Product Description

A dazzling fantasy adventure for all ages, the second part of a quartet appearing at two yearly intervals, richly illustrated by the author. Film rights sold to Disney for $8 million on the paintings alone. The Abarat; a magical otherworld composed on an archipelago of twenty-five islands -- one for each hour of the day, plus an island out of time. Candy Quackenbush, escaping her dull, dull life from the most boring place in our world, Chickentown, USA, finds that in the Abarat she has another existence entirely, one which links her to marvels and mysteries--and even to murder! In this, the second volume in Clive Barker's extraordinary fantasy for both adults and children, Candy's adventures in the amazing world of the Abarat are getting more strange by the Hour. Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, has sent his henchmen to capture her. Why? she wonders. What would Carrion want with a girl from Minnesota? And why is Candy beginning to feel that the world of the Abarat is familiar to her? Why can she speak words of magic she doesn't even remember learning? There is a mystery here. And Carrion, along with his fiendish grandmother, Mater Motley, suspects that whatever Candy is, she could spoil his plans to take control of the Abarat. Now Candy's companions must race against time to save her from the clutches of Carrion, and she must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands. A final war is about to begin. And Candy is going to need to make some choices that will change her life forever!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41791 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
Praise for Abarat: 'Abarat is more than just a new and major contender. It is (like his earlier book, The Thief of Always) full of a level of beautiful terror that children are still just able to bear.' Independent 'Always creating and always pushing into the furthest reaches of the human mind, he is an artist in every sense of the word. He is the great imaginer of our time.' Quentin Tarantino 'Abarat is a sumptuous and lovely thing.' Guardian

About the Author
Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. He is the worldwide bestselling author of the Books of Blood, and numerous novels including Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Sacrament and Galilee. In addition to his work as a novelist and short sotry writer le also illustrates, writes, directs and produces for the stage and screen.

Customer Reviews

More Abarat? Yes please.
Now I'm not a huge Barker fan, however I enjoyed the first Abarat book and was looking foward to the continuing adventures of Candy Quackenbush. "Days of Magic, Nights of War" covers another handful of Hours (islands) from the world of Abarat, giving Barker free reign to be inventive, bizzare and, as ever, all tinted with an edge of possibility. It's the hint of realism that keeps you reading - it's written in such simple narrative how can it not be fact. As far as the style, I found it to be less dark that the predecessor, and although Carrion and Mater were still very much present, their malign characterisations were not as strong. Without offering any spoilers, I believe Barker attempts to fix this at the end of the book. The book introduces a strong central story which will propel us through the next volume and has created the idea of a Tolkein "company" to fight the evil menaces from the Midnight Hour, almost all of the characters you'll already know from the first book. Overall, there's a great movie like feel to the book. It's fast paced, surreal and nightmarish in parts; a page-turner with lots of surprises and a brilliant plotted end.

Bring on volume 3!! "ABSOLUTE MIDNIGHT"
This book (along with book one, ABARAT) is surely going to go down in history as a "classic series" of books. It's the second in a 5 part series aimed at young adults and adults in general. Book one sets up the story and even though that book leaves alot unanswered this second book delivers on the promises of the first. The only problem is that we still have to wait until September/October 2009 (at the earliest!) for the 3rd volume!!. It's worth a mention on how well produced these books are, rich glossy pages which contain some truly bizzare pieces of art work and even under the dust jacket the books have superb cover boards. Everything about these books has quality about them (in addition to the story itself), they are heavy too, which adds to thier sumptuous feeling. Buy the hardcovers for your collection and buy the mass market paperbacks (no illusrations) for reading copies. Im certain book 3 will go one better than the first two in the series and I for one, can't wait!