Abarat

By Clive Barker

A dazzling fantasy adventure for all ages, the first of a quartet.

Abarat: an archipelago of amazement and wonder. A land made up of twenty-five islands, each one representing one hour of the day, each one a unique place of adventure and danger (and one mysterious place out of time), all ruled over by the evil Christopher Carrion, Lord of Midnight, and his monstrous grandmother, Mater Motley.

Candy Quackenbush, a 16-year old from Chickentown, Minnesota, crosses by accident from our world into Abarat, and discovers she has been there many, many times before. She has friends there and she has enemies. As Candy makes her journey between all the islands of the archipelago, she will discover a plot by Christopher Carrion to block out the Sun, Moon and stars to achieve a condition of Permanent Midnight. In order to prevent this disaster, Candy must find the courage to confront the Lord of Midnight; and in doing so come to know who she really is: a revelation which will transform her own understanding of her place in the epic events.

The first book of Abarat is a spellbinding adventure for all ages, combining the heartstopping tension of a thriller with the powerful charm of the most enduring fable. And beneath all, it possesses the quicksilver imagination of one of the finest writers at work today. The four books of Abarat have been rightly called Clive Barker’s Narnia, his Wonderland. A sumptuous treat that will capture the imaginations of adults and children alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jan 8, 2009
• ISBN: 9780007301690

Clive Barker

Clive Barker is the bestselling author of twenty-two books, including the New York Times bestsellers Abarat; Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War; the Hellraiser and Candyman series, and The Thief of Always. He is also an acclaimed painter, film producer, and director. He lives in Southern California.

Reviews for Abarat

[thatsfresh_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I started reading this book long ago…back in 8th grade. I had no idea there was a second book until a year or so later I was in a bookstore and ran into it. Now, as I wait for the third one (I’m almost out high school, hurry up Clive!) I grow impatient. I really enjoy the mysteries of the book, and even more the artwork. The stories can be a little weak, but I still like reading about all the different characters and the mystical past of the Abarat islands. My dad read the second book and didn’t really enjoy it, though my 8th grade History teacher liked it, so I can’t say whether or not it’s for adults. But either way it’s a great story for kids and can push those young ones who are scared to start a giant book. Great artwork, great characters, great ideas, great read.

[queenalyss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was a little thrown off by this book when I saw the cover. My mum bought it for me and I just kept it in a basket because I had no interest in it. Then I had read all my books in my room, except this one, and decided to read it. I saw the cover and thought it was interesting. Now, I love it and when I finished it, the secound book was about to come out, so of course I was over ecstatic! Definitly intersting. I love how Abarat upside down spells Abarat and how the oil paintings were made before the book!

[5eva5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Let me just first say that the illustrations in this book are nothing short of amazing. But, Barker has always been one of my favorite artists, so that didn’t exactly come as a surprise. I get a feeling, though, that the paintings preceded the story, which is an interesting artistic choice in that the text almost comes to illustrate the images, but which makes the text a little lacking in that the story gets “forced” into fitting the images. I love Barker’s worlds - I have since the first time I picked up Books of Blood - and the characters are as imaginative as ever. The one thing I find a little hard to like is that the storyline is so meandering that you easily lose your place in the (sometimes clumsy) transitions and forget what each character’s goal is – and there are a lot of characters to keep track of! My main enjoyment out of the book was to see each new character’s description and the accompanying painting, but the main story didn’t captivate me enormously. It is a YA novel, though, and a YA reader may be a little more forgiving.

