonder what Candy is going to get up to next.

Originally published on December 9th, 2002.

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