Abarat, Book 1

By: Clive Barker

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

It begins in the most boring place in the world: Chickentown, U.S.A. There lives Candy Quackenbush, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future might hold. When the answer comes, it's not one she expects. Out of nowhere comes a wave, and Candy, led by a man called John Mischief (whose brothers live on the horns on his head), leaps into the surging waters and is carried away.

Where? To the Abarat: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from The Great Head that sits in the mysterious twilight waters of Eight in the Evening, to the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of Gorgossium, the island of Midnight, ruled over by the Prince of Midnight himself, Christopher Carrion.

Candy has a place in this extraordinary world: she is here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart. Forces older than Time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered.

Don't miss any of the magic in the world of Abarat.

©2002 Clive Barker (P)2002 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Skilled at fantasy, Barker throws plenty of thrills and chills at readers." (Publishers Weekly)
"This is a story well worth hearing." (AudioFile)

Weird for the sake of weirdity...

Great little book. Far out story line. Great detail. The narrator does an excellent job of telling the story of Candy Quackenbush and her amazingly weird adventure. Most writers borrow from other stories to create their own works... Clive breaks out of the mold every time he puts ink to paper.

Everthing about this book seems to be deliberately original in thought and different than anything I've ever read. He appears to be the type of author that likes to ask the unnusual "what if" questions about reality and then builds the fantastic on that "what if" until he has a story, making him similar to Ray Bradbury in a lot of ways...

In this story, the thought is: "What if there's an unknown and unremarkable town somewhere in the Midwest, we'll call it "Chicken Town", that was actually something completely different and fantastic in it's past. What if it's past is so completely out of sync with reality that nobody believes it or they have forgotten it as just another silly story because it doesn't fit with the mundane-ness of the town as it is now? What if a child is the only person with a mind open enough to truly discover the town's past?

This is the building block upon which rests "Abarat". Great story for adults and kids. It is calisthenics for the imaginations of children and adults alike.

There are some death scenes in the story and some of the characters may be too freaky or scary for the youngest of minds.

I think I will like it better next time

I think I will like it better next time now that I know what to expect. It is. YA book and clean. Think of it as a pagan Narnia on steroids. Yes, I like this more than I like Narnia .

With these praises in place, for this time through, it doesn't carry the Mythopoeic themes found in his adult books.

Well Done

I enjoyed listening to this audio book as much as I enjoyed reading Abarat the first time.

Exotic Unnatural Journey of Self Discovery

What did you love best about Abarat?

That every Island is a different time of day and all the interesting sometimes grotesque creatures running around.

What did you like best about this story?

Candy Quakenbush trying to deal with all the insane stuff going on around her and coming to realize that a horrible man wants her love.

What about Richard Ferrone’s performance did you like?

He did a great job with the character voices

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Carrion was on midnight and looking at the picture of Candy from the bug cam and remembering lost love and thinking of the princess who it turned out didn't really love him.

reminds me of the books of Alice in Wonderland

a girl from a boring time and an even more boring place falls into a magical world of strange sights, odd creatures of a the most imaginative people and villains I can only describe as schizophrenic aberrations come to life on the page.

Almost 10/10

Love this series, but I've been reading it since 2011, and we are only on book 3....I wish Barker could give us some more writting from inside the Abarat!

A fun ride

Yes, the characters names are stupid, yes the book stops without any resolution in sight, yet it is very much like a children's story gone wrong. Even so, it manages to hook you in. Not great literature by any means, but a very fun listen.

Magical

Endless magic and wonder keep you hooked, hanging on every word as you hope the mysteries of the Abarat will soon be revealed.

Audio quality a bit wonky

at times it sounds oddly compressed, but outside of that, a great performance of a very good book.

Good story; bad execution

The performance and recording quality seemed like a fandom hack job. The story is great but I’m averse to getting the second one due to performance quality.