Title: Abarat: Absolute Midnight
Author/Artist: Clive Barker
Pages: 592
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: September 27th, 2011
Where I got the book: ARC from publisher

From the back cover:

“I know that many of you here have waited years for this Hour,” Mater Motley said, using that voice that, though it was barely conversational in volume, was somehow heard everywhere. “The waiting is over. Tomorrow there will be no dawn. Only midnight, absolute and eternal.”

And so begins a new chapter in the epic story of sixteen-year-old Candy Quackenbush and her journeys through the world of the Abarat, where every hour is an island in one eternal day, and nothing is as it seems.

Candy travels through the Abarat from island to island and across the sea with an unlikely band of friends: the escaped prisoner Malingo the Geshrat, the quarrelsome John Brothers, who all share the same body but never the same opinion, and the many other colorful characters they meet along the way.

The problem is that trouble finds Candy wherever she goes. And soon she discovers a secret plot, masterminded by the diabolical Mater Motley, who is obsessed with becoming Empress of the Islands. Her method is simple. She will darken the skies, putting out the suns, moons, and stars. She will bring absolute midnight.

Review:
I can’t help but feel the first line on the back of the book is Clive Barker’s attempt at acknowledging how long it’s been between books. “I know that many of you here have waited years for this Hour.” Yeah, I’ve been waiting seven years for this book. Oddly enough, I don’t remember when Mater Motley says those lines in the book. I may have glossed over it. After all, this is a long book. 592 pages long. It’s worth it though. Every page is captivating with the descriptions of the fantastical world and characters that reside in the Abarat to the dialog coming from Mater Motley’s lips.

I will keep this review spoiler free but will be writing a spoiler-filled review after the book is released. I have thoughts on certain events, but I can not talk about them here without giving anything away. So. Absolute Midnight picks up after the flood of Chickentown at the end of Days of Magic, Nights of War. Since finding out about the mysterious events surrounding her birth, Candy decides to seek out somehow to help her with the other personality inside her head. Meanwhile, Mater Motley, who may have more page-time than Candy in this book, picks up where her grandson, Christopher Carrion, left off and puts the pieces in motion to bring about absolute midnight throughout all of the Abarat. While telling you what happens would go against my “spoiler free” policy, I can say that Mater Motley’s plans reach their pinnacle halfway through the book and left me wondering how it would be possible to continue the story as it had been progressing so far. It’s kind of like how the first three Harry Potter books are kind of on the lighter side of things then Goblet of Fire comes along and brutally murders Cedric Diggory and brings Voldermort back to life. After GoF, the Harry Potter books take a much darker tone. Absolute Midnight felt very similar to that sudden change in tone. The book ends on such a cliffhanger that I have no idea what to expect from the next book.

Since this is the third book in the series, there weren’t many new characters introduced. By the end of the second book, there was already a large cast of characters surrounding Candy and her adventure. Adding any more would have made it difficult to keep track of who was doing what and where were they in terms of the islands. Thankfully, Absolute Midnight practically cuts all sub-plots and instead focuses on Candy and Mater Motley’s stories. It also felt like there wasn’t as much artwork in this book compared to the amount in the first two books. Some of the pieces had originally appeared at some point during the first two books.

I have two minor complaints with the book, but I’m forced to save those for the spoiler-filled review. Regardless, they did not hinder my enjoyment of the books.

(if you are confused, read the reviews for Abarat and Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War)

Closing Thoughts: I’ve been waiting seven years for this book. When I finished it I concluded that the wait had been worth it. Absolute Midnight it the most action packed chapter in the Abarat saga so far. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next or how the book was going to end. I felt like I was in the same boat as Candy and had no clue how the Abarat would recover from the events in this book. I just hope I don’t have to wait seven more years for the next book.

Question: I’m glad that Harper re-printed the first two Abarat books just in time for the release of Absolute Midnight. However, I am extremely disappointed that this re-prints are completely devoid of the artwork that was originally published in the books. I would like to know who thought that was a good idea. Why would they cut such a fantastic part out of those books?

Title: American Born Chinese
Author/Artist: Gene Luen Yang
Pages: 233 pages
Publisher: First Second
Published: December 2008
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in…

When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl…

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn’t want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god…

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he’s ruining his cousin Danny’s life. Danny’s a basketball player, a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse…

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant, and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax – and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

Review:

I picked up this book after reading Yang’s latest, Level Up (review). With American Born Chinese, the book is dived in to three different stories as mentioned above. The one I found most interesting with the Monkey King because I liked him as a character. He was fun loving and really just wanted to be invited to parties. Sure, he gets a little power hungry, but he gets taught a lesson. One of the other stories follows Jin Wang trying to fit in in school. I also liked this plot line because it shows Jin’s struggle with being different. I’m not sure what’s up with all the “fish out of water” comics I’ve been reading lately. Is this a recent literary trend that I am somehow unaware of? Are foreigners the new vampires?