[hanike-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is the first book of the YA series "The Books of Abarat", written and illustrated by the brilliant Clive Barker himself.The series includes the following 5 fantasy novels:> Abarat (2002)> Days of Magic, Nights of War (2004)> Absolute Midnight (2011)> Kry Rising (work-in-progress)> Until The End of Time (forthcoming)In the first book, we're introduced to Candy, a lonely bored girl who decides to explore a brand new world: the exotic and fantastical islands of Abarat, where each island in Abarat represents an hour of the day and is populated with the most different creatures.There, she is hunted down by Lord Midnight, who has a mysterious interest on her, but she has no idea what kind of dark fate she just brought to herself.Abarat is Clive Barker's "children's tale" that has very little of "children" and a lot of dark fantasy & exotic creatures in the colorful yet dark world of Abarat islands.It's darker than Neil Gaiman's books, but can be placed together with his Coraline.It's both Barker's play with Surrealism and his gift to younger readers who, after reading this, will surely want to get a taste of the real thing whenever they can. =D

[crewman_number_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first this book held my attention, but it really started to lose me toward the end. Some of the sub stories never really seemed to tie in with the rest of the story. Altogether the story seemed a little choppy, and I was a little disappointed with the flimsy ending.

[cmcvittie_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clive Barker's illustrations alone would make this a compelling book for young adults raised in this digital, visual age. Creepy, yet compelling, Barker has created yet another setting where strange monsters like the terrifying Mendelson Shape and the strange, many-headed John Mischief interact with the young woman Candy, who is almost driven to her mundane life in Chickentown. The completely weird archipelego of Abarat is inhabited by more strange beings than most of us imagine in a lifetime. This is the first in a series of a possible four books. I enjoyed this trip into a dream of a book - dream as in the disjointed images and twisted reality that populates a typical night or nightmare. Barker has made his mark in young adult fiction!

[airdna_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A seemingly ordinary girl gets whisked into an alternate world full of bizarre creatures, which is under attack by the forces of evil, and discovers she's a "chosen one" that must help save the world.

[edenjean_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

{WIP} {Warning: Spoilers}Candy Quackenbush isn't like the other residents of Chickentown, Minnesota. While her classmates are going to parties and her neighbors are tending to their lawns Candy is bored sick of her hometown. She wanders in the countryside outside of town, strangely drawn by the scent of the sea, despite being thousands of miles from the ocean. The tide comes in. Candy is swept away by a sentient ocean to another world, called Abarat. Helped out by her new friend, John Mischief, a strange man with his seven brothers attached to his head by tentacle-like necks, Candy is led into the mysterious Abarat, a whole other world on the other side of the magical ocean. The brave girl must escape capture attempts from the disgusting Lord Carrion, save her new friends, and discover what in her past has connected her to the Abarat. Candy's journey of discovery leads back to Chickentown, where her mother is lost in dreams of the stormy night that her daughter was born. Candy isn't just her daughter, she also carries the soul of the Abarat's murdered princess inside her heart, and with it the future of the Abarat.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Do you think Alice in Wonderland is trippy? Think again. Only Clive Barker can write a young adult novel and make it this disturbing. He is a master of all the weird, odd, gross, and secret thoughts that might pass through anyone's mind. This is not as dark as his adult works, but you can taste it from here....Excellent. Looking forward to the second installment.

[anniehidalgo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It seems 'too silly' is an odd complaint for a fantasy novel. Strict realism is never expected. Nevertheless, that's my gripe with this one. I wanted to like it. Clive Barker is usually pretty good. His The Thief of Always is one of my favorite ya fantasy novels. But this is, well, less than plot-driven. I'm not sure one thing in this book is ever fully resolved. And all of the characters have this odd, Dave McKean-esque, circus freak quality about them. More members of a dream cast, and less well-thought out denizens of a cohesive fantasy realm. Also, I'm never sure who authors are trying to appeal to when they use nonsensical fantasy words. Just because I'm reading a fantasy novel...I mean, honestly, at what point am I supposed to be able to say things like Yebba Dim Day (the name of one of the islands of Abarat), without feeling anything but utterly ridiculous? Not a bad book, but certainly not stand-alone. It feels like the product of some kind of unholy alliance between Dave McKean, Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton.

[writerofdreams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really love this book, the illustrations are very colorful and catch your attenion, depicting the scene right before your eyes. it is very fantasy and at times, a little disturbing, Clive Barker, you had better hurry up writing the next two books!

