Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
The beginning of something wonderful?, 22 April 2003
By A Customer
Before reading this book, the only other Clive Barker book I had read was "Weaveworld" (highly recommended). As I read "Abarat", I was struck by the similarities and the differences between the two books.
"Abarat" is actually classed as a book for young adults and I think it is bacause of this that the horror is significantly different to Barker's books for adults. Barker could be said to have toned down the horror, however there are the usual weird characters which you would expect from a horror / fantasy book. And as usual, some of these are evil and some are not. The characters of this book are perhaps not quite so twisted as some of Barker's others (those in Hellraiser for example). The idea behind "Abarat" echoes (as a few other reviewers have pointed out) some of Barker's other works. The young heroine of the book, Candy, finds a way into another world; although throughout the book, she feels as though she has been there before. The world she has now become involved in is called the Abarat; it is an archipelago of islands, each one representing a different hour of the day (although this world has 25 hours). This world is ruled by the Prince of Midnight, Christopher Carrion. Once he discovers that Candy is within the Abarat, with a possession he wants, it seems only inevitable that she will fall into his hands. This is a very brief outline of the story. I don't want to give too much away. As you can expect, Candy makes friends and enemies along the way. Although this book can be read by yoiung adults, there are many layers to this story. For example, Barker tries to explore how good and evil figure when love or desire may also become involved. I have to agree that Barker's main accomplishment with this book is the creation of Carrion. He is a complex dark character. I also think the artwork adds to this book (it played a big part in me buying the book). I do think this book has suffered in regards to reviews because it is the first of four. This is in a sense an introduction to this new world that Barker has created. If you read this book expecting the story to be completely resolved by the last page, you will be disappointed. Personally, I can't wait to read the others. It should be a colourful ride at least.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Barker creates brand new children's classic, 9 Sep 2002
This could turn out to be a milestone in children's/young adult's litrature... Barker (previously acclaimed for his gore-filled "Books of Blood" and classic cinematic horror fests such as "Hellraiser" and "Candyman") turns his hand once again to the more fantastic, and delivers a bizarre world that could well be remembered by generations to come...Clive Barker has succeeded in creating a universe, which although reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz and (most definately) Alice in Wonderland, manages to bring something new to the table. The story is packed with characters stranger and sometimes darker than we've ever really encountered before. Barker's dark and mischievous edge really lends the fable a suspenseful tone, while his usual magically inspired imagination takes us into a world full of wonder, mystery, magic and danger. This is a beautiful book, in all respects, richly illustrated in full colour by Clive's own unique paintings. Get the hardback version while you can - not only is it pure joy to hold in your hand, it could well turn out to be worth something in years to come! A really good, gripping, traditional fantasy tale... with something to drag those of ALL ages along on a truly fantastical journey. Let's just hope that Disney can really do this justice - the rights have already been snapped up in a record breaking deal (More than enough to knock the glasses from a certain smug little school-going wizard's face!) I'm already looking forward to the next installment in what is already shaping up to be a quartet of stunning and beautiful books...
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Standing on the Shores of Astonishment, 26 Oct 2002
Clive Barker has come a long way since the publication of his breakthrough works, The Books of Blood and The Damnation Game - early successes which he consolidated with the emergence of Weaveworld and the film Hellraiser.Although Abarat is a considerably brighter universe than those occupied by the characters of short stories like 'In the Hills, the Cities' and the celluloid Cenobite Pinhead, it is still recognisably a product of the same imagination. For what signifies Barker's strength as a writer is the blissfully irrational *eruption* of fantastical events into the confines of our everyday existence. The distance between our world and Barker's wonderlands is far slimmer than is normal for cross-dimensional fantasy fiction, and we gain a sense of the reality that we know being little more than a veil pulled over what is *really* going on. Abarat is no exception, and we're scarcely 20 pages in before we are swept away on a tide of vivid daydreams. One moment we are watching our protagonist, Candy Quackenbush, taking a pounding from her teacher over the quality of her homework; the next we are floating with her on the mystical Sea of Izabella - which she has summoned from the top of a lighthouse oddly stranded in the middle of a Minnesota meadow - as she confronts a group of humanoid amphibians playing cards on the back of a giant turtle. There is not a great deal of reason to be had in Abarat, but oh, how it rhymes. Everything about it just feels right, as befits its uniquely organic genesis: whereas some writers conceive their plots then populate them with characters, and others produce stories from the actions of characters, Barker has conjured *both* his story *and* his characters from the hundreds of paintings that snowballed from his mind's eye at the start of the creative process - before Abarat even had a name. This is an extraordinary working method and demonstrates the full extent to which myth-making is Barker's lifeblood, his essence. Once Candy begins her trek around the Islands of the Abarat, each one endowed with its own magical attributes, any notion of plot-logic is replaced with a more natural, emotional resonance and the scale of Barker's creation becomes ever more apparent. The Islands and their surrounds are every bit as detailed as other Barker landscapes like Quiddity from The Great and Secret Show and the Dominions of Imajica, but are far from simple repetitions and easily accessible to the intended youthful readership. In fact, said youthful readership should be *actively encouraged* to access this tremendous book! It is a crying shame that all four books are not readily available as I am itching to read Number Two. Although I have credited Abarat with a four-star start, Barker could be well on his way to producing a five-star series if he can maintain this high standard. Sticklers for convention will find much in Abarat to quibble with. However, readers who would rather not have their imaginative fiction spoon-fed to them like boiled-down Robert McKee three-act-structure seminars will gorge themselves on Abarat's delights. Roll on the next three! Oh, and Disney: The film adaptation deserves *at least* the level of seriousness that Peter Jackson brought to The Lord of the Rings. DON'T. SCREW. IT. UP.
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