Bad analogies aside, I did like this book. The third story line featuring the most offensive Chinese stereotype I didn’t enjoy. I found it unfunny and annoying after a while. It lacked any sort of character development that the other two plot lines did so well. I was caught slightly off guard when the book managed to tie all the tales together. I didn’t really expect that and had mixed feelings about it.

Closing Thoughts: A decent “fish out of water” story.

Question: Are there any “fish out of water” stories that you’ve really enjoyed?

Title: Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War
Author/Artist: Clive Barker
Pages: 512 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: October 2004
Where I got the book: Purchased

From the back cover:

Candy Quackenbush’s adventures in the amazing world of the Abarat are getting more strange by the hour. Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, has sent his henchman to capture her. Why? She wonders. What would Carrion want with a girl from Minnesota? And why is Candy beginning to feel that the world of Abarat is familiar to her? Why can she speak words of magic she doesn’t even remember learning?

There is a mystery here. And Carrion, along with his fiendish grandmother Mater Motley, suspects that whatever Candy is, she could spoil their plans to take control of the Abarat.

Now Candy’s companions must race against time to save her from the clutches of Carrion, and she must sold the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands.

A final war is about to begin. And Candy is going to need to make some choices that will change her life forever….

Review:

(For my review of the first book in the Abarat series, click here)

A lot of things happen in this book. It starts off with Candy and Malingo being followed by Christopher Carrion’s bounty hunter Otto Houlihan, aka the “Criss-Cross Man”. But Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War doesn’t solely follow Candy and her adventure. John Mischief and his brothers join a dragon slaying crew to discover the whereabouts of Finnegan Hob, the man who was engaged to Princess Boa before she was killed by a dragon on their wedding day.

If Abarat 1 was about Candy discovering the Abarat, then Abarat: DOMNOW is about her understanding the world around her. The book devotes a good amount of time in to the events that took place before Candy was even born. In particular, the relationship between Christopher Carrion and Princess Boa and the events leading up to her death. It kind of tragic and, as a reader, I began to feel sorry for Carrion who had become my favorite character in the series. Yes, Carrion is my favorites. That’s like saying that I liked Lord Voldemort more than Harry Potter, but there is something about Carrion in this novel that leads me to believe he is not really a bad person, just misunderstood. There are moments, particularly when he and Candy final meet, that I let my guard down and began to feel sorry for him.

The most epic part of this book is the final chapter when, literally, all hell breaks loose and Candy decides to return to Chickentown only to be pursued by Carrion and his grandmother, Mater Motley. There is an epic battle between all forces and it is truly epic.

One thing Clive Barker clearly has no problem with is killing off characters. I wont go in to much detail, but I will say I was shocked nearly every time a character died.

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War is not a book you’re going to enjoy without reading Abarat first. It spend very little time catching the reader up on the events of the first book and you’ll spend a good chuck of time being confused. But for those who have read Abarat, DOMNOW is a fantastic continuation of the story already in progress. It add a lot of depth and reveals many mysteries surround Candy and the characters in Abarat. As with the last book, Clive Barker painted all the artwork featured in this book and it really makes this book stand out.

Closing Thoughts: I’ve read this book twice now, and I am still amazing on how captivating the final chapters are.

Question: Many. Like “Did _________ really die?!”. I’ve spend the last seven years wondering.

Title: Abarat
Author/Artist: Clive Barker
Pages: 528 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: September 2002
Where I got the book: Purchased

From the back cover:

It begins in the most boring place in the world: Chickentown, U.S.A. There lives Candy Quackenbush, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future might hold.

When the answer comes, it’s not one she expects. Out of nowhere comes a wave, and Candy, led by a man called John Mischief (whose brothers live on the horns on his head), leaps into the surging waters and is carried away.

Where? To the ABARAT: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from The Great Head that sits in the mysterious twilight waters of Eight in the Evening, to the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of Gorgossium, the island of Midnight, ruled over by the Prince of Midnight himself, Christopher Carrion.

As Candy journeys from one amazing place to another, making fast friends and encountering treacherous foes—mechanical bugs and giant moths, miraculous cats and men made of mud, a murderous wizard and his terrified slave—she begins to realize something, She has been here before.

Candy has a place in this extraordinary world: she is here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart. Forces older than Time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered.