[zannybuck · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unlike some other reviews, I thought this book was fantastic. The world that Barker has created is new and fresh and has an untold amount of potential. When I read the first book, the second one was already out so I could not wait to finish one and get to the next. The characters are deep and interesting and the tension between Candy Quackenbush and Lord Carrion is thick. It may seem like the first book does not finish much, but this is a four part series and the second book alone ties a lot up. I am eagerly awaiting the 3rd volume.

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first children's book I have ever read by Clive Barker. I know that he is much more well known for his works of horror. However, I was very impressed by this book.I listened to this book on audio book. The audio book was very well done. I think the guy who read the audio book must be the same person who read Stephen King's Dark Tower series on audio book. At least they sound very similar since I keep getting flashbacks to when I listened to the Dark Tower; maybe it is just that Clive Barker and Stephen King have a somewhat similar writing style. The only bad thing about listening to this on audio book is that I missed out on all the neat color pictures. I have the paper version at home so I still got to see the pictures, just not while I was reading the book.The tone of this book reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland and is, initially, a similar premise. Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, MN and, during an assignment for school to write a paper on interesting things in Chickentown (a decidedly uninteresting town), runs into a mystery concerning a man who committed suicide in a hotel room. A strange nautical device is found in the dresser drawer of this hotel room. Candy finds herself obsessing about the symbols on the device. Candy is fed up with her boring life in Chickentown, her beaten down mother, and her abusive father. After a particularly bad scene in class at school, where Candy gets sent to the principals office, Candy decides to just leave school and go walking. She finds herself in a vast prairie outside of Chickentown. While there she runs into an 8 headed man, John Mischief, and ends up helping him to light the lighthouse in the prairie (which Candy thought was an abandoned building). Following some crazy events Candy finds herself swept off to Abarat and swept into a crazy adventure there.This was a really great book. It is wildly imaginative and full of non-stop action. I loved the way Candy accepted her adventures with ease (since *anything* is better than Chickentown). I also loved the numerous quirky characters that Candy ran into along the way. Candy seems to have a knack for getting people's attention and getting drawn into trouble. There are tons of interesting good and neutral characters in this book. There are also some very interesting villains. The villians in this book are particularly special. There are numerous levels of evil, making you wonder who the *real* villain is. All of the villains have a lot of depth to them, you can see multiple sides to their character. This makes them seem somehow less ultimately evil but more scary and unpredictable.The description in the book is wonderful. The plotline rolls along gracefully taking Candy from one adventure to the next. Even though many different characters are introduced and interact with Candy, none of it seems forced.The only disappointment I had with this book was that I thought that the storyline with John Mischeif didn't get much closure; I am sure this storyline will be revisited in the next book. I am also curious as to what is happening back in Chickentown; does Candy's mother know she is missing?This was a great book. I would read it to slightly older children though since at times it is very violent and it deals with issues of suicide and torture at points. Great book, I am excited to read the next one.

[welburn_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

My middle school students love this book, and the library's teen advisory board elected it a "Best Book," but I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan. The book works along similar lines to The Phantom Tollbooth, in that a disaffected young person ends up in a fantastical land that follows a sort of surreal logic. Clive Barker does not make as much use of the imaginary world's logical frame (islands that each exist in a certain hour of the day) as he might, and as a result the series of adventures don't seem as coherent as The Phantom Tollbooth's does. Still, the imaginative creatures and the illustrations that accompany the text really intrigue young readers.The writing is a little inconsistent as well. In several places there are random vocabulary words thrown that don't fit in with the surrounding language, and the reliance on some stereotypes (the unsympathetic teacher, for one) does not allow for as much acute social observation as other books for young adults (like Tangerine).

[redthing · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Abarat is an odd sort of world, a world where anything and everything is possible. Candy Quackenbush, the main character, ends up in the Abarat, seemingly by accident. The book covers her adventures through the world. The paintings distribuited throughout the text are wonderful and add tremendously to the quality of the book. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that this is one of the best books i've read all year.

