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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being bet on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there were a lot of fights, going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]]. On a more general note, this is the fate of both the Barbarossas and the Gearys, the difference being that while the Barbarossas are already near the end by the start of the book, the Gearys start falling apart during it.
to:
* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being bet on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there were a lot of fights, going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]].centuries. On a more general note, this is the fate of both the Barbarossas and the Gearys, the difference being that while the Barbarossas are already near the end by the start of the book, the Gearys start falling apart during it.
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That should belong in Abarat.
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* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.
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None
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* Sadist: Of the emotional variety, Cesaria and Nicodemus to each other, despite being in love. No wonder the family ends up so screwed up.
to:
* Sadist: {{Sadist}}: Of the emotional variety, Cesaria and Nicodemus to each other, despite being in love. No wonder the family ends up so screwed up.
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fixed some typos
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Written in 1998 by Creator/CliveBarker, the story follows Edmund Maddox Barbarossa, on a quest to write down the tale of his family in the very book you're reading. And boy is it a complicated process.
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Marietta, an energetic lesbian, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. Finally, Galilee is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. They have been in place since the Secession war, enough time to have lots of skeletons in the closet.
On top of it, Maddox provides us with an Insight of the ''Enfant'', the gigantic house lost in the swamp where all the Barbarossa live, and how is it to live next to godlike beings on a daily basis. Suffice to say, it makes doesn't make his task any easier.
Expect lots of dreams becoming nightmares, everyday torment driving to insanity and an underlying sadness to it, but also broken hopes being rebuild and characters facing their fears, accepting past mistakes and growing as persons. Welcome to Clive Barker.
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Marietta, an energetic lesbian, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. Finally, Galilee is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. They have been in place since the Secession war, enough time to have lots of skeletons in the closet.
On top of it, Maddox provides us with an Insight of the ''Enfant'', the gigantic house lost in the swamp where all the Barbarossa live, and how is it to live next to godlike beings on a daily basis. Suffice to say, it makes doesn't make his task any easier.
Expect lots of dreams becoming nightmares, everyday torment driving to insanity and an underlying sadness to it, but also broken hopes being rebuild and characters facing their fears, accepting past mistakes and growing as persons. Welcome to Clive Barker.
to:
Written in 1998 by Creator/CliveBarker, the story follows Edmund Maddox Barbarossa, on a quest to write down the tale of his family in the very book you're reading. And boy boy, is it a complicated process.
First, the Barbarossaare don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina Zabrina, an obese woman drawning drowning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Marietta, an energetic lesbian, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical cynic who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is life and who's about a 140 years old. Finally, Galilee old, and finally, Galilee, who is a subject of contension contention in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is was written.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to theone of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human rich and badly disfunctionnal dysfunctional human dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric hide tons of shaddy shady dealings and deviances. deviance. They have been in place since the Secession war, war of Secession, enough time to have lots of skeletons in the closet.
On top ofit, this, Maddox provides us with an Insight of the ''Enfant'', insight into L'Enfant, the gigantic house lost in the swamp where all the Barbarossa live, and how is it what it's like to live next to godlike beings on a daily basis. Suffice to say, it makes doesn't make his task any easier.
Expect lots of dreams becoming nightmares, everyday torment driving people to insanity and an underlyingsadness to it, sadness, but also broken hopes being rebuild rebuilt and characters facing their fears, accepting past mistakes and growing as persons.people. Welcome to Clive Barker.
First, the Barbarossa
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the
On top of
Expect lots of dreams becoming nightmares, everyday torment driving people to insanity and an underlying
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** Cadmus Geary treats his sons and grandsons as assets in his big business, he doesn't hide the fact that should they push him too far, he'll get rid of them one way or another. Garrisson doesn't take it well.
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nasty tendencies of leveling cities and killing lots of innocent people. The childrens are rightfully afraid of her. But they hardly ever flee or say no to her, valuing their life to much for it.
** Nicodemus, an absolute nymphomaniac who cheats on Cesaria with about half the woman on the globe (altough she gladly does the same in return), doesn't shy away from showing off his genitals to his 6 year old daughter, and cares more about his horses than his childrens.
* AerithAndBob: Michael, Garrisson, Loretta and Rachel share the spotlight with Nicodemus, Galilee and Cesaria.
