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Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (Abarat) Review
There is a mystery here. And Carrion, along with his fiendish grandmother Mater Motley, suspects that whatever Candy is, she could spoil their plans to take control of the Abarat. Now Candy's companions must race against time to save her from the clutches of Carrion, and she must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands. A final war is about to begin. And Candy is going to need to make some choices that will change her life forever ... User Submitted Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (Abarat) ReviewsDecember 1, 2008 Fantasy, suspense, light horror The two books of Abarat are fun to escape into. The names and situations are goofy at times, but still make you want to read on to finish the story. This has lead me to read more of Clive Barker. The Great Secret Show and Coldheart Canyon, I am in the middle of Weaveworld. I have found no matter the earlier his works or the newer attempts are equally entertaining. There is some shock value, but is that not the reason for delving into this genre of books. Praise to such talent. July 1, 2008 An (Unnecessary) Failure of Greatness On the one hand, I would have given Barker's 'Days of Magic, Nights of War' the 4 and 1/2 or maybe 5 stars it deserved back in 2004, when it emerged in hardcover glory. The second installment in his Abarat "series" brought greater excitement (as one would hope) to the adventures of Candy Quackenbush & friends in the wild, weird world she entered. In this 2004 segment, Barker regales with a nearly over-burdened plot, but manages to create a compelling world teeming with amazements. His paintings/illustrations are utterly exquisite and make this entire idea a thing that ought to be forever treasured. But it's hard to do so. The first book arrived six years ago in 2002. The second four years ago in 2004...ominously along with hype about a film, a theme-park deal, etc. With the complexity, incoherence, and surrealism of his Abarat plotline, this is a series that Barker needed to keep coming at a viable pace (at *least* one book every other year). But with the sad and apparent neglect given to finishing this extended work, it has been all too easy for initially enthralled readers (and buyers!) to lose complete track of the basics of this story. Moreover, it has been all too easy to lose interest altogether in its outcome. The unfolding of this series has been so ruined by whatever strange delays have taken place, that one is hard-pressed to imagine how Harper Collins is really going to salvage the project in terms of contemporary viability. It's apparent that the film is OUT (and understandably so, after such sloth in Barker publishing the whole thing). I can't help but feel that Barker has really short-changed his audience and his great Abarat (once so full of potential) by failing to complete the installments in a remotely reasonable fashion. Again, one wonders how excited the publisher is going to be to promote the future 3 volumes(3 more?!? I don't see it happening). That's a shame--if Barker had stuck to his work ethic and vision, forgoing the lure of hasty, premature movie-studio deals and theme-park rights, this series could well have been one of the great multi-part sagas of our time for young adults (and those who "think" young). But as it is, the audience of 13 year-olds he targeted in 2002 is now getting ready for college and interest for the project as a continuum has been fatally lost. I was moved to write this review because I was recently reorganizing my library and happened upon my 2004 hardcover copy of "Days of Magic, Nights of War" and nearly flipped. "Wow! I just about forgot this series existed!" I said to myself. "The rest of the books must have come out ages ago and I happened to miss them in the bookstore." Wrong. I was very disappointed to learn of the serious discrepancies in the publishing history of this series. Not only because I paid hardcover prices 6 and 4 years ago, expecting to have the whole set in reasonably timely fashion (every other year, perhaps), but also in a bit of sadness for a magnificently complex tale I expected to savor and unravel during my actual *lifetime.* I'm glad to know that these books have a second life in paperback, and may win some new fans in that form, but even the paperback edition of this portion came out 2 years hence, and this only underscores how terribly this once-vibrant project has been derailed. At such a rate, I will indeed be ninety before the last one comes out--which I won't be waiting for. The interest, once-piqued, has dimmed. The reader's faith (once-earned) has been breached. The best we can hope for is that Barker will even finish this tale one day, and that, after we are all long dead or aged, the whole series will be able to be purchased at once by future-folks. But Barker has even jeopardized that hope. Why should publishers be eager to manufacture & market five expensive illustrated volumes in the distant future if the project