Abarat - Clive Barker

Candy Quackenbush has one great fear, she fears that she will never leave her home of Chickentown, Minnesota. It is only when asked by her loathsome teacher to do a project on her dull town that she finds there is more to the place than meets the eye. Following the suicide of the towns original namesake Henry Murkitt, Candy is drawn into a world known as “Abarat” filled with wondrous sites and horrific visions. Her first encounter with a genial eight-headed creature known as John Mischief leads her on a adventure in which she is to become an unlikely heroine. Endlessly pursued by agents of evil who wish to unleash the “Requaix” hidden below the sea, how can this ...

Having read Coldheart Canyon, I was hoping for better things from Abarat. Billed as Clive Barker's first children's book since the Thief of Always, I started out with a certain kind of optimism that comes with a fresh start. ***Background*** I guess it makes sense to give a little bit of background to the author as it may have a relevance is any subsequent analysis of the story. Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. Initially writing horror shorts whilst on Social Security benefits, his Books of Blood provided the springboard from which a further 18 books were spawned. It's worth mentioning that Clive Barker has an unconventional lifestyle. ...