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nasty tendencies of leveling cities and killing lots of innocent people. The childrens are rightfully afraid of her. But they hardly ever flee or say no to her, valuing their life to much for it.
** Nicodemus, an absolute nymphomaniac who cheats on Cesaria with about half the woman on the globe (altough she gladly does the same in return), doesn't shy away from showing off his genitals to his 6 year old daughter, and cares more about his horses than his childrens.
* AerithAndBob: Michael, Garrisson, Loretta and Rachel share the spotlight with Nicodemus, Galilee and Cesaria.
to:
** Cadmus Geary treats his sons and grandsons as assets in his big business, business; he doesn't hide the fact that should they push him too far, he'll get rid of them one way or another. Garrisson Garrison doesn't take it well.
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nastytendencies of leveling tendency to level cities and killing kill lots of innocent people. The childrens children are rightfully afraid of her. But they hardly ever flee or say no to her, valuing their life to lives too much for it.
** Nicodemus, an absolutenymphomaniac sex maniac who cheats on Cesaria with about half the woman women on the globe (altough (although she gladly does the same in return), doesn't shy away from showing off his genitals to his 6 year old 6-year-old daughter, and cares more about his horses than his childrens.children.
* AerithAndBob: Michael,Garrisson, Garrison, Loretta and Rachel share the spotlight with Nicodemus, Galilee and Cesaria.
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nasty
** Nicodemus, an absolute
* AerithAndBob: Michael,
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* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
* AxCrazy: Played straight, subverted, averted, and everything in between. Altough the Barbarossa get the most of it, the Gearys being more of the drunk-with-power type.
** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, in his own piss and that his childhood is about getting to discover every nuthouse in the country, there's some reason to. It gets slowly subverted tough, as Luman shows more and more remorse and interest in his brothers, sisters and bastards. Late in the story he shows some intelectual acumen and helps Maddox accepting his past faults.
* AxCrazy: Played straight, subverted, averted, and everything in between. Altough the Barbarossa get the most of it, the Gearys being more of the drunk-with-power type.
** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, in his own piss and that his childhood is about getting to discover every nuthouse in the country, there's some reason to. It gets slowly subverted tough, as Luman shows more and more remorse and interest in his brothers, sisters and bastards. Late in the story he shows some intelectual acumen and helps Maddox accepting his past faults.
to:
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace track of the wierd weird family history and retrace it's trace its downfall. [[spoiler: It [[spoiler:It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
* AxCrazy: Played straight, subverted, averted, and everything in between.Altough Although the Barbarossa get the most of it, the Gearys being more of the drunk-with-power type.
** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, soaked in his ownpiss piss, and that his childhood is about getting to discover was spent in every nuthouse in the country, mean there's some reason to. It gets slowly subverted tough, though, as Luman shows more and more remorse and interest in his brothers, sisters and bastards. Late in the story he shows some intelectual intellectual acumen and helps Maddox accepting to accept his past faults.
* AxCrazy: Played straight, subverted, averted, and everything in between.
** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, soaked in his own
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: Goes back and forth, Zabrina and Marietta show signs of this, before reverting to a more nice personna. The geary womens are not better, going from spitting poison to professing love. [[spoiler: In the end, only Loretta seems to play the trope in full force.]]
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of interpretations. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book as his sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted for it. [[spoiler: He first drops his pretense at objectiveness in the story, and slowly grows out of his passive stance, becoming more human and empathic in the process]]. Galilee was also this in the eyes of Cesaria, before being cast out by her and forced into exile.
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of interpretations. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book as his sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted for it. [[spoiler: He first drops his pretense at objectiveness in the story, and slowly grows out of his passive stance, becoming more human and empathic in the process]]. Galilee was also this in the eyes of Cesaria, before being cast out by her and forced into exile.
to:
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Goes back and forth, Zabrina and Marietta show signs of this, before reverting to a more nice personna. nicer persona. The geary womens Geary women are not no better, going from spitting poison to professing love. [[spoiler: In the end, only Loretta seems to play the trope in full force.]]
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels ofinterpretations.interpretation. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book as his sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted suited for it. [[spoiler: He first [[spoiler:He eventually drops his pretense at objectiveness in the story, and slowly grows out of his passive stance, becoming more human and empathic empathetic in the process]]. Galilee was also this in the eyes of Cesaria, before being cast out by her and forced into exile.