[jaimelesmaths · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Characters: Heck yeah. Imaginative, deep, and interesting. Even (and especially) the main villian is interesting and multi-dimensional.Setting: See above.Illustrations: Simply amazing. Barker is amazing.Plot: The only reason that I dinged Abarat a 1/2 star was because the plot takes a bit to get into (though the beginning makes a bit more sense after reading the second book), and, at times, you can lose track of what exactly the protagonist's goal is.Overall: Highly recommended, am looking forward to the next book.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Born from the wicked imagination of Clive Barker, Abarat more like a fantasy than a horror story. It's a pity because my favourites are his older horror books but whatever.... Abarat IS a gerat book with great characters and great story.

[workgman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i gave up on clive barker for a while. abarat grabbed my attention. i'm glad i picked up this slightly surreal adventure.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the most creative books I've read in quite some time. The illustrations really do add a lot to the story and help one to vividly imagine the world being described. Very enjoyable and I look forward to continuing the series!

[ds_61_12 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I started this book with mixed feelings. The cover and the illustrations inside didn't agree with me. The first chapter of the book was situated in the fantasy world of Abarat and serves as a teaser. What follows is the first part of the book. Here we return to Earth and meet Candy Quackenbusch, a young girl living in Chickentown, Minnesota.Now I have to admit I stopped reading after the first two chapters. This doesn't happen often, but the style and the creatures that start to appear about then didn't do it for me. It is supposed to be a good book, but it isn't my taste. Try it for yourself and make your own judgement.

[misslucinda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those rare post-Harry Potter fantasy books that can stand on its own; it's a great read! Abarat has a great combination of real life emotions and unique quirks in all of the characters. Candy Quackenbush, the heroine, is completely believable and her adventures through the land of Abarat just drew me in.Clive Barker has created such an amazing magical world: the realms of Abarat, a collection of islands. Each island has its own personality-- and time of the day-- which makes the land truly original.Recommendation: This book is a thrilling read for any fantasy-lover, and the wonderful illustrations make the book a good family-read-aloud book. Enjoy Abarat!

[shelf3employed · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a novel of epic proportions, over 11 hours on mp3. The cast and lands of the Abarat are rich and fully developed, as is the prose of Clive Barker, full of vivid description and extensive vocabulary, as in this description of the Yebba Dim Day,It was a city, a city built from the litter of the sea. The street beneath her feet was made from timbers that had clearly been in the water for a long time, and the walls were lined with barnacle-encrusted stone. There were three columns supporting the roof, made of coral fragments cemented together. They were buzzing hives of life unto themselves; their elaborately constructed walls pierced with dozens of windows, from which light poured.There were three main streets that wound up and around these coral hives, and they were all lined with habitations and thronged with the Yebba Dim Day's citizens.As far as Candy could see there were plenty of people who resembled folks she might have expected to see on the streets of Chickentown, give or take a sartorial detail: a hat, a coat, a wooden snout. But for every one person that looked perfectly human, there were two who looked perfectly other than human. The children of a thousand marriages between humankind and the great bestiary of the Abarat were abroad on the streets of the city. Richard Ferrone’s voice on the audiobook version is as rich and varied as the world of the Abarat. A fantastic book! Highly recommended. Ages 12 and up.

[karhne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the few fantasy books I've ever made it all the way through and very possibly the only one that ever made me want to buy sequels. I'm not entirely sure I agree that it's an "all ages" read. Maybe high all ages. It does have a socially permissive slant, but then, if you didn't know that by the author's name on the cover, you probably missed the eighties.

[fadenweberin-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

DisneyeskOk, ich bin Clive Barker-Erstleser. In meinem Regal stehen eher solche Sachen wie D. Eddings, S.Lawhead und Herr Prattchett. Vielleicht auch wegen deren doch eher 'normalen' Fantasy-Welten hat mich Abarat leider nicht wirklich begeistern können. Es war mir einfach zu viel: zu viel Gerenne, zu viele absurde Kreaturen, zu schrill. Und dabei für mich zu oberflächlich. Tatsächlich hab ich mich während des Lesens z.B. ständig gefragt: wann zum Henker kommt Candy denn jetzt endlich mal dazu, ihr ach-so-müdes Haupt auszuruhen und vielleicht einen Happen zu essen?Obwohl das Buch sicherlich einige nette Ideen hat muss ich leider sagen, dass es für mich schlicht nicht gewirkt hat.

