Product Description

A dazzling fantasy adventure for all ages, the first of a quartet appearing at yearly intervals, richly illustrated by the author. Film rights sold to Disney for 8 million dollars on the paintings alone. 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. Richly illustrated with dozens of dazzling full-colour paintings by the author, the four books of Abarat have been rightly called Clive Barker's Narnia, his Wonderland. A visual and literary treat that will capture the imnaginations of adults and children alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #331564 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 388 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
With Abarat, Clive Barker begins an ambitious sequence of fantastic novels aimed at a young audience as well as his adult fans. There is as much sense of threat to the world here as there was in the horror novels with which he made his name. But the worst almost never happens here--and there is whimsy and charm along with a carefully judged and measured sense of the nightmarish. Young Cindy Quackenbush finds herself transported from the boredom of a Mid-Western chicken-packing town to the 25 islands of the Abarat--islands torn between the evil magician Christopher Carrion and the equally power-hungry rational capitalist Pixler. Each of the islands has a nature determined by an hour of the day--part of the pleasure of the book is seeing how Barker works this conceit out as Cindy travels from peril to peril. The book is literally a book of hours--in the Medieval sense; it's lavishly illustrated with over a hundred of Barker's striking paintings--much of its imagery was conceived of pictorially and then reinvented as story. This is a fine book--it is also a beautiful and charming object. --Roz Kaveney

Review
Barker's energy shows no sign of deserting him, and this fizzing fantasy adventure for all ages is announced as the first of a quartet appearing at yearly intervals, spruced up with some striking illustrations by the author himself. Abarat is an archipelago of amazement and wonder: a land made up of numerous islands, each one representing one hour of the day, each one a unique piece of adventure and danger, all ruled over by the evil Lord of Midnight, Christopher Carrion. Candy Quackenbush (shame about the name) is a 16-year-old who crosses back and forth from our world into Abarat. Yes, Lewis Carroll is the guiding spirit here, but this is very much an Alice for the 21st century, with all the surrealistic imagery that we have come to expect from Barker.

The Damnation Game and Everville established Barker as a highly successful writer of adult fantasy, while his first foray into writing for children, The Thief of Always, introduced the power of his glorious imagination to a younger audience. These young readers are in for the reading experience of a lifetime with the publication of this first book in an eagerly awaited quartet. The project began as a series of oil paintings which Barker intended to incorporate into a story entitled The Book of Hours. But as his artistic output proliferated and his fantastic imagination took flight, the concept of a four-book series was born. Barker makes few concessions in writing for a younger readership - the images and events here are almost as terrifying and graphic as anything in his books for adults. Although the author himself admits to influences as diverse as The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, with a smidgeon of Potter and Tolkein thrown in, Abarat is unique. Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, Minnesota, and the suffocating dreariness of the place, combined with her miserable life at home, is driving her to despair. Storming out of school one day, she ends up in a part of the town she has never been to before, and unknowingly crosses the boundary into another dimension. Crossing the Sea of Izabella she finds herself in the Abarat archipelago - 25 islands, each of which exists for one hour of the day, apart from the 25th island which is in 'time out of time'. Candy clearly has a destiny amongst these islands, which have been in conflict for generations. Most terrifying of all the bizarre creations she encounters is Christopher Carrion, who rules Gorgossium, the Midnight Island. He desires to have mastery over all the islands and then conquer the human world, known as Hereafter. Carrion is evil personified - attached to his face is a bowl full of fluid which contains all the nightmarish, evil thoughts in his head, from which he constantly feeds. This is an enthralling epic which will sink its talons into the imagination of young readers - and adults - everywhere. The pace becomes increasingly frantic as Candy and her loyal friend, the geshrat Malingo, flee from island to island in a desperate attempt to escape Carrion's clutches. Exhausted, they are cast up on the shores of the 25th island where Candy meets the prophetic sisters of Fantomaya. Finally, some parts of the puzzle about her past and her future begin to fall into place, and with the faithful Malingo at her side she sails off in search of her destiny. Ages 11+ (Kirkus UK)