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of
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* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The geary dynasty in a nutshell. Altough corrupt varies depending on the generation, it should be noted that none of them is above it.
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who got dependant on it and lost the will to leave, Rachels is much more willing to get out of it once she gets fed up with it.
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century. Luman is so far gone he spent years in asylums and lives now next to the house, secluded for everyone's safety. Galilee is plagued by guilt to the point of avoiding solid land as much as possible, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad and Zabrina is an overweight alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Downplayed later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot more depth than what they appear to have at first.
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who got dependant on it and lost the will to leave, Rachels is much more willing to get out of it once she gets fed up with it.
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century. Luman is so far gone he spent years in asylums and lives now next to the house, secluded for everyone's safety. Galilee is plagued by guilt to the point of avoiding solid land as much as possible, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad and Zabrina is an overweight alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Downplayed later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot more depth than what they appear to have at first.
to:
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The geary Geary dynasty in a nutshell. Altough corrupt Although the corruption varies depending on the generation, it should be noted that none of them is above it.
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who gotdependant dependent on it and lost the will to leave, Rachels Rachel is much more willing to get out of it once she gets fed up with it.
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century. Luman is so far gone he spent years in asylums and now livesnow next to the house, secluded for everyone's safety. Galilee is plagued by guilt to the point of avoiding solid land as much as possible, Marietta is a nymphomanic nymphomaniac who forgets that the house gets makes her lovers mad mad, and Zabrina is an overweight alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Downplayed later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get acquire a lot more depth than what they appear to have at first.
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who got
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century. Luman is so far gone he spent years in asylums and now lives
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* DeadpanSnarker: They all get their moments, Rachel is the most fond of it, especially once she gets sick of her mariage.
* DisneyVillainDeath: Averted, if it happens, expect it to be bloody, brutal and definitive.
* DysfunctionJunction: That's the main trait of both families. Maddox is an Main/IneffectualLoner, Rachel is disappointed of her high life and... Actually, filling this exemple out would mean telling half the book.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to go trough, [[spoiler:It's hinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and that he and Rachel finally found in eachother what they needed. Maddox accepts that the book cannot be perfect and gets tricked out of the house for the first time in a century, wich he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breaking personna of hers. It goes back and forth between utterly aliens motives (according to, well, everyone in the house) and very human problems. Subverted after a while when the human side definitely takes the light.
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrench L'enfant]] plays with this one. Fitting, considering it was built for Cesaria and reflects her quite well. On one side, it's a big family mansion with plenty of spatious rooms. On the other side, it's falling apart and hides a few places lost between Illusion and [[AlienGeometries alien geometries.]] Maddox visiting the latter gives him the ability to write about events he never witnessed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernatural part to it. Marietta's ability to turn heterosexual womens into full on lesbians comes up several times.
* DisneyVillainDeath: Averted, if it happens, expect it to be bloody, brutal and definitive.
* DysfunctionJunction: That's the main trait of both families. Maddox is an Main/IneffectualLoner, Rachel is disappointed of her high life and... Actually, filling this exemple out would mean telling half the book.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to go trough, [[spoiler:It's hinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and that he and Rachel finally found in eachother what they needed. Maddox accepts that the book cannot be perfect and gets tricked out of the house for the first time in a century, wich he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breaking personna of hers. It goes back and forth between utterly aliens motives (according to, well, everyone in the house) and very human problems. Subverted after a while when the human side definitely takes the light.
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrench L'enfant]] plays with this one. Fitting, considering it was built for Cesaria and reflects her quite well. On one side, it's a big family mansion with plenty of spatious rooms. On the other side, it's falling apart and hides a few places lost between Illusion and [[AlienGeometries alien geometries.]] Maddox visiting the latter gives him the ability to write about events he never witnessed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernatural part to it. Marietta's ability to turn heterosexual womens into full on lesbians comes up several times.
to:
* DeadpanSnarker: They all get their moments, but Rachel is the most fond of it, especially once she gets sick of her mariage.marriage.
* DisneyVillainDeath:Averted, Averted: if it happens, expect it to be bloody, brutal and definitive.
