Abarat: Amazon.ca: Clive Barker: Books

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

In Abarat, accomplished novelist and artist Clive Barker turns his considerable talents to creating a rich fantasy world for young adults.

Candy Quackenbush is growing up in Chickentown, Minnesota, yearning for more--which she finds, quite unexpectedly, when a man with eight heads appears from nowhere in the middle of the prairie, being chased by something really monstrous. And so begins Candy's epic adventure to the islands of the Abarat. Peopled by all manner of creatures, cultures, and customs, the islands should prove a fertile setting for the series that Barker is calling The Books of Abarat. Candy is an intelligent and likable heroine, and the many supporting characters are deftly drawn, both in words and in the full-color interior art that Barker has produced to give the story an extra dimension.

Abarat delivers the rich and imaginative storytelling that Barker is known for, with less overt horror or violence than one of his adult novels might include. However, Candy's path isn't an easy one, and young adult readers should appreciate the hard choices she must make along the way. --Roz Genessee --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Like The Thief of Always, Barker's first book for children, this tale finds a bored protagonist venturing into a fantastical world. The novel begins with a rather cryptic scene of three women on a "perilous voyage... [emerging] from the shelter of the islands." The action then shifts to Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, Minn., who hates her life as the daughter of an alcoholic father and a depressed mother. One day, humiliated by her teacher, Candy skips out of school and heads for the prairie, where she stumbles on a derelict lighthouse and a creature with eight heads, John Mischief. The opening scene and the thrust of the novel gradually connect, as Candy begins an adventure to a mysterious archipelago called Abarat. Skilled at fantasy, Barker throws plenty of thrills and chills at readers. Candy becomes a pawn between Mischief and the man (Christopher Carrion, "Lord of Midnight") from whom Mischief has stolen something of great value. However, by the middle of the novel, readers may feel that Barker pulls out too many stops; he floods the pages with scores of intriguing characters and a surfeit of subplots (some of which dead-end, perhaps to be picked up in one of the three planned sequels). The author's imagination runs wild as he conjures some striking imagery ("Dark threads of energy moved through her veins and leaped from her fingertips" says one of the three women in the opening scene) and cooks up a surreal stew of character portraits (rendered in bold colors and brushwork, they resemble some of Van Gogh's later work). But much of the novel feels like a wind-up for the books to follow and, after this rather unwieldy 400-page ride, readers my be disappointed by so many unresolved strands of the plot. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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The storm came up out of the southwest like a fiend, stalking its prey on legs of lightning. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

120 Reviews

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
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4.3 out of 5 stars (120 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Didn't want it to end., Dec 11 2002

By	Kevin T. McGuinness (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abarat (Hardcover)

Just read "Abarat" and I was really impressed. In terms of the richness of characters, writing and settings, "Abarat" is right up there with "Imajica," which is probably Clive Barker's best book, next to "Weaveworld."

When I read "Coldheart Canyon" around this time last year, it seemed lacking, as if Barker's attention had been distracted by something. It's clear now that he was putting his energy into "Abarat."

This book is the beginning of a great adventure. I didn't want it to end. I put down the book and said, "Oh, it's over?," only to find that I'd gone thru 400 pages.

Can't wait till the next one.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Once Upon a Time..., April 16 2009

By	Jamieson Villeneuve "Author at Large" (Ottawa Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abarat (Paperback)

"..Once upon a world, where time is place, a journey beyond imagination is about to unfold..."

Enter a world filled with darkness. A world fraught with peril at every corner, scenes beyond all imagining and magic so thick it could fill the air. Welcome to Abarat...

When we meet our heroine, 16-year-old Candy Quackenbush, for the first time, she is bored with her life in Chickentown USA. Her teacher hates her, her father is an abusive drunken brute, and her mother no longer stands up for Candy or herself when he beats them. Candy remembers often hiding in corners or waiting for the tears to stop after a fresh bout of abuse.

She knows that there must be more out in the world that what she has here; living in a town whose only claim to fame is that it is the largest exporter of chickens in the USA. Perhaps it is this boredom that leads to Candy telling off her teacher, Ms. Shwartz, for being an intolerable bully. Ms. Shwartz, in turn, hating Candy with every fibre of her person, sends her to the principal's office for expulsion from school. Except, Candy does not go to the principal's office.

It all started with the doodle...that doodle of waves that she drew in her notebook. Lines upon lines, all crashing and flowing into one another. Her feet and body recognize these waves, this doodle, and lead Candy towards a large open field far away from the town limits. In the centre of this field is a jetty and a skeletal light house, its beauty reduced to ruins. A lighthouse in the middle of Minnesota? Thousands of miles from the ocean? It is there that she meets John Mischief.

John Mischief, a man with antlers on his head, upon which grow seven heads, tells Candy of a land called Abarat, a glorious land where there are twenty-five islands: one island for each hour of the day and The Twenty Fifth Hour, the hour between dawn and dusk that allows itself to slip away.

Mischief tells Candy of magic and asks for her assistance. They are trying to avoid being slaughtered by Mendelsome Shape, a terrible man who has four swords lodged in his back, as if his skin were the sheath for the weapons. Candy must flee with the Brothers John into the Sea of Izabella, and to Abarat, if they have any hope of escaping.

