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A review by lizkatz
Abarat by Clive Barker
4.0
When I took up Abarat, I knew that it was likely going to be very imaginative and, even though it was young adult novel, have some pretty gruesome imagery. I was not disappointed.
What made the book enjoyable for me were our two heroes. The main character is Candy Quackenbush. She is good natured and fun to be around. She's also prepared unfazed by magical horror because she has been prepared by the types of common horror we recognize. After the evil of an alcoholic father who can decide to beat her for no particular reason, the sudden appearance of a huge monster with spiderish almost fleshless limbs and rods that looked like four swords which had been fused to its back...and who immediately starts chasing her... is nothing much. As the book opens she lives in Chickentown, USA, a town where everyones livelihood depends on the massive slaughter of chickens. Barker makes this place sound more gruesome than any of the creatures she would meet in Abarat.
I tried not to fully imagine the appearance of the characters even the 'good' characters in this book. They were too frightening for me. The secondary hero is John Mischief. "His left eye was round and wild was narrow and sly....There were large downy ears, and above them two enormous antlers, which would have resembled those of a stag except that there were seven heads...growing from them. Heads with eyes, noses and mouths." I'm not as accepting as Candy. And sometimes the character of the characters wasn't nearly as fleshed out as the nature of their flesh. That is why the book lost a star for me. However, the plot is wonderful. We follow the unpredictable journeys of two main characters. We aren't sure what will happen to them next, but we know that somehow they will survive because Fate needs them to.
I will definitely continue on to the next book in the series.
What made the book enjoyable for me were our two heroes. The main character is Candy Quackenbush. She is good natured and fun to be around. She's also prepared unfazed by magical horror because she has been prepared by the types of common horror we recognize. After the evil of an alcoholic father who can decide to beat her for no particular reason, the sudden appearance of a huge monster with spiderish almost fleshless limbs and rods that looked like four swords which had been fused to its back...and who immediately starts chasing her... is nothing much. As the book opens she lives in Chickentown, USA, a town where everyones livelihood depends on the massive slaughter of chickens. Barker makes this place sound more gruesome than any of the creatures she would meet in Abarat.
I tried not to fully imagine the appearance of the characters even the 'good' characters in this book. They were too frightening for me. The secondary hero is John Mischief. "His left eye was round and wild was narrow and sly....There were large downy ears, and above them two enormous antlers, which would have resembled those of a stag except that there were seven heads...growing from them. Heads with eyes, noses and mouths." I'm not as accepting as Candy. And sometimes the character of the characters wasn't nearly as fleshed out as the nature of their flesh. That is why the book lost a star for me. However, the plot is wonderful. We follow the unpredictable journeys of two main characters. We aren't sure what will happen to them next, but we know that somehow they will survive because Fate needs them to.
I will definitely continue on to the next book in the series.