Book-lectic

I have really enjoyed my forays into the Abarat, and I don't think Barker's YA novels get as much attention as they should. The Abarat is a place of wild creatures, fantastic adventures, larger than life characters, and unique islands that exist at each hour of the day. Towards the middle of this book I got mentally exhausted by the names and new characters and put this book on the back burner for a time. Mr Barker sure does love his odd names and you do not learn just one at a time but 7 or 12 or 25! It can get quite tedious if you ask me and hard to follow after a time. For example here are some of the island names and he often talks about many of them at a time: Xuxux, Efreet, Obadiah, Qualm Hah, Yzil, Hobarookus, Nonce, Soma Plume, Scoriae, and the Yebba Dim Day. But all names aside, the story is fantastic and exciting, and the world Barker has created is one I would love to see for myself if only the waters of the Isabella would come to the Hereafter and take me away.