wordsworth

Setting:

The novel starts in the town of Chickentown, Minnesota in what sounds like a pretty modern time period. Chickentown is a very small town with a chicken factory as it’s main industry (that’s why it is called Chickentown), The story didn’t stay long in Chickentown. Soon there was a whole new world to explore. Abarate. The world of Abarate is made up of 25 islands. Each island is a different Hour in the day. The 25^th island is called the Time Out of Time (or The 25^th Hour). It does not have an Hour. In the story Candy (the main character) travels to about 3 of the island and she meets some interesting characters along the way. Some friendly and some not so friendly.

Character Description:

1.     The main character is, of course, Candy Quackenbush. She lived in Chickentown but, on her journey, soon found that she is more at home in Abarate. Candy has one blue eye and one brown eye. I’m guessing she is about fourteen, from the way she talks and the picture in the book, but her age isn’t mentioned in the book.

2.    Christopher Carrion is one of the main villains in the story. He is the King of Midnight and lives on the island Gorgossium (which is also the Hour of midnight). For some reason that is unclear he has a fascination with Candy. He is obsessed with getting her to Midnight.

3.    John Mischief and his seven brothers were Candy’s first friends. Mischief is a strange character (more like eight characters in one). Mischief’s has “two enormous antlers, which would have resembled those of a stag except that there were seven heads (four on the left horn, three on the right) growing from them.” He is a very strange but friendly character,

4.   Malingo is with Candy from the last third of the book to the end. Malingo’s “skin was a mottled orange, the pupils in his dark rimmed eyes dark slits. There were four knobbly horns on his head, and two large fans of leathery skin spread from either side of his face, where ordinary folks would have had ears.” Candy meets Melingo when the wizard Wolfswinkel captures her. Melingo is actually Wolfswinkel’s slave. Even so, Melingo helps Candy escape the evil wizards clutches.

Summary:

The story in a nutshell? That’s very hard. There are so many little things that I consider to be important. I’ll try to paint a picture of the journey.

It all starts in the very uninteresting town of Chickentown. This is where Candy Quackenbush has lived all her life, but she doesn’t really fit in. She feels that there must be something more. Soon she finds out what the “more” is. Abarat.

Her journey in the Abarat only covers a few of the islands. Candy feels like this is where she belongs. She doesn’t want to go back to Chickentown. In the end of the book, Candy finds out that this, Abarat, is where she belongs. She is there to help the people of the Abarat. How she will do that is probably told in the second book.

Along the way she makes many friends. One of her most important friends being John Mischief and his seven brothers. They are the reason Candy found the Abarat. An equally important friend is Melingo. He stays with Candy until the very end, helping her. In the end Melingo and Candy are in a boat letting Lady Isabella (the ocean in Abarat) take them where she may.

The creepiest part… the villain in the book (at least one of them) has a strange fascination with Candy. The Master of Midnight, Christopher Carrion, seem to believe that he recognizes Candy and he is obsessed with bringing her to his island.

We don’t really know where Candy will end up. We’ll just have to wait.