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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Abarat is kind of like Alice in Wonderland only the protagonist is more proactive. I enjoyed the weirdness and am disappointed that Clive Barker isn't continuing the series.
I’m a big Clive Barker fan, and I credit him to being one of the authors who made me want to start writing in the first place. The Hellbound Heart damned near made my life, and when I saw Hellraiser for the first time, I knew I wanted to get as involved as humanely possible in this genre, specifically because body horror is always something that resonated with me on a very raw, visceral level. I soon made my way through Mister B Gone, Cabal, The Books of Blood, The Thief of Always, etc. etc. and I found myself continually amazed by Barker’s ability to dive into the dark fantastic and weave and create these beautiful, horrifying worlds where monsters and demons and creatures ran wild in.
Having said that, it’s admittedly been a while since I’ve spent some time with Barker, so recently, I picked up Abarat. The edition that I own has over 100 prints of original paintings that Barker did for the book spread out throughout the chapters, and this was one of my favorite parts of the reading journey. I actually first came to Barker as an art history major, so this was a real treat for me because it added to the whimsical, colorful, and frankly magical world that is Abarat, and at times, made me feel like I was standing there with Candy, the story’s protagonist.
While I found myself really intrigued by a lot of different facets in this book—and yes, I know it’s the first book in a series—it didn’t quite grab me like I wanted it to. I think Candy Quackenbush is a lovely character and I admire her strength and perseverance, and quite honestly, her sass, but she moved a little too fast on the islands for me, and because of that, I never felt like I had enough time to connect with the locations and the relationships she was building with them and their inhabitants. She also was paired off with John Mischief early on in the book, and so I kind of accepted him as her guide, but then about halfway through, he disappeared and went on his own journey, which I only caught glimpses of, so that, too, felt a little staggered to me, especially because Mischief’s character is also really interesting (and delightfully weird) so I felt a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as I hoped.
Having said that, there were a lot of pieces that did grab me and keep me invested, and (surprise! surprise!) the villain, Lord Midnight—Mr. Carrion, himself—was a source of deep curiosity for me. I loved the sections that included him and snippets of his past, and I like the set up for the battle between dark and light and this focus that is put on ancient knowledge and power that is derived from books. I don’t know that I’m going to continue on with this series, necessarily, but if I did, it would be because of his character and my interest surrounding the final battle between him and Candy—something that I didn’t get a taste of in this book, which again, was a bit of a letdown for me.
Regardless, with all of this said and done, at the end of the day, I think had I been reading this as a less- critical young adult, I would have had a better reaction to it. This is exactly the type of fantasy that I love—it’s wildly imaginative, very mystical and Wonderland-inspired-- but the adult reader in me just ultimately wanted a little more development and restructuring when it came to how characters and information was delivered. That’s not to say I didn’t like the book, because I absolutely did, but compared to his other stuff that I’ve read, it just didn’t hit me the same way.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Having said that, it’s admittedly been a while since I’ve spent some time with Barker, so recently, I picked up Abarat. The edition that I own has over 100 prints of original paintings that Barker did for the book spread out throughout the chapters, and this was one of my favorite parts of the reading journey. I actually first came to Barker as an art history major, so this was a real treat for me because it added to the whimsical, colorful, and frankly magical world that is Abarat, and at times, made me feel like I was standing there with Candy, the story’s protagonist.
While I found myself really intrigued by a lot of different facets in this book—and yes, I know it’s the first book in a series—it didn’t quite grab me like I wanted it to. I think Candy Quackenbush is a lovely character and I admire her strength and perseverance, and quite honestly, her sass, but she moved a little too fast on the islands for me, and because of that, I never felt like I had enough time to connect with the locations and the relationships she was building with them and their inhabitants. She also was paired off with John Mischief early on in the book, and so I kind of accepted him as her guide, but then about halfway through, he disappeared and went on his own journey, which I only caught glimpses of, so that, too, felt a little staggered to me, especially because Mischief’s character is also really interesting (and delightfully weird) so I felt a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as I hoped.
Having said that, there were a lot of pieces that did grab me and keep me invested, and (surprise! surprise!) the villain, Lord Midnight—Mr. Carrion, himself—was a source of deep curiosity for me. I loved the sections that included him and snippets of his past, and I like the set up for the battle between dark and light and this focus that is put on ancient knowledge and power that is derived from books. I don’t know that I’m going to continue on with this series, necessarily, but if I did, it would be because of his character and my interest surrounding the final battle between him and Candy—something that I didn’t get a taste of in this book, which again, was a bit of a letdown for me.
Regardless, with all of this said and done, at the end of the day, I think had I been reading this as a less- critical young adult, I would have had a better reaction to it. This is exactly the type of fantasy that I love—it’s wildly imaginative, very mystical and Wonderland-inspired-- but the adult reader in me just ultimately wanted a little more development and restructuring when it came to how characters and information was delivered. That’s not to say I didn’t like the book, because I absolutely did, but compared to his other stuff that I’ve read, it just didn’t hit me the same way.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Upon rereading this teenaged favorite, present me enjoyed this less. A lot of the mystery in this first book is revealed in the third, so knowing the secrets made this read less exciting. Remembering correctly, teenager-me loved guessing at who Candy would fall in love with, which has never been the point of this book, really, but that's where a lot of my past excitement came from. I have loved the sequel to this book more than this one in the past, so I'm interested to see if that is still so!
The story is a little simple, but the artwork is spectacularly imaginative!
This book is really weird. After all with a main character named Candy Quackenbush from Chickentown, Minnesota who travels to a mysterious world called the Abarat, you can't exactly expect it to be like any other book. But the story is intriguing and eventually draws you in. The author's imagination is incredible with his ability to invent this new world and strange creatures. However the most fascinating part is the artwork. Barker made 300 paintings before he even wrote the first book. The paintings are fantastic that give you an incredible look into the author's mind. Littered throughout you can view the islands of Abarat and the mysterious characters described in the pages. It added extra pizazz to the novel.
This was a re-read, as it had been decades and I want to finish the series.
I had forgotten how Alice in Wonderland the story gets with the little songs and the weird creatures Candy meets. My two favorite things from this book are the names of the characters and the hours of the archipelago. The thing I like least, and which is a feature not a bug, is the random plotting. It's very much a bedtime story where a crisis occurs every so many pages and then something random swoops in and saves the hero. I believe this is intentional, and I'm sure it was hella fun to write.
The villains are nicely done (I mean, it's Barker), and I'd love to see this made into a quirky and colorful animated series.
I had forgotten how Alice in Wonderland the story gets with the little songs and the weird creatures Candy meets. My two favorite things from this book are the names of the characters and the hours of the archipelago. The thing I like least, and which is a feature not a bug, is the random plotting. It's very much a bedtime story where a crisis occurs every so many pages and then something random swoops in and saves the hero. I believe this is intentional, and I'm sure it was hella fun to write.
The villains are nicely done (I mean, it's Barker), and I'd love to see this made into a quirky and colorful animated series.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is so difficult to find and so worth it that I stole it from the library (and then claimed to have lost it and paid the full retail value to the returns desk instead). The internal logic of the world of Abarat is so precarious that readers have no choice to fully surrender to the story and the character, a gift in a world so desperate that I feel comfortable suspending my disbelief. Will the series ever be finished? Who can say. Will I reread the few published books every year until it is? Absolutely.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking
Minor: Confinement, Death
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My son loved the first 1/3 of this book but his interest quickly ended. The Candy chapters are delightful and full of interest and wonder, but the early Carrion chapters sucked all the oxygen out of his interest.