She’s a strange heroine, she knows. But this is a strange world.

And in the Abarat, all things are possible.

Review:

The first time I read this book I was in high school. This was back in 2003 when John Maxwell Coetzee won the Nobel prize for Literature and The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions hit theaters. A year later, in 2004, I would go on to read the second Abarat book, but more on that in a later post. We’re here to talk about the first book in the Abarat series. I’m normally strongly against re-reading books (why bother when there is so many unread books to read?), but this book is one I’ve read three times in the past. I re-read it the first time before reading the second Abarat book and with Abarat: Absolute Midnight coming out next month, I needed to re-read the first two books again because it’s been a couple of years. I would also like to mention that I started reading Abarat before Harry Potter. Abarat is my introduction to YA Fantasy and thus is the book I will forever compare other YA Fantasy novels to.

The story in Abarat is about a girl, Candy Quackenbush, who accidentily gets taken to the world of Abarat, a world made up of twenty-five islands with each representing a different hour of the day. Her arrival in Abarat draws some unwanted attention, particularly from Christopher Carrion, the Prince of Midnight, who has ambitions to rule over Abarat. There are a lot of “bad guys” throughout the series. If it’s not Carrion then it’s the Criss-Cross Man chasing Candy or Kaspar Wolfwinkel music magic to see her thoughts. But for every “bad guy” there are people she will befriend and will travel with her as she explores the Abarat.

The first book really does feel like an introduction to the world of Abarat. The plot really starts to pick up in Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, the second book. This helps introduce a majority of the cast of characters that will be making frequent appearances throughout the series. It should be noted that this is a very dark book series. We’re talking Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire type dark where people die. It’s not afraid to kill off characters, both good and bad. You can’t have a war without casualties and that series does not shy away from that.

One of the things that really, REALLY makes this book stand out is Clive Barker’s original artwork featured throughout the pages. Barker painted hundreds of paintings to help illustrate the fantastical world of Abarat. I read somewhere that Barker creates the artwork first and then crafts a story around what he painted. It’s a backwards way to write a book, and surely he has some ideas about the direction of the story, but really it does show the importance of the artwork. Without the art, the book would be sorely lacking. The world of Abarat is so fantastical that the artwork might be a necessary component of the books to help the reader understand what they are reading. The art doesn’t prevent the reader from using their own imagination to picture Abarat. Instead what it does is nudge the reader’s imagination in the direction in needs to go to prevent massive amounts of confusion.

This is one of my favorite books EVER. You should pick up a copy of this book (it get’s re-released today) and get caught up before Abarat: Absolute Midnight comes out on September 27th.

Closing Thoughts: I enjoyed re-reading this book for the third time.

Question: Will I have to wait seven years for Abarat 4 to get released?

Title: Anya’s Ghost
Author/Artist: Vera Brosgol
Pages: 221
Publisher: First Second
Published: June 2011
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.

Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.
Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the “Forever” part . . .

Review:

The story in Anya’s Ghost was not what I was expecting. Based on what I read, I went in to it thinking this was a story about a ghost helping an unpopular girl in high school. Half-way through the book it takes a weird turn which really made this book standout compared to other “fish out of water”/”unpopular in high school” stories out there.

Anya is kind of a social outcast in high school. She’s moody and has a bit of an attitude. There’s this boy she has a crush on and he might like her too if only he would notice her. When Anya falls down an abandoned well and befriends a ghost, she may have just found the help she needs to get the guy’s attention. But when the guy turns out to not be what Anya expected, the ghost doesn’t give up. Instead the ghost starts to become Anya and forces control over her life. Now, Anya must find a way to get rid of the ghost before it starts hurting her family.

I really enjoyed this book. The story became a little on the dark side near the end, but that felt like a breath of fresh air that prevented Anya’s Ghost from become just another “Casper the Friendly Ghost”-like story. I read this book a couple weeks ago and forgot to post about it (it has since been returned to the library). The author/artist apparently lives in the Portland area which would explain why suddenly everybody on facebook was talking about this book’s release party. It’s worth checking out. I was able to get it from my local library no problem.

Closing Thoughts: Anya’s Ghost’s target audience is probably teenage girls, but it was interesting enough and Anya is tough enough, that it is really a good all around read.

Question: A lot of the graphic novels I have been reading have been published by First Second. Why have I not heard of them before this month?

Title: The Griff
Author: Christopher Moore and Ian Corson
Artist: Jennyson Rosero
Pages: 160
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: July 2011
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

Outrageously funny New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore and award-winning screenwriter-director Ian Corson team up for a wacky and entertaining graphic tale of alien invasion and a motley crew of Earthlings trying to stay alive and, oh, yeah, save humankind.

