The secondary characters (or creatures) even the minor ones have all been very well fleshed out and have obviously come from a very fertile imagination.The plot is quick paced and alot of fun but like I said previously I probably would have enjoyed it more and been more 'into' the story had I read the version with the illustrations.All in all I did enjoy the story and will definitly look for the second installment the next time I'm in the book store. Although she is young and a bit niave she's also got some grit to her and takes everything that happens in stride.

I understand there is an illustrated version of this book and had I read one that I'm sure my final grade would have been different.Candy is a thoroughly likable heroine and I'm looking forward to seeing her character grow over the course of the series. Abarat is absolutly nothing like the world we live in and trying to picture the creatures and lands of this world continously pulled me out of the story. Candy jumps at the chance to abandon her previous life and follows the Johns to the world of Abarat which is rapidly heading towards an apocalypse.The world of Abarat is probably the reason this book didn't make it to favourite status. Once outside the town Candy meets an interesting individual with eight heads (all named John) who gives her a key and charges her with keeping it safe from the creature who has been chasing him or them. After a disagreement at school over an assignment about Chickentown (but not about chickens) Candy just gets up and walks out of class and out of Chickentown. She is sick living in an unhappy home, sick of the endless boring prairies and not to mention she HATES chickens.

Well Abarat is a first for me I enjoyed it and I finished it but it's not one of my favourites.Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown Minnesota is bored.

I will either finish the book and it will automatically become one of my favourites or I will enjoy it at first but at some point over the course of my reading it becomes tedious and I have trouble finishing it. My relationship with Clive Barker's books tends to run hot and cold.

Abarat series