Title: Abarat: Days of Magic Nights of War
Author: Clive Barker
Genre: Fantasy / Supernatural
Year Published: 2004
Year Read: 2012
Series: Abarat #2
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 13+ (Death and Scary Imagery)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
Scary,
exciting, weird, adventurous, awesome and so many things that describe just how
brilliant and horrifying this book really is!
After I had finished reading Clive Barker’s first “Abarat”
book, I was just dying to read more of this fantastic and scary world that
our heroine, Candy Quackenbush has gotten herself into! So, I finally got around to reading the
sequel “Abarat: Days of Magic Nights of
War” and I was just so impressed with what I have just finished
reading! “Abarat: Days of Magic Nights of War” is definitely one sequel that
you just have to check out!
Candy Quackenbush still continues her adventures at Abarat
along with her new friend, a geshrat named Malingo and they traveled among the
islands of Abarat together.
Unfortunately, the Lord of Midnight, Christopher Carrion wanted to
capture Candy for he senses something unusual about Candy’s presence in the
Abarat and he sends the Criss-Cross Man, Houlihan after them. Now Candy and Malingo are on the run from the
Criss-Cross Man but further in the story, Candy soon discovers that Abarat
feels familiar to her since she could call out magic spells that she has never
learned before and seems to escape danger wherever she is. The more Candy starts to discover more about
herself and her connections with Abarat, the more that she starts to realize
the intentions of Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight and those
realizations could change Candy’s life forever.
Can I just say that I think that this sequel of the classic “Abarat” series is WAY better than the
first book? I loved the first “Abarat” book just as much, but the
second book in the series “Abarat: Days
of Magic Nights of War” really got me hanging on the edge of my seat as it
was full of action and pure shock value that really got me invested in this
book. Clive Barker has done a fantastic job at making this story
extremely exciting and scary at the same time and I really enjoyed the
adventures that Candy had when she was on the run from Christopher Carrion and
meets new people on her journeys. Candy
Quackenbush has always been a great heroine to me as she is shown to be
kind-hearted and brave and I loved the way that she cares so much for her
friends and is willing to put her own life on the line in order to save the
people she cares about. I also loved the
way that Clive Barker started to
unfold Candy’s backstory and how she is connected to the wonderful and strange
world of Abarat since I was curious in the first book about how Candy suddenly
felt like she belonged in Abarat. I was
pleasantly surprised when the mystery of Candy’s backstory was revealed and now
I am more determined than ever to see how Candy handles the new revelations she
discovers about herself. I have
mentioned so many times now that this book was a bit scary and that is all
thanks to one of the big villains in this story, Christopher Carrion! I loved the way that Clive Barker really made the readers feel frightened whenever
Christopher Carrion comes up in the story and in this book, Christopher Carrion
was beyond scary as he tortured many innocent people and the whole idea about
living nightmares swimming around his face and eating off of people’s fears
whenever they are free was just as disturbing.
I was also interested in learning more about Mater Motley, Christopher
Carrion’s grandmother, who seems to be more evil than Christopher Carrion
himself, which is saying something because in the first book, she seemed more
like a background character, but Clive
Barker further developed her character in this book and the results were
amazing! Clive Barker’s illustrations are just as wonderful and surreal in
this book as they were in the first book and I loved how all the characters
look like from the Abarat as you have images of some characters being a mixture
of animals and human beings and the illustrations are wonderfully
colorful. I especially loved the images
of Christopher Carrion himself as he looks truly frightening as his face looks
like a skeleton and he has worm like creatures swimming in a container he has
attached to his face.
This book might be a tad bit more disturbing than the first
book since there is more nightmarish imagery and many characters are killed off
in this book. The images of Christopher
Carrion are a bit too disturbing especially the images of Christopher Carrion
getting angry and his skeletal face is a bit scary for anyone who does not like
seeing skeletons in books. Also, the
biggest shock factor for me in this book was the fact that many characters are
killed off and that might be unsettling for people who do not like reading
about death.
Overall, “Abarat:
Days of Magic Nights of War” is easily one of the best sequels I have read
from any book and now I am definitely looking forward to reading the third
book, “Absolute Midnight” just to
see how everything goes for Candy after all this!
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