* DysfunctionJunction: That's the main trait of both families. Maddox is an Main/IneffectualLoner, Rachel is disappointedof with her high life and... Actually, filling this exemple example out would mean telling retelling half the book.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to gotrough, [[spoiler:It's through, [[spoiler:it's hinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and that he and Rachel finally found in eachother each other what they needed. Maddox accepts that the book cannot be perfect and gets tricked out of the house for the first time in a century, wich which he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breakingpersonna persona of hers. It goes back and forth between utterly aliens alien motives (according to, well, everyone in the house) and very human problems. Subverted after a while while, when the human side definitely takes the light.
limelight.
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays with the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrenchL'enfant]] L'Enfant]] plays with this one. Fitting, considering it was built for Cesaria and reflects her quite well. On one side, it's a big family mansion with plenty of spatious spacious rooms. On the other side, it's falling apart and hides includes a few places lost between Illusion and [[AlienGeometries alien geometries.]] Maddox visiting the latter gives him the ability to write about events he never witnessed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernaturalpart element to it. Marietta's ability to turn heterosexual womens women into full on full-on lesbians comes up several times.
* DisneyVillainDeath:
* DysfunctionJunction: That's the main trait of both families. Maddox is an Main/IneffectualLoner, Rachel is disappointed
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to go
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breaking
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays with the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrench
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernatural
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** Rachel, obviously, going from piss-poor conditions to one of the richest woman in the world, it naturally comes with it's lot of hidden problems.
** Galilee, almost litteraly, he only feels home on the sea, and longs for it the moment he sets foot on land. Altough it gets later debated.
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. He dosen't trust the house, Cesaria, or any of his siblings for that matter, but admits that going outside would be that trope exactly for him.
* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being betted on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there where a lot of fights. Notice thats it has been going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]]. On a more general notice this is the fate of both the Barbarossa and the Geary. Difference being that while the Barbarossa are already near the end by the start of the book, the Geary start falling apart during the events.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler: He admits at the end that it was a promise impossible to fulfill, but doesn't take it bad at all, as it only means there's still place for more.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Maddox, born from Nicodemus and one of the many womens he slept with and Lumans bastards.
* ItsPersonal: In spades, Maddox soon drops his pretense of objectivity about his book, letting his feelings and subjective observations litter the story with sometimes no link to it at all. He even goes further when he realises that this makes the story even more interesting for the reader.
* LighthousePoint: The colonial house on a remote island serves as one for Galilee [[spoiler: who's bound by a promise to go there every time a Geary woman needs comfort.]]
** Galilee, almost litteraly, he only feels home on the sea, and longs for it the moment he sets foot on land. Altough it gets later debated.
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. He dosen't trust the house, Cesaria, or any of his siblings for that matter, but admits that going outside would be that trope exactly for him.
* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being betted on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there where a lot of fights. Notice thats it has been going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]]. On a more general notice this is the fate of both the Barbarossa and the Geary. Difference being that while the Barbarossa are already near the end by the start of the book, the Geary start falling apart during the events.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler: He admits at the end that it was a promise impossible to fulfill, but doesn't take it bad at all, as it only means there's still place for more.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Maddox, born from Nicodemus and one of the many womens he slept with and Lumans bastards.
* ItsPersonal: In spades, Maddox soon drops his pretense of objectivity about his book, letting his feelings and subjective observations litter the story with sometimes no link to it at all. He even goes further when he realises that this makes the story even more interesting for the reader.
* LighthousePoint: The colonial house on a remote island serves as one for Galilee [[spoiler: who's bound by a promise to go there every time a Geary woman needs comfort.]]
to:
** Rachel, obviously, going from piss-poor conditions to one of the richest woman women in the world, it naturally comes with it's a lot of hidden problems.
** Galilee, almostlitteraly, literally: he only feels home on the sea, and longs for it the moment he sets foot on land. Altough Although it gets later debated.
debatable later.
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. Hedosen't doesn't trust the house, Cesaria, or any of his siblings for that matter, but admits that going outside would be that trope exactly for him.
* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is beingbetted bet on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there where were a lot of fights. Notice thats it has been fights, going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]]. On a more general notice note, this is the fate of both the Barbarossa Barbarossas and the Geary. Difference Gearys, the difference being that while the Barbarossa Barbarossas are already near the end by the start of the book, the Geary Gearys start falling apart during the events.
it.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler: He admits at the end that it was a promise impossible to fulfill, but doesn't take itbad badly at all, as it only means there's still place room for more.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Maddox, born from Nicodemus and one of the manywomens women he slept with and Lumans Luman's bastards.
