Abarat: Absolute Midnight

Barker, Clive. 2011. Abarat: Absolute Midnight. New York: Harper Collins.

I don't read many YA books, so I'm not typically searching the YA stacks to see what's new.  That's how Abarat: Absolute Midnight 's September 2011, release slipped right past me. Of course, I'm one of the lucky ones.  I read the second book in the Abarat series, Days of Magic, Nights of War, back in 2008.  I've only been waiting 4 years for the sequel.  True fans have been waiting seven years for Clive Barker's latest tale of the Abarat. The original Abarat appeared in 2002, with the second in the series showing up two years later in 2004.  Since then, nothing.  Nothing but rumors - two more books! no, three books -  A movie! - no, no movie ...

But now, after 7 years of rumors and waiting, book 3 of a planned 5 book series is here, and it is as massive a project (582 pages and a hundred paintings, or thereabouts) as the first two books in the series.  With the fate of Christopher Carrion in question (did he perish in Chickentown?) and Mater Motley poised to deliver darkness to all of the Hours, Candy returns to the Abarat to meet her destiny, which, though cloudy at first, becomes clearer with each passing day.  Candy Quackenbush, of Chickentown, Minnesota has a role to play in determining the fate of the Abarat. With her devoted and trusting companion, Malingo, the geshrat, Candy will follow her destiny wherever it leads - even to Gargossium, midnight, the 24th hour. 

Although this book may be darker in tone, the reader never has the feeling that the politely indomitable Candy will fail. In fact, while other readers may revel in the Abarat's more horrific and macabre characters, it is Candy (and Malingo) that have ensured my return.  Coming from a sadly dysfunctional home in a boring Midwest town, traveling to the Abarat, and then back to Chickentown in a showdown between the two worlds, Candy emerges not broken, but steady, independent and resourceful - sure of her convictions, whatever the cost.  Malingo senses this in Candy, as well as the magic that resides in her.  She may not understand or see her true potential, but Malingo sees it, protects it, and relies upon it.  Together they are a perfect pair.  It remains to be seen how Candy's newest admirer will change the dynamics in this touching human/geshrat friendship.

The fate of the Abarat still hangs in the balance.  Perhaps all of the answers may be found on the 25th hour, Odom's Spire.  Based on past history, we may have to wait some time to find out!

Click here for the latest news from Clive Barker's website on the future of the Abarat series.

An Absolute Midnight Review from the LA Times


Previous reviews:
Abarat
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War

2004. Barker, Clive. Abarat: Days of magic, nights of war. New York: Harper Collins.

Reading the second book in the Abarat series was quite a contrast from the first. (see earlier post) I listened to the first book and was entranced by narrator Richard Ferrone's compelling rendition. At first, it was difficult to enjoy the printed version, however, Barker's fantastic artwork more than compensates for the lack of Ferrone's rich voice.

This continuing saga of Candy Quackenbush in the Abarat has slightly less mystery than the first installment, but an equal amount of "edge of your seat" adventure. The reader will likely begin to realize why Candy's journey in the fantastical Abarat seems so familiar before Candy, herself, unravels the mystery. There are plenty of surprises however and the conclusion is satisfying, but sufficiently "open" to leave the reader yearning for book three - which has been a long time in coming. Absolute Midnight, its working title, is rumored to be due out this autumn or next spring. The movie, originally scheduled to be a Disney production, is apparently on hold.

Following is the official Abarat site, but its content is somewhat dated.
http://www.thebooksofabarat.com/content4/xbarat99.html

Abarat

AbaratEdition: Unabridged
by Clive Barker
Richard Ferrone
Publisher: Harper Collins
Imprint: HarperAudio

Candy Quackenbush leads a dreary life in a Minnesota prairie town, Chickentown to be precise, so named for its unglamorous and principal industry, chicken farming. The continual smell of blood, feathers and excrement, the stench of her father’s beer, the drudgery of her mother’s life, and the salt of her own tears is enough to set any child to daydreaming. But lately, Candy’s daydreams have become more insistent, her doodling more focused – as if she’s being called – called, inexplicably, to the sea. The only sea in Chickentown is the vast sea of waving prairie grasses that begins at the outskirts of town…until one day, when the scent of an ocean breeze wafts in from another world, bringing with it the self-proclaimed, master thief, John Mischief – together with his seven brothers that reside in antlers upon his head, and their pursuer, the deadly Mendelson Shape. Desperate for a respite from the dreariness of Chickentown, Cindy agrees to aid Mischief, and in so doing, calls forth the Sea of Izabella, which carries them all to the shores of Abarat.

The Abarat is an archipelago consisting of 25 islands, each one set eternally at a particular hour of the day, with the exception of the 25th hour, about which little is known. Yebba Dim Day at 8:00pm, Ninnyhammer at 10:00pm, 6:00am at Efreet - each island with its own weather, geography and particular character. Populated by ordinary, fantastic and mythical creatures including geshrats, sea skippers, and stitchlings, the Abarat is an unsettled land – torn between the mythical old ways, the dark ways of Christopher Carrion, Lord of Gorgossium (or midnight), and the insatiable commercialism of Rojo Pixler’s and his Commexo City on Pyon (3:00am). Candy is thrust into a world that is at once strange and fantastic, yet again, strangely familiar.

This is a novel of epic proportions, over 11 hours on mp3. The cast and lands of the Abarat are rich and fully developed, as is the prose of Clive Barker, full of vivid description and extensive vocabulary, as in this description of the Yebba Dim Day,

It was a city, a city built from the litter of the sea. The street beneath her feet was made from timbers that had clearly been in the water for a long time, and the walls were lined with barnacle-encrusted stone. There were three columns supporting the roof, made of coral fragments cemented together. They were buzzing hives of life unto themselves; their elaborately constructed walls pierced with dozens of windows, from which light poured.

There were three main streets that wound up and around these coral hives, and they were all lined with habitations and thronged with the Yebba Dim Day's citizens.

As far as Candy could see there were plenty of people who resembled folks she might have expected to see on the streets of Chickentown, give or take a sartorial detail: a hat, a coat, a wooden snout. But for every one person that looked perfectly human, there were two who looked perfectly other than human. The children of a thousand marriages between humankind and the great bestiary of the Abarat were abroad on the streets of the city.

Richard Ferrone’s voice on the audiobook version is as rich and varied as the world of the Abarat. A fantastic book! Highly recommended. Ages 12 and up. (Check out the print version as well to enjoy Barker's fantastic artwork!)