Part Four: Wicked Strange

So I knew that this book was the first in a series, I knew that going in.

Even so, the ending of this book made me a little exasperated and excited for the next book, which was the objective, to get you ready for the next book, to keep you wanting for it. 

But I digress. In this part of the book you are found with Christopher Carrion while he takes an introspective, and quite enlightening, walk along his island. His thoughts turn towards Candy, our heroine, and they take kind of a...strange turn. While he's thinking of Candy he starts comparing her to Princess Boa, who we learned was the late princess of the Twilight Island and was supposed to be the most beautiful princess on all the islands. But that's not why she was important. She was the bridge between the Night and Day Islands. Carrion had an unhealthy obsession with her, and when she rejected him, Carrion interrupted her wedding to another (he was riding a dragon when he objected) and she died as a result. (The dragon ate her.)

We also find out the Candy is Boa's reincarnation, and that Boa's soul is residing in Candy's body with her. 

So that adds kind of a creep factor to it because Carrion is obviously starting to feel some kind of way towards Candy (um she's like 16). Although I did sort of find this an interesting approach to it, because Carrion starts pleading with Candy to stay with him and saying that he'll change and becoming desperate for Boa in Candy's body to agree to love him. It's a sad sort of creep factor because this guy has no idea what love really is and what he thinks of love is twisted and obsessive. 

Then we get to the very end after all the action (Candy has executed a daring escape from Carrion, almost decided to stay with him through deception and magic, then ran away into the sunset with her other companions while Carrions angsts over it and goes even more insane and evil.) and the very last scene is Candy and her companions sailing away to wherever the sea will take them.

It was a nice, open-ended conclusion to this book, and it did indeed make me want to read the next one. The writing was stronger than usual in YA novels and the illustrations continue to be one of my favorite things about this book. It was quite enjoyable. 

Part Two and Three: Twilight And Beyond and Where Is When?

So I thought I'd start with the map because these two parts span across a few different islands and character points of view. 

As usual, we have Candy, but we also have the main villain, Christopher Carrion. Christopher Carrion is the Prince of Midnight who lives on Gorgossium (the Midnight Island, the island with the red clouds on the right side of the map next to the island of pyramids). I really like the way Barker has chosen to write Carrion because he's supposed to be the ultimate evil, the very epitome of darkness and danger. However, there are somethings in his back story and manner that sometimes, definitely not all the time, make you kinda sorta maybe feel a bit bad for him and understand, perhaps, why he does some of the bad things that he does. It is in no way an excuse or a free pass to all of the awful things he does, such as terrorize everyone he sets eyes on and want to murder Candy, but it is a sort of explanation and insight into his head. To me that is the best kind of villain; the villain that you're not sure about, that one some level you can relate or sympathize with, and it's possible they may have one or two redeeming qualities. I don't know about you but I love villains. They're so essential to so many stories that they have to be very well written and given just as much depth as the main character(s) and their supporting players. Well written and sympathetic villains are my weakness, and I love them just as much as I hate them. There's also times I would find myself rooting for Carrion (not when he was against Candy obviously). His grandmother, Mater Motley, is an awful, poisonous, cruel, abusive women (who, honestly, is awesome in her own way because she doesn't take shit from anyone but I digress) and there were times when they would be going head to head and I would be firmly on Carrion's side then have to take a step back and think "was I really just on this guy's side?" And that makes me happy, because seriously. Well written, fleshed out villains are so cool. (Also, I love love loved that his last name is Carrion, it's just so fitting.)

Another thing I've already talked about but still really like is Barker's descriptions of his characters and his self-made illustrations of said characters. Now, this book is YA so the language isn't overly sophisticated or complex, but he does have a way with words,

"The voice was deep and-even in the simplest of questions-was somehow tinged with despair. It was the voice of someone who had walked in the abyss." 

(Okay, so sometimes it's a little overly dramatic and cliched, but this is the Prince of Midnight's voice so I guess that's alright.)

One of the most intriguing characteristics Barker gave Carrion was his ability to "channel every nightmarish thought and image out of the coils of his brain and bring them into this semi-physical form." He keeps these nightmares in a clear glass bowl he wears around the bottom of his face and releases them when he wants to torture someone. It was a really cool idea (and kinda badass), in my opinion, and it was just the sort of thing I could see Christopher Carrion wearing.

Carrion is unpleasant to look at, pretty gross actually, and apparently his smile makes people wanna jump off a cliff, but all in all I think he may be one of my favorite parts of this book.

Christopher Carrion

Part One: MorningTide

You're introduced to the novel Abarat, by Clive Barker, with an excerpt from the notes of an unknown monk, accompanied by a drawing of a strange character with birds sprouting from its fingers and head gear reminiscent of a totem pole. So, that was one of the things that attracted me to this book. I'm really enjoying that Barker has chosen to illustrate his story with paintings he did himself. For instance, the page before the first chapter is completely filled with painted chickens.

Like so.

The main character, Candy, has lived in the aptly named Chickentown her entire life. Apparently, literally everything in this town has to do with chickens, their livelihood and all their entertainment. 

Barker has a number of small illustration on a number of pages, but he also has paintings that show characters and places that he has described. The paintings are beautiful and they have helped me visualize his world because some of his descriptions have been a little confusing but the paintings have made his other characters easier to visualize as well.

I am also finding the world he created fascinating because the world is made entirely of islands. There are twenty-five islands in all, fifteen islands fall under the Islands of Day, nine fall under Islands of Night, and one lone island known as the 25th hour. Each island corresponds to an hour in the day. It's a brilliant idea, especially be each island is unique to that time of day and is stuck forever in that one hour, and all of the people and creatures and flora and everything else is made in the image of the island's specific hour. It's one of the coolest ideas I've ever encountered. Here's a map (also painted by Clive Barker) for fun and future reference!