The mayhem begins when an ancient alien beacon is unwittingly activated, summoning behemoth spaceships from the far reaches of the galaxy. Hovering in Earth’s atmosphere, they release a biblical stream of pods that transform into minivan-size, people-eating, flying lizardy things that look like mythological griffins. Destroying communications, emergency, and military infrastructure, they systematically kill everyone on the planet. Well, almost everyone.

A pesky trio of New Yorkers isn’t about to roll out the red carpet—or roll over and die—for these unwelcome intergalactic marauders. Unlikely heroes Mo, a snarky, Gothy game-goddess; Steve, a skateboard-punk schwag whore; and Curt, the obligatory buff commando expert in weaponry (and a genius with cosmetics), are going to take it to the aliens—and Florida is where the fight is. Armed with M-16s, a BFG (big f**king gun), and a surplus of guts, they’ll battle their way from the Big Apple to Orlando, where a downed spacecraft is the most awesome new attraction.

And in the Sunshine State another pair of courageous (and pretty damn lucky) humans who have outwitted the toothy Überlizards await: Liz, a babelicious killer whale trainer at Ocean World, and Oscar, a chain-smoking middle-aged professional squirrel (seriously—he’s paid to wear that squirrel costume).

Once united, the intrepid warriors will attempt to infiltrate the alien spacecraft, defeat the spacer invaders, and save (what’s left) of the world—and, if Steve plays his cards right, begin the fun of repopulating Earth all over again.

Review:

Christopher Moore is one of my favorite authors. All of his novels have been greatly enjoyable and hilarious. When I heard he was going to write a graphic novel, I was worried. First it was an original story instead of an adaptation of one of his other books. Second, he was writing it with Ian Corson, a screenwriter for movies I’ve never seen. Then there was the artwork. I hated it. For graphic novels the art style can easily ruin it for me, but since I heart Christopher Moore, I was willing to overlook it. However, in the end I was disappointed with The Griff on so many levels that this review will probably be the last time I mention it or acknowledge its existence.

The story in The Griff centers around an invasion of dragon-like aliens who are eating away at the human race. Survivors are forced to hide underground and be on the run constantly. It’s your typical “us versus them” scenario that can be seen in many, many movies. That’s not too surprising. Moore and Corson originally intended for The Griff to be a movie, but when that failed that eventually decided on the graphic novel format. I don’t want to say this is a problem because of the graphic novel format in general, but I think I can get away with saying that novels are a medium that allow more character development than graphic novels. Graphic novels typically only have 140 pages to get their story across and those pages share the space with art while novels can be 200+ pages of words describing and evolving the characters. The characters, one of my favorite trademarks of a Christopher Moore novel, in The Griff are sorely lacking in the development department. None of them are that interesting and in the short span of the book I never really cared for any of them. There’s the tough girl, the hapless male, the army guy, the guy you kind of want to see die, etc.

Another problem I faced with the book was that a lot of action would take place on a single page and it can sometimes be confusing how all the images fit together. Some pages seem more like a collage than a story. I know they are limited on space but jumping from point A to point C while ignoring what happens in between is not the best way to get there. This is especially noticeable in the action sequences where dialog isn’t spoken and the pictures are forced to speak for themselves. It leaves the reader to infer a lot of details about the story.

Closing Thoughts: Dismiss this book. It’s not worth your time.

Question: Maybe it’s just me, but The Griff led me to believe that everybody on the east coast own a submarine and knows how to drive them. Ture or False?

Second Opinions:
comic book newbie
Kleefeld on Comics
The Crawlspace

Title: Son of a Witch
Author: Gregory Maguire
Discs: 11
Publisher: HarperAudio
Published: September 2009
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

In this captivating New York Times bestseller, beloved author Gregory Maguire returns to the land of Oz and introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Is he really Elphaba’s son? He has her broom and her cape—but what of her powers? In an Oz that, since the Wizard’s departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

Review:

In anticipation of the fourth book in the Wicked series, Out of OZ, I have decided to give the books another shot. The Wicked series is a little conflicting for me. I like the idea of them, but the execution often leaves me bored. When I read Wicked it was because everybody at the time was doing so. I got through it but couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. When Son of a Witch came out years later, I bought it and tried read it. That didn’t last long. I got bored and set the book down. When A Lion Among Men came out I purchased a copy but have never even cracked the spine on the book. This time around I thought about giving the audiobook versions a try and see if I could make it through the series that way. Luckily I had a road trip I needed to make so that gave me just enough time (11 hours-ish) to listen to SoaW,

The novel is broken up in to two different story lines. One follows the events immediately after Wicked (A Plot) and the other takes place many years after Wicked ends with Liir being found near death by a traveling caravan (B Plot). The book does a pretty good job balancing the two plot lines Near the end of the book, the two lines come together and you realize that the B plot is chronologically the middle of the story. Once the end of the A Plot reaches the start of the B Plot, the story unfolds in a single plot line fashion. I might have preferred to have the entire book in chronological order and have the B Plot greatly reduced. Seriously, for most of the B Plot Liir, the main character, is unconscious.