While in Abarat, Candy learns of Pilxer, creator of The Commexo Kid, and Lord Carrion, Lord of Midnight. Pilxer wants a world full of light, whereas Lord Carrion would like the world to remain dark, thank you very much.

Candy also learns that she is more important than she previously thought, and must have her wits about her to stay safe. What with Dragons, Mires (or Stichlings), and the like after her, she has become quite a celebrity. She must work to stay alive...

Abarat (which is the first of four in the Abarat Quartet) is a modern day Wizard of Oz meets Harry Potter meets A Series of Unfortunate Events. Throw in a little bit of Charles Dickens patented darkness, some twisted Barker humour, and you've got Abarat .

This book is full. Though it is not a large book, it is as if Barker has taken a world and stuffed it into the Pandora's Box of Abarat. This book is sprawlingand full of life. The words seem to lift off the page as you read them, creating the images of monsters and magic in front of you. It is an epic tale, a dark tale, a moral tale; all this rolled into one novel. It must have been quite an undertaking.

There are new images presented on each line, on each page. Every word is a contribution to the Abaratian Gods, a homage to what Abarat was, is and will be. Never fear! This being his world, Barker thought we might need a little help imagining things as they should be.

Riddled throughout the book are over a hundred of Barker's own oil paintings, all in full colour. Abarat is a treat for the eyes as well as the mind. It mesmerizes your sight as you flip the pages along, white knuckled with anticipation to know what will happen to Candy next. The pictures add that dark artistic touch that Barker is famous for; they also let the reader see into Abarat, to feel it more closely than words alone would allow.

There are a few things that stand out to me about this book. First, its darkness. In the introduction to the book, Barker recounts reading tales from such authors as C. S. Lewis and The Wizard of Oz. Influenced by these childhood wonders, he took it upon himself to create something like that, a piece of the canon that would burn brightest.

He has succeeded, though not with light; instead he uses darkness. Abarat is not a particularly happy book. In fact, not many good things happen to our lovely Candy Quackenbush. Throughout she is kidnapped, assaulted, beaten, chased after and treated like filth. She plummets from thousands of feet up in the air from the back of a giant moth created by magic, she is pursued by the brothers Fugit, who wish to beat her and then drive her insane.

The darkness forms a parallel with earlier fantasy works. The Brothers Grimm, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events; all these books have darkness riddled throughout them. There is a sense of danger, a sense of peril.

One thing always happens: good triumphs over evil. Barker has created a dark world filled with mystery and enchantment. One day I hope to see this book as a classic. It is that amazing.

Abarat also reminded me of many other tales I read as a child, the above mentioned among them. I found myself in a few places feeling like I was reading something out of Hansel and Gretel. Barker makes you familiar with the story, comfortable with it.

Thus you are more likely to immerse yourself in the Sea of Izabella, or the twenty-five islands of Abarat. Even though some parts of Abarat scared me, I felt safe there; I felt welcomed. The book is so layered with parallels and allusion that you can't help but get lost in it.

Barker has created a magnificent piece of work, and one hell of a cliffhanger. It is a beautiful book, filled with images and wonders, dreams and nightmares and everything in between. I can only wonder what my next visit to Abarat will bring.

Should you choose to visit, I'll be on the Island of Yebba Dim Day, haggling with a pastry stall owner about the price of a muffin. Come and find me; I'll be happy to show you around.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful work of unsurpassed imagination, Aug 6 2006

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abarat (Hardcover)

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.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AN UNBELIEVABLE READ!!!
This book is sooo amazing! I love to read great adventure stories in fantastic worlds...and this is one of the best! Read more

Published on Dec 19 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is Fantastic
Once you start reading this book you cant turn it down, literally!
It has gone where no book has gone before, and Clive Barkers imagination must be amazing for him to write a... Read more

Published on Jul 19 2004 by Lela Barker

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC!
Just wanted to clear something (...)-- there is no gay/lesbian innuendo in this book. It's very clean and it's a FANTASTIC read! Very refreshing. Read more

Published on Jul 8 2004 by hfeather3

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique vision.
Clive Barker, known as a master of fantastical horror stories, has ventured again into children's literature. Read more

Published on Jul 7 2004 by Kidsreads.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Werid is Good
This book is very strange but you will understand it after a bit. This is now one of my favorite books. I reccomend you to read it.

Published on Jul 7 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh, the book should be put under gay and lesbian!
I read about 100 pages into this book and hated every single one. I never thought that a simple fantasy book would have such boring details. Read more

Published on Jul 4 2004 by I. Sheets

5.0 out of 5 stars The "BEST"
I love this book. I just love it. I'm 15 and I "used to" HATE reading. This book got me started on reading fantasy and adventure books. Read more

Published on Jul 1 2004 by chanapath

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book in the World
This book is absoulutly wonderful! It is the best book I have ever read!
When it started out it was the type of time I would tend to get bored. Read more

Published on Jun 28 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars whoa!!
Abarat is probably the best fantasy tale I've ever read. It may be one of those stories where a kid falls into a different world, like in Alice in Wonderland, but Clive Barker... Read more

Published on Jun 26 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Unlike any of Clive Barker's other books.
I probably shouldn't be writing a review yet since I've only just started reading the book and I've just reached part 2, but I couldn't contain my excitement and satisfaction with... Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004 by sandwich

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