You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
seahorsemojinow 's review for:
Abarat
by Clive Barker
This was a really fun book to listen to! I love whimsy and I love adventure and I love being mad at my dad. This book delivers on all those fronts!! The worldbuilding is really lovely - I even listened through the appendix at the end, because I enjoyed the descriptions of the Abarat's bountiful mysteries! I like a book where I'm not expected to understand the entire world, but I can appreciate it anyway. I'm also really into a book with plentiful loose ends! Of course, there are more books, and I'm sure any loose ends will be addressed, but I just really like being able to flow through a story without worrying about what's going to be "completed."
The characters are really charming and lovable. The protagonist is extremely relatable, but we are Not The Same person, which is one of my favorite kinds of protagonists. I enjoy reading from the perspective of a character I can sympathize with and understand, but whose decisions, actions, and points of view ask me to consider things from a new angle. Candy is a kid, and smart, and kind, and reserved, and practical, and a little magical.
Something I didn't enjoy was the feeling that the entire magical world was created around Candy. Because of her, maybe, or in response to her. I know that this is how magical worlds are born - a child can dream them into existence, so of course they swirl around the child, and exist in communication with that child. But when a narrative presents some islands, some people indigenous to the islands, and a white protagonist who everyone calls "Lady" and has some sort of divine/inherent Right to the magic/resources of the land ... it feels a little icky! Little hint of colonialism there.
The characters are really charming and lovable. The protagonist is extremely relatable, but we are Not The Same person, which is one of my favorite kinds of protagonists. I enjoy reading from the perspective of a character I can sympathize with and understand, but whose decisions, actions, and points of view ask me to consider things from a new angle. Candy is a kid, and smart, and kind, and reserved, and practical, and a little magical.
Something I didn't enjoy was the feeling that the entire magical world was created around Candy. Because of her, maybe, or in response to her. I know that this is how magical worlds are born - a child can dream them into existence, so of course they swirl around the child, and exist in communication with that child. But when a narrative presents some islands, some people indigenous to the islands, and a white protagonist who everyone calls "Lady" and has some sort of divine/inherent Right to the magic/resources of the land ... it feels a little icky! Little hint of colonialism there.