The overall story of SoaW is about people and Creatures being attacked throughout OZ. Birds are afraid to fly and people are getting their faces scraped off while traveling. The only people who seem concerned about it are the people who live outside the Emerald City. There’s also Liir’s obsession with finding a girl named Nor who he grew up with but was taken by the Wizard’s troops during the events in Wicked. Then there is ever present question: Is Liir really Elphaba’s son? People are divided on the answer to that question. Some believe he is and therefore is capable of continuing Elphaba’s work protecting Animals. Others will simply dismiss it and ignore Liir. And truly, that question is the driving force behind this book. I didn’t really care what happened to the Animals or the troubles in the Emerald City. All I really wanted was an answer. The book does answer the question (sort of) at the very end of the book but does so almost casually.

All SoaW did was remind me that I like the idea of the Wicked series but the execution of it doesn’t appeal to me. This is a very wordy book that could stand to loose a good chunk of filler.

Closing Thoughts: Even though I would simply describe this book as “meh”, i’m still going to listen to the third book in the series.

Question: Do you ever force yourself to read a book even though you don’t enjoy it?

Title: Level Up
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: Thien Pham
Pages: 160 pages
Publisher: First Second
Published: June 2011
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

Dennis Ouyang has always struggles in the shadow of his parents’ expectations. His path is laid out for him: stay focused in high school, do well in college, go to medical school, become a gastroenterologist. It may be hard work, but it isn;t complicated… Until suddenly, it is.

Between his father’s death, his academic burnout, and his deep (and distracting) love of video games, Dennis is nowhere near where his family wanted him to be,. In fact, he’s just been kicked out of college.

And that’s when things get… weird.

Four adorable -and bossy- angels, straight out of a sappy greeting card, appear and take charge of Dennis’s life. And so Dennis finds himself herded back onto the straight and narrow: the path to gastroenterology. But nothing is ever what it seems when life, magic, and video games collide.

With deceptively simple, cute art by Thien Pham, and a magical-realist plot that keeps you guessing up until the last moment, Gene Yang has returned to the subject he revolutionized with American Born Chinese. Whimsical and deadly serious by turns, Level up is the next step in a powerful tale that Yang has made his own: coming of age as an Asian American.

Review:

Pardon my graphic novel kick as of late. I am reading books, honest. I’m close to finishing two book at the moment. But i’ve also been dividing my time between comics because they don’t take nearly as long to read. It also doesn’t help that I keep coming across comics that look interesting, and my library has copies in their system.

Obviously the first thing that attracted me to Level Up by Gene Yang is the numerous video game references. I’m a gamer and books/comics about video games or video game culture interest me. The main character, within the first couple of pages, discovers Pacman for the first time and his life changes forever. I think all gamers remember that first time they played a game. For me is was Christmas 1990 when my parents gave me and my siblings an NES with Mario Brothers 3. One of the things I liked about this book is that it didn’t stereotypically make fun of gamers. Instead this book turned out to be surprisingly heartfelt which I was not expecting at all.

The main character, Dennis, is torn between doing what he wants to do and trying to live up to his parents expectations. He would rather spend his days playing video games with his friends but ends up attending medical school even though he is pretty apathetic towards it. His parents want him to become a successful doctor but Dennis can stay focused on the difficult school work. To help him stay focused, four angels mysteriously appear and start doing his laundry, clean his apartment and make him food so he stay focused on his studies. It’s slightly weird but at the same time it’s both funny and interesting.

I went in to this comic expecting it to be lighthearted but it turned out to be surprisingly deep. Dennis deals with the loss of his father and the pressure to live up to his father’s expectations. This is an enjoyable comic which is totally worth a read.

Closing Thoughts: Hey look! I didn’t mention Scott Pilgrim once during my review of this video game themed comic. Oh wait, I just did.

Question: Other reviews of this book talk about Dennis’ Chinese heritage. I, however, completely forgot he was Chinese unless another character mentioned it. Is a character’s heritage important to the story?