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Barker, in taking the unusual step of providing three possible adversaries, never relents in terms of action and pace. Candy is relentlessly thrown from one ridiculous situation to the next and in this way this novel bears great resemblance to [[The Wizard of Oz]] and more recently Stephen King's ''The Talisman''. By providing us with a young hero there are no death defying feats of agility or superhuman displays of strength. What we get instead is a confused yet courageous young girl's account of a mysterious world that she finds strangely familiar.
Although I am ridiculously enthusiastic about this novel it is not flawless. It ends abruptly in an obvious set up for the sequel [[''Abarat 2: Days of Magic, Nights of War]]''. At times, Candy's constant scrapes and escapes verge on the implausible, despite her importance in the world of Abarat. However, the sequel is nicely set up in my version by an Appendix which gives a brief description of each of the twenty-five islands as well as an excerpt that teases and tantalises about what the sequel has in store.
I strongly recommend all fans of the fantasy genre to give this a go. Its simple style makes it easy to read and it allows your imagination the freedom you rarely get from a novel nowadays. In an often over serious genre, this is fantasy writing how it should be done, with verve and style. A novel everyone should enjoy.