* ItsPersonal: Inspades, spades. Maddox soon drops his pretense of objectivity about his book, letting his feelings and subjective observations litter the story with sometimes no link to it at all. He even goes further when he realises that this makes the story even more interesting for the reader.
* LighthousePoint: The colonial house on a remote island serves as one for Galilee[[spoiler: who's [[spoiler:who's bound by a promise to go there every time a Geary woman needs comfort.]]
** Galilee, almost
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. He
* FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler: He admits at the end that it was a promise impossible to fulfill, but doesn't take it
* HalfHumanHybrids: Maddox, born from Nicodemus and one of the many
* ItsPersonal: In
* LighthousePoint: The colonial house on a remote island serves as one for Galilee
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* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In a book full of wackos it had to happen. Yet, of all people, it's [[spoiler:Cadmus Geary who shows the most prominent example here]].
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Rachel's hometown. With some irony, She longs for it after getting fed up with her new life.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Rachel's hometown. With some irony, She longs for it after getting fed up with her new life.
to:
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In a book full of wackos it had to happen. Yet, of all people, it's [[spoiler:Cadmus Geary who shows is the most prominent example here]].
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Rachel's hometown. With some irony,She she longs for it after getting fed up with her new life.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Rachel's hometown. With some irony,
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* OneWordTitle: No sweat. It's because [[spoiler: Galilee himself made Maddox promise to put his name as title.]]
* PlaceBeyondTime: Subverted, L'enfant was built to last for eons, no matter what. But the one that made the promise was Thomas Jefferson, a human with human abilities. As such, despite the oddities it very obviously suffers the same fate as any abandonned or half-abandonned house.
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but [[spoiler: Cesaria seems to seriously regret most of her flints and just wants her favorite son back.]]
* PlaceBeyondTime: Subverted, L'enfant was built to last for eons, no matter what. But the one that made the promise was Thomas Jefferson, a human with human abilities. As such, despite the oddities it very obviously suffers the same fate as any abandonned or half-abandonned house.
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but [[spoiler: Cesaria seems to seriously regret most of her flints and just wants her favorite son back.]]
to:
* OneWordTitle: No sweat. It's because [[spoiler: Galilee [[spoiler:Galilee himself made Maddox promise to put his name as the title.]]
* PlaceBeyondTime: Subverted,L'enfant L'Enfant was built to last for eons, no matter what. But the one that made the promise was Thomas Jefferson, a human with human abilities. As such, despite the oddities oddities, it very obviously suffers the same fate as any abandonned abandoned or half-abandonned half-abandoned house.
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but[[spoiler: Cesaria [[spoiler:Cesaria seems to seriously regret most of her flints flings and just wants her favorite son back.]]
* PlaceBeyondTime: Subverted,
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but
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* TheSociopath: Seriously, it goes with the Geary name. Special mention goes to Michael being accused of being this, with good points. He gives a shining image of him during parties and professional meetings, being friendly, charming and humorous, but won't understand the simplest human emotion, like why Rachel isn't happy despite him "uplifting" her from her poor social conditions. Goes to a whole new level when not only does he refuse to put any blame on him, but convinces himself that Rachel is simply exhausted from her new lifestyle and that she'll get in line pretty quick. Needless to say, she doesn't.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenly kicking in conveniently brings the plot forward.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenly kicking in conveniently brings the plot forward.
to:
* TheSociopath: Seriously, it goes with the Geary name. Special mention goes to Michael being accused of being this, with good points. reason. He gives a shining image of him during himself at parties and professional meetings, being friendly, charming and humorous, but won't can't understand the simplest human emotion, like why Rachel isn't happy despite him "uplifting" her from her poor social conditions. Goes to a whole new level when not only does he refuse to put any blame on him, himself, but convinces himself that Rachel is simply exhausted from her new lifestyle and that she'll get in line pretty quick. Needless to say, she doesn't.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenlykicking kicks in conveniently brings to bring the plot forward.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenly
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* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In a book full of wackos it had to happen. Yet, of all people, it's [[spoiler:Cadmus Geary who shows the most prominent example here]].
