"Abarat", by Clive Barker

Abarat

"Books of Blood" was the first Clive Barker material I ever read. It chilled me to the bone, scared me beyond sanity, and sent my imagination soaring to heights that had never been scaled. From "Books of Blood", I went to "Abarat" . It's an interesting follow-up to Barker's anthology - not least because the target audience is completely different from his anthology. It's a completely different everything, and that it's still a good book to boot is a testament to the greatness that is Clive Barker.

"Abarat"'s setting of a young, disenchanted protagonist in an urban fantasy setting will speak to fans of the Harry Potter or Twilight series. Candy Quackenbush, bullied at school and abused at home, longs for an escape from Chickentown, Minnesota (wouldn't we all?). She finds it in Abarat, an archipelago world where each island corresponds to an hour of the day. Ergo, it is always noon at the island of Yzil; on the island of The Nonce, where it is always 3 p.m., the inhabitants (and visitors) feel perpetually compelled to indulge in a siesta; and on the island of Midnight, it is always dark. Very dark.

A concept that lofty is not easy to pull off, but Barker is the man for the job, and then some; his vivid, imaginative, and simply magical (no pun intended) writing is enchanting and downright captivating, and the world of Abarat becomes as tangible as the world of Chickentown is boring. There are no brilliant or creative deaths here, but Barker weaves a wonderful fantasy world of magic and rudimentary technology (reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series and, in terms of setting and tone, "The Eyes of the Dragon").

What I really liked was that Candy and the main antagonist (found on the island of Midnight, where else?) are both very believable, well-written characters. They're not one-sided, two dimensional cardboard cutouts of good and evil, but complex players with far more to them than meets the eye. Of particular note is the Lord of Midnight, with a believable (and thought-provoking) story behind his evil; there's much more to this cat than a fear of death, or an insatiable want of power.

Barker's "Abarat" is the first of a series of books - quite a long series, and only the first two books have been released so far. "Abarat" itself ends rather abruptly, but the scene is set, the stage is ready, and the Midnight Hour draws closer.