Picaresque digression yields to plot development in this second entry about the archipelago of the Abarat, where each island is ruled by a different hour of the day. Candy Quackenbush and her loyal geshrat pal Malingo are on the run from Christopher Carrion, Lord of Midnight, still scheming to conquer the forces of Day. As Candy begins to uncover her hidden powers, Malingo joins allies old and new in searching for the lost hero Finnegan Hob. Meanwhile, back in our reality, the inhabitants of quotidian Chickentown are troubled by ominous portents. It's all fantastically complicated and dreamlike, sensations intensified by the elaborate sonorous imagery, constant abrupt transitions, and Barker's hallucinogenic jewel-like illustrations. Unfortunately, rather than trust his descriptive powers, he repeatedly tells readers how to feel, with a peculiarly flattening impact. Candy's personality is particularly drab, when contrasted with the frenzied phantasmagoria all around her. Scenes of chilling abuse and gruesome death cast dark, macabre shadows over the adventure. Yet when all the threads are pulled together in a splendidly apocalyptic finale of cinematic scope (film rights have been optioned by Disney), the satisfying resolution leaves plenty of room for sequels. Expect heavy demand. (Fantasy. 12+) (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
A dazzling fantasy adventure for all ages, the first of a quartet appearing at yearly intervals, richly illustrated by the author. Film rights sold to Disney for 8 million dollars on the paintings alone. 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. Richly illustrated with dozens of dazzling full-colour paintings by the author, the four books of Abarat have been rightly called Clive Barker's Narnia, his Wonderland. A visual and literary treat that will capture the imnaginations of adults and children alike.

Customer Reviews

Yet more frustration...
First off I want to say how much I enjoy and cherish the two books of Clive Barker's "Abarat" series. They are unique creations in children's literature, with beautiful images to match prose that is exciting in its description of character and events, alongside some wonderful ideas.

My only frustration is with the lack of a concrete publication date. This book was supposed to be out by now although various retailers have different ideas of its publication date:

- Borders don't have anything listed on their system
- Independent bookshops also don't have anything on their system
- Waterstones in-store staff are saying that their system shows they are due to receive copies on 29 September 2008 but as of yesterday they still haven't got anything
- while Waterstones on-line is showing the book as having been published on 31 August 2008, and yet it goes on to say it is available to pre-order.

I spoke with HarperCollins who informed me the book was due out on 1 September 2008, but as of today they still haven't received any stock, and don't have any idea when they will.

This isn't the first time that Clive Barker's books have suffered from lack of publication information and it is frustrating for his fans when they look forward to reading new material, specially when it is growing rarer as the years go by. So, who are we to ask when the publishers have no idea when one of their authors is going to give them a manuscript they were hoping to publish on a certain date? Over to you, Mr Barker: perhaps you could let your fans know when the much-anticipated third book in your Abarat series will reach us?

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review
Candy is an unhappy teenage girl growing up in Chickentown, Minnesota, when, after another bad day at school, she finds her way into another universe with the help of John Mischief and his seven brothers. The adventure that follows has all the strange characters that you'd expect from a magical fantasy novel, as well as the obligatory baddies to boo and hiss at.

The illustrated version shows the imaginative images that provided Barker with his original inspiration, which shies away from Barker's usual gore and horror - perhaps for the benefit of the young adults this book is aimed at.

The Reading Group was divided with this book - it is an imaginative story but some readers felt it needed more depth. "Abarat" is the introductory book from the series, followed by "Days of Magic, Nights of War" which readers must read if they want to know how the story progresses - everyone in the Group was disappointed by the abrupt halt to which this book came.

Several clues are planted in this first book, which presumably have significance in the future. If your committed to reading the whole series, or are unfamiliar with fantasy books, go for it! Barker is a great writer.

Could do better
This book is obviously written for a different audience to Clive Barker's earlier books. He has much more competition now and has not made the change entirely successfully. Abarat is highly reminiscent of the Garth Nix "Mr Monday" series but lacks the spark.

Most annoyingly of all, Abarat is not a complete book. It just stops half way through the story and demands that you buy the next book in the serious. It feels as though Mr Barker has written a book and his publishers have decided, whether for financial or audience reasons, to split it arbitrarily into several books.

Disappointing. I shan't bother to buy the next in the series.