couldn't even get off the ground properly in its own day(s)? The entire project needed one cohesive decade, at least, to build up its classic status, its legend, and its mystique for posterity. Instead, it has been left in the proverbial lurch. A failure, especially given the greatness of Barker's artwork--which really is as crucial as the narrative, in this case. And, to reiterate, had this series been given its due diligence by the author himself, it would have been a collection worthy of all-time greatness. Now, I'm sure some die-hards may still care, but there can't be enough. After six, seven years, I'm a former die-hard who's not going to go back and read them the first two again, especially with no real guarantee that an ending will ever come! If you happen to read this, Mr. Barker, please know that you have disappointed an admirer of what ~could~ have been something truly, truly monumental. April 7, 2008 Arabat, Days of Magic, Nights of War I loved this book (as I love all Clive Barker material). Although this is classified as a "Young Adult" book, I think any grown-up with a sense of whimsy will thoroughly enjoy it. The illustrations are imaginative and original and the prose is acceptable. The whole world of Abarat is fantastical and quite different from other fiction of this type. Candy Quackenbush is a heroine for the ages and the villains are satisfactorily villanous. Altogether a satisfying read. March 1, 2008 Sailor on the seas of Arabat At first glimpse, it might seem that with the Arabat books, Clive Barker has jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon which has driven several "adult" writers to pen novels targeted to the young adult market. Since Barker's excursion into this field actually predates the Rowling books with his tale The Thief of Always, the charge is not completely legitimate, but it is also not completely off-base either: while The Thief of Always is a dark, standalone fairy tale, the Arabat books attempt at something more epic, not unlike the Potter series. Regardless of Barker's motives, the series can succeed if it is well-written; and by this measure, it is a mixed success. The second book in the series, Arabat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, continues roughly where the first volume left off. Candy Quackenbush, the teenager from Chickentown, Minnesota, is still in the strange and magical world of Arabat, where the sun doesn't rise and set in a normal fashion. Instead, there is a different island for each hour of the day, and each island is frozen in that time (there is also a 25th island which has its own mysterious properties). The lord of the midnight island, the villainous Christopher Carrion, wants Candy as his prisoner, fearing that she has some unknown power that could usurp his plans to plunge all Arabat in total night. Much of the novel deals with Candy running from place to place, often just half a step behind Carrion's minions. While all this is going on, she will begin to learn something about what makes her special and also get an opportunity to have contact with her old home in the Hereafter (which is what the folk of Arabat call Candy's world). Even as Carrion worries about Candy, he also is busy bringing his plots to fruition and gets entangled with the intrigues of his nasty grandmother. Barker is very imaginative, perhaps too much so for this story. With so much running around and so many weird creatures and bizarre situations, there is little chance to really take all of it in. And though much is resolved, there is also much that is left in the air, as befits the second book in what I've heard will be a four-book set. Of course, it's been almost four years since this book came out, so I have to wonder about Barker's continued commitment to the story (I'd also heard that The Great and Secret Show and Everville were the first two parts of a trilogy, and it's been 14 years since book two in that set). Barker is a very good writer, but Arabat is not Barker at his best. A little more restraint and a little less action is required. This is not to say that these books are bad, but at best they rate a low four stars. Whether you're a fan of Barker or young adult fantasy fiction, this will not be tops on your list, but it won't be at the bottom either. July 15, 2007 Fantastic Book I loved both Abarat book and would highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy books. It is fast paced and intriguing. May 20, 2007 More Abarat Please It had been quite some time since I read the first book of Abarat, but it really didn't matter. Even though I didn't remember everything from the first book this storyline pulled me right in and refreshed my memory. In this book Candy really grows as an individual and begins to understand her feelings about herself, her family (mostly her father) and also she opens a can of worms in regards to the untold story of Christopher Carrion and Princess Boa. What really happened between them? Candy also begins to realize her power. The characters, creatures and landscape are all amazing. So beautiful and intricate