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Book Review By Sabriel
Abarat by Clive Barker

Candy Quackenbush is a 16 year old girl living in the most boring town in the world: Chickentown, Minnesota, USA. She walks all the way to the end of Chickentown and out into the prairie beyond.
There she stumbles upon a man with seven extra heads growing on his antlers who helps her to find the Abarat: a vast collection of 25 islands, where each represents a different hour of the day, and the time out of time, the 25th hour.
There Candy meets friends, makes enemies, and explores the islands (willingly, and unwillingly), but most of all, there is a sense that she has been there before.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Coming of age Yes
Youngster becomes - an adult (general)
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Explore:
Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14)
Descript. of chases or violence - 30 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 10 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30 %

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
If magical mental powers: - can cast many different spells

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status:
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
Terrain
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to torture
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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