[tafadhali · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun, fantasy adventure! Very imaginative world-building, though I was disappointed that my library's copy was the paperback edition and hence lacked Barker's excellent illustrations. (I am reading the sequel now, with illustrations, and really appreciating how much life they add to the text.)

[mendoza_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a young adult book but I was able to still enjoy it. The destiny of Candy is sure to unfold thruought this proposed series. I enjoy when things are much more than what they originally appear.The illustrations were actually good enough that I felt they enhanced the story.

[soybean7soybean · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this pleased me immensely. it made for excellent reading. i'd already read the second book first, a long time ago, because that was the first one i discovered on the shelves in the bookstores in brunei. i'm glad i found a really good online bookstore to order the first and third books of the Abarat trilogy :) the story was fascinating, the characters colourful, with a lot of weirdness thrown in. very interesting and captured my imagination. so much so that i even read it in the loo. TMI. haha :p

[rachel1987_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although I haven't officially finished this book, it is rather good. It is filled with beautiful and amazing artwork and is fairly easy to read.I will finish this book someday and write a real review, I promise.

[30oddyearsofzan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first Clive Barker I've read (I'm just too much of a wimp to be a proper horror reader), and the available Abarat sequels have gone straight onto my want list. Yes, the conclusion of book one is blatant cliffhanger-for-sequel, but when the world explored is as lavish as this one, who cares? You're happy to get more.Candy is an appealing heroine, sensible and resourceful, while still naive and full of wonder and prone to mistakes. Barker describes her allies and enemies with equal sympathy - while we know our villains must be stopped, we know they have their own cares and frustrations.Barker's lavish paintings are an added bonus, aiding our visualisation of this fantastic world while still leaving some things to the imagination. Glyphs, for example - flying machines made of pure magic - are as yet tantalisingly unillustrated...

[dbolahood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My relationship with Clive Barker's books tends to run hot and cold. I will either finish the book and it will automatically become one of my favourites or I will enjoy it at first but at some point over the course of my reading it becomes tedious and I have trouble finishing it. Well Abarat is a first for me I enjoyed it and I finished it but it's not one of my favourites.Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown Minnesota is bored. She is sick living in an unhappy home, sick of the endless boring prairies and not to mention she HATES chickens. After a disagreement at school over an assignment about Chickentown (but not about chickens) Candy just gets up and walks out of class and out of Chickentown. Once outside the town Candy meets an interesting individual with eight heads (all named John) who gives her a key and charges her with keeping it safe from the creature who has been chasing him or them. Candy jumps at the chance to abandon her previous life and follows the Johns to the world of Abarat which is rapidly heading towards an apocalypse.The world of Abarat is probably the reason this book didn't make it to favourite status. Abarat is absolutly nothing like the world we live in and trying to picture the creatures and lands of this world continously pulled me out of the story. I understand there is an illustrated version of this book and had I read one that I'm sure my final grade would have been different.Candy is a thoroughly likable heroine and I'm looking forward to seeing her character grow over the course of the series. Although she is young and a bit niave she's also got some grit to her and takes everything that happens in stride. The secondary characters (or creatures) even the minor ones have all been very well fleshed out and have obviously come from a very fertile imagination.The plot is quick paced and alot of fun but like I said previously I probably would have enjoyed it more and been more "into" the story had I read the version with the illustrations.All in all I did enjoy the story and will definitly look for the second installment the next time I'm in the book store. If this is your first time trying Clive Barker I would recommend reading the Thief of Always first it is a stand alone young adult fantasy and in my opinion is far more engrossing story.