that I want to be there. I couldn't put this book down until the very end, and now I want more. It's a pleasure to see something truly original and inspired for young adults that can also wholly please an adult. It's also a pleasure to see a female in the lead role instad of the obligitory young boy in the lead with females only for supporting characters. I reccomend this book to anyone who who wants to embark on a voyage into the fantastic and unknown. I reccomend this book to anyone who has a heart, young or old you won't be disappointed. Put down the harry potter and pick up Abarat! :-) May 15, 2007 A Journey Through the Mind of Clive Barker I loved the first book of Abarat so much that I ordered this book four times! (Well, actually, I forgot I had ordered it when I ordered it again, and accidentally ordered it a third time, and then found it at a secondhand shop before the first order came in, and forgot I'd ordered it until after I'd paid for it....or was Candy Quackenbush calling to me from Abarat?) I had been away a long time from the first volume, and the second does NOT contain a "Previously in the Abarat Series" chapter, so I had something of a hard time remembering where we were and what was happening and who was who, or what was who, as the case may be. But once I had mentally refreshed myself, I thoroughly enjoyed Days of Magic, Nights of War. I do understand the criticisms that there is 'not enough plot', but that's not an accurate description of the book--there's plenty of storytelling, but little that is predictable because our plucky heroine, the amusingly named Candy Quackenbush, is not in charge of events but is rather carried along by them, rather like a ragdoll in a hurricane. When I say ragdoll, I mean a ragdoll with two souls, that knows magic and can travel interdimesionally. And when I say hurricane, I mean, a living hurricane with red dreadlocks and three rows of teeth filed down to knifepoints. Because that's the kind of place Abarat is, sort of the Land of Oz, as seen by Dr. Seuss on acid in a mental hospital. It's not for everyone...in fact I'm a little dubious about the 'young adult' label--sure, maybe the really cool, imaginative young adults, but maybe just as much for the young-adult-at-hearts like myself. My only real quibble is that I have to wait for the next two books--although some big plot points were wound up here, many (including those eponymous Nights of War of the somewhat inaccurate title) remain unresolved. February 3, 2007 Still captivating As an author and reader of young adult novels, I greaty appreciate the uniqueness of this series. Barker's ability to use his own artwork to bring the characters and scenes to life is truely unusual, and the frequent and amazingly good drawings give the reader a chance to fill in the blanks when his descriptions of the quirky characters are sometimes hard to visualize. The plot in this second book of the series seems to slow a bit in places, but gradually the reader learns more about Candy Quackenbush (my favorite character)and is treated to her continuous and humorous interfaces in the strange Alice of Wonderland like world that Barker has created. This is high fantasy stuff, and readers should not expect to find a story grounded in the least bit of reality. Some of the scenes and characters are a bit replusive, cruel, or obnoxious as well, so sensitive readers take note. But all in all, its a thoroughly enjoyable read and recommended for readers above age eleven. December 15, 2006 too much imagination, too little plot I know I'm in the minority, but I've been underwhelmed by this series. Clive Barker clearly has a vivid imagination -- there are more fantastical creatures and settings running around in his brain than he knows what to do with. Some of the creatures are interesting, particularly those like Malingo whom we actually get to know. But too many pages are taken up with inventories of oddities -- some seen by Candy on her travels, others involving the terrible Christopher Carrion and his assorted gruesome hangers-on. Most of these creations are irrelevant or tangential to the plot, so that I wound up skimming through those passages going "blah, blah, blah," while waiting for something to happen that would actually advance the story arc. I don't think I'll bother with the next book. December 6, 2006 Enjoyable second entry in the Books of Abarat. I found the first book in the series charming, and the second will not disappoint the faithful reader. Candy Quackenbush is a likeable and intriguing character and her adventures are beautifully and vividly painted. In this continuing adventure, she continues to run from the Criss-Cross man and must answer the question why the Lord of Midnight is so determined to capture her. Abarat is a really enjoyable series. I don't put it on the same level as Narnia or some of the other children's fantasy classics, but it sure is a lot of good fun. Recommended. For more Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (Abarat) reviews click here.
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