A review by tacochelle
Abarat by Clive Barker
5.0
*Note: in order to see the images, you need to click "see review" at the bottom. Sorry for the inconvenience*
I reread this book again because I felt like it. I have good memories of reading this book, and after rereading it, my rating hasn't changed much. More like a 4.5 out of 5.
This book is more of an introduction to the characters and the world of Abarat: the 25 islands in it's own separate world. Each island has it's own time, like Yebba Dim Day resides at 8pm, Ninnyhammer is at 10pm, etc. The 25th island is the mysterious Odom's Spire, the Time Out Of Time. Ordinary girl Candy Quackenbush accidentally calls the sea to Chickentown, MN, which takes her to this crazy and surreal world. She goes to all sorts of islands, and makes many new friends like:
John Mischief and his eight brothers who reside on antlers on his head,
Malingo, a geshrat slave to a short, violent wizard,
Samuel Hastrim Klepp the 5th, publisher of the one and only guide to the Abarat,
Diamanda, Joephi, and Mespa, the women of the Fantomaya who look over Candy on her journey and have something to do with why she's there,
And so much more.
Not as big in this book is the villain:
Christopher Carrion, Prince of Night. He wants Candy for some reason that we aren't told right off the bat. All we know is that if he gets his hands on her, bad things will happen. So while we're discovering this world with Candy, she's avoiding Carrion's henchmen like Mendelson Shape and Otto Houlihan, the Criss-Cross Man.
This book is accompanied with beautiful illustrations done by Clive Barker himself, and let me tell you, they are beautiful. Look up Abarat, and you will find a slew of colorful and interesting pictures. These make the world come to life for me. We see how strange and fascinating and terrifying it is for Candy throughout her journey, and in combination with good, descriptive and exciting writing, brings this world to life.
The one to to mention is that it is entirely an introduction to this series. The book does this well, but the actual plot is also briefly introduced here. I have read the next two books, and the plot concerning Candy and Christopher Carrion does ties in later on. It helps a lot because, though there will be new islands to introduce in the later books, now we can focus on what Christopher Carrion wants with Candy. For this reason, I say this book gets about a 4.5.
I reread this book again because I felt like it. I have good memories of reading this book, and after rereading it, my rating hasn't changed much. More like a 4.5 out of 5.
This book is more of an introduction to the characters and the world of Abarat: the 25 islands in it's own separate world. Each island has it's own time, like Yebba Dim Day resides at 8pm, Ninnyhammer is at 10pm, etc. The 25th island is the mysterious Odom's Spire, the Time Out Of Time. Ordinary girl Candy Quackenbush accidentally calls the sea to Chickentown, MN, which takes her to this crazy and surreal world. She goes to all sorts of islands, and makes many new friends like:
John Mischief and his eight brothers who reside on antlers on his head,
Malingo, a geshrat slave to a short, violent wizard,
Samuel Hastrim Klepp the 5th, publisher of the one and only guide to the Abarat,
Diamanda, Joephi, and Mespa, the women of the Fantomaya who look over Candy on her journey and have something to do with why she's there,
And so much more.
Not as big in this book is the villain:
Christopher Carrion, Prince of Night. He wants Candy for some reason that we aren't told right off the bat. All we know is that if he gets his hands on her, bad things will happen. So while we're discovering this world with Candy, she's avoiding Carrion's henchmen like Mendelson Shape and Otto Houlihan, the Criss-Cross Man.
This book is accompanied with beautiful illustrations done by Clive Barker himself, and let me tell you, they are beautiful. Look up Abarat, and you will find a slew of colorful and interesting pictures. These make the world come to life for me. We see how strange and fascinating and terrifying it is for Candy throughout her journey, and in combination with good, descriptive and exciting writing, brings this world to life.
The one to to mention is that it is entirely an introduction to this series. The book does this well, but the actual plot is also briefly introduced here. I have read the next two books, and the plot concerning Candy and Christopher Carrion does ties in later on. It helps a lot because, though there will be new islands to introduce in the later books, now we can focus on what Christopher Carrion wants with Candy. For this reason, I say this book gets about a 4.5.