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* ItsPersonal: In spades, Maddox soon drops his pretense of objectivity about his book, letting his feelings and subjective observations litter the story with sometimes no link to it at all. He even goes further when he realises that this makes the story even more interesting for the reader.
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* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century, Luman is so far gone he liives next to the house, Galilee is plagued by guilt, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad ans Zabrina is an alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Subverted later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot of depth.
to:
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century, century. Luman is so far gone he liives spent years in asylums and lives now next to the house, secluded for everyone's safety. Galilee is plagued by guilt, guilt to the point of avoiding solid land as much as possible, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad ans and Zabrina is an overweight alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Subverted Downplayed later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot of depth.more depth than what they appear to have at first.
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* TheOmniscient: Maddox gets such powers thanks to Cesaria, only way for him to write the complicated story involving several timeframes and multiple point of views.
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* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.
* AnyoneCanDie: This being Creator/CliveBarker...
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: This being Creator/CliveBarker...
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
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* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it ever happens.]]
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* DysfunctionJunction: That's the main trait of both families. Maddox is an Main/IneffectualLoner, Rachel is disappointed of her high life and... Actually, filling this exemple out would mean telling half the book.
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* TheSociopath: Seriously, it goes with the Geary name. Special mention goes to Michael being accused of being this, with good points. He gives a shining image of him during parties and professional meetings, being friendly, charming and humorous, but won't understand the simplest human emotion, like why Rachel isn't happy despite him "uplifting" her from her poor social conditions. Goes to a whole new level when not only does he refuse to put any blame on him, but convinces himself that Rachel is simply exhausted from her new lifestyle and that she'll get in line pretty quick. Needless to say, she doesn't.
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* MundaneMadeAwesome: Where the boring task of writing down letters on paper becomes a self-introspective, self-revelating and emotionally violent task.
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* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler:...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler:...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
to:
* {{Magitek}}: Most of NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Rachel's hometown. With some irony, She longs for it after getting fed up with her new life.
* OmnicidalManiac: Cesaria engaged into it on a whim during thePixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
time she was revered.
*TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.OneWordTitle: No sweat. It's because [[spoiler: Galilee himself made Maddox promise to put his name as title.]]
** [[spoiler:...* PlaceBeyondTime: Subverted, L'enfant was built to last for eons, no matter what. But the one that made the promise was Thomas Jefferson, a human with human abilities. As such, despite the oddities it very obviously suffers the same fate as any abandonned or half-abandonned house.
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but [[spoiler: Cesaria seems to seriously regret most of her flints andthen we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.just wants her favorite son back.]]
*[[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out Sadist: Of the emotional variety, Cesaria and Nicodemus to be quite a large one each other, despite being in Absolute Midnight.love. No wonder the family ends up so screwed up.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenly kicking in conveniently brings the plot forward.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking[[spoiler:Niolopua, seen thrice and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.killed by Michael.]]
* OmnicidalManiac: Cesaria engaged into it on a whim during the
*
* ReluctantPsycho: Doesn't look like it at first, but [[spoiler: Cesaria seems to seriously regret most of her flints and
*
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The ability to project oneself to a place far away to communicate is barely touched upon, but it suddenly kicking in conveniently brings the plot forward.
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
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Changed line(s) 43,60 (click to see context) from:
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
to:
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at FromBadToWorse: In spades. Cesaria gets the gold medal: Starting with her [[DestructiveRomance destructive romance]] with Nicodemus, she goes from being a revered deity worldwide to a bedridden ghost whose death is being betted on. Every single fight she had with her husband drove her a little bit further down the lane, and there where a lot of fights. Notice thats it has been going on [[UpToEleven for centuries]]. On a more general notice this is the fate of both the Barbarossa and the Geary. Difference being that while the Barbarossa are already near the end by the start of book 3, the book, the Geary start falling apart during the events.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler:AKA Zephario Carrion.He admits at the end that it was a promise impossible to fulfill, but doesn't take it bad at all, as it only means there's still place for more.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots Maddox, born from Nicodemus and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Manyone of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischiefmany womens he slept with and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
Lumans bastards.
* LighthousePoint:In the middle of The colonial house on a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
remote island serves as one for Galilee [[spoiler: who's bound by a promise to go there every time a Geary woman needs comfort.]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil:Finnegan Hob's This being Clive Barker, love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.brings out both the best and the worst of its victims. On the short end there's Cesaria and Nicodemus, madly in love and yet so irritable that it brings them more harm than anything else, and [[spoiler: Michael]].
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The one you are reading. It only talks about the Barbarossa history, but Maddox promises that it will contain absolutely everything, from the useless sex scenes to his day-to-day thinking and every possible detail and aspect that should be contained within it. [[spoiler:
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint:
* LoveMakesYouEvil:
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Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. Finally, Galilee is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
to:
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Marietta, an energetic lesbian, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. Finally, Galilee is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to go trough, [[spoiler:It's hinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and that he and Rachel finally found in eachother what they needed. Maddox accepts that the book cannot be perfect and gets tricked out of the house for the first time in a century, wich he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]
to:
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the punishment some characters have to go trough, [[spoiler:It's hinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and that he and Rachel finally found in eachother what they needed. Maddox accepts that the book cannot be perfect and gets tricked out of the house for the first time in a century, wich he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]]]
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breaking personna of hers. It goes back and forth between utterly aliens motives (according to, well, everyone in the house) and very human problems. Subverted after a while when the human side definitely takes the light.
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrench L'enfant]] plays with this one. Fitting, considering it was built for Cesaria and reflects her quite well. On one side, it's a big family mansion with plenty of spatious rooms. On the other side, it's falling apart and hides a few places lost between Illusion and [[AlienGeometries alien geometries.]] Maddox visiting the latter gives him the ability to write about events he never witnessed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernatural part to it. Marietta's ability to turn heterosexual womens into full on lesbians comes up several times.
* FishOutOfWater:
** Rachel, obviously, going from piss-poor conditions to one of the richest woman in the world, it naturally comes with it's lot of hidden problems.
** Galilee, almost litteraly, he only feels home on the sea, and longs for it the moment he sets foot on land. Altough it gets later debated.
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. He dosen't trust the house, Cesaria, or any of his siblings for that matter, but admits that going outside would be that trope exactly for him.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler:...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----
* EldritchAbomination: At moments, it seems that Cesaria is this, with that long-lived, reality-breaking personna of hers. It goes back and forth between utterly aliens motives (according to, well, everyone in the house) and very human problems. Subverted after a while when the human side definitely takes the light.
* EldritchLocation: Just like Cesaria plays the [[DoesNotLikeGuns eldritch abomination trope]], [[GratuitousFrench L'enfant]] plays with this one. Fitting, considering it was built for Cesaria and reflects her quite well. On one side, it's a big family mansion with plenty of spatious rooms. On the other side, it's falling apart and hides a few places lost between Illusion and [[AlienGeometries alien geometries.]] Maddox visiting the latter gives him the ability to write about events he never witnessed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Played for fun, up to the point where it might be argued that there's a supernatural part to it. Marietta's ability to turn heterosexual womens into full on lesbians comes up several times.
* FishOutOfWater:
** Rachel, obviously, going from piss-poor conditions to one of the richest woman in the world, it naturally comes with it's lot of hidden problems.
** Galilee, almost litteraly, he only feels home on the sea, and longs for it the moment he sets foot on land. Altough it gets later debated.
** Amusingly, Maddox himself. He dosen't trust the house, Cesaria, or any of his siblings for that matter, but admits that going outside would be that trope exactly for him.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler:...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OneWordTitle: For the series as a whole, and the first book, are both called "Abarat".
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* ThePlace: The world that Candy goes to is called Abarat, the name of the first book and the series as a whole.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler:Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler:Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances.
to:
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. \n They have been in place since the Secession war, enough time to have lots of skeletons in the closet.
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it aver happens.]]
to:
* ApocalypseHow: The purpose of the book is to keep a trace of the wierd family history and retrace it's downfall. [[spoiler: It ends without answering that last part, if it aver ever happens.]]
Changed line(s) 27,106 (click to see context) from:
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of interpretations. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book writing as a sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted for it. [[spoiler: He first drops his pretense at objectiveness in the story, and slowly grows out of his passive stance, becoming more human and empathic in the process]]. Galilee was also this in the eyes of Cesaria, before being cast out by her and forced into exile.
* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.
* CoolShip: The glyphs.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rojo Pixler.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted with Shape. He survives his fall, and his true death is at the hands of the Sacbrood in Book 2.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, but it ends on a fairly joyous and uplifting note. [[spoiler:It's similar for ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated'' to be one.
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape, and instead shoots the lighthouse light out. When Serpent asks him why he'd do this, he notes that he [[DoesNotLikeGuns takes no pleasure in harming living things.]] And shooting out the light means Shape will have to follow them, leaving Candy safe.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: John Mischief's contribution in the battle with the sea dragon, before Nonce--he stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook.]]
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----
* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.
* CoolShip: The glyphs.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rojo Pixler.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted with Shape. He survives his fall, and his true death is at the hands of the Sacbrood in Book 2.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, but it ends on a fairly joyous and uplifting note. [[spoiler:It's similar for ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated'' to be one.
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape, and instead shoots the lighthouse light out. When Serpent asks him why he'd do this, he notes that he [[DoesNotLikeGuns takes no pleasure in harming living things.]] And shooting out the light means Shape will have to follow them, leaving Candy safe.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: John Mischief's contribution in the battle with the sea dragon, before Nonce--he stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook.]]
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----
to:
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of interpretations. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book writing as a his sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted for it. [[spoiler: He first drops his pretense at objectiveness in the story, and slowly grows out of his passive stance, becoming more human and empathic in the process]]. Galilee was also this in the eyes of Cesaria, before being cast out by her and forced into exile.
* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.
* CoolShip: The glyphs.
''Samarkand'', sailed by Galilee across every sea of the globe.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive:Rojo Pixler.The geary dynasty in a nutshell. Altough corrupt varies depending on the generation, it should be noted that none of them is above it.
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who got dependant on it and lost the will to leave, Rachels is much more willing to get out of it once she gets fed up with it.
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century, Luman is so far gone he liives next to the house, Galilee is plagued by guilt, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad ans Zabrina is an alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Subverted later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot of depth.
* DarkIsNotEvil
* DeadpanSnarker: They all get their moments, Rachel is the most fond of it, especially once she gets sick of her mariage.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted with Shape. He survives his fall, and his true death is at the hands of the Sacbrood in Book 2.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, butAverted, if it ends on a fairly joyous and uplifting note. [[spoiler:It's similar for ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated''happens, expect it to be one.
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape,bloody, brutal and instead shoots the lighthouse light out. When Serpent asks him why he'd do this, he notes that he [[DoesNotLikeGuns takes no pleasure in harming living things.]] And shooting out the light means Shape will have to follow them, leaving Candy safe.definitive.
*EyeScream: [[spoiler: John Mischief's contribution in EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the battle with grim and underlying darkness following every chapter and the sea dragon, before Nonce--he stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook.]]
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafterpunishment some characters have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
**go trough, [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candyhinted that Cesaria will finally forgive Galilee, and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy that he and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example,Rachel finally found in eachother what they needed. Maddox accepts that the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out tobook cannot be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be aperfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's onegets tricked out of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normalhouse for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----first time in a century, wich he accepts happily and sets off on his own adventure.]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive:
* CorruptTheCutie: Rachel gets more and more into the luxurious lifestyle provided by her husband Michael. But unlike Margie, who got dependant on it and lost the will to leave, Rachels is much more willing to get out of it once she gets fed up with it.
* CreepyChild: All of them where the Barbarossa are concerned. Maddox didn't leave the house for about a century, Luman is so far gone he liives next to the house, Galilee is plagued by guilt, Marietta is a nymphomanic who forgets that the house gets her lovers mad ans Zabrina is an alchemist with a serious eating disorder. Subverted later, as Maddox starts to accept them for what they are, they get described with more love and get a lot of depth.
* DarkIsNotEvil
* DeadpanSnarker: They all get their moments, Rachel is the most fond of it, especially once she gets sick of her mariage.
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, but
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated''
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape,
*
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter
**
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example,
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal
----
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Changed line(s) 6,9 (click to see context) from:
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. The last son, Galilee, is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. Hey, it's Clive Barker.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. Hey, it's Clive Barker.
to:
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. The last son, Galilee, Finally, Galilee is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances. Hey, it's Clive Barker.\n
To make matters more complicated, their history is closely related to the one of the Geary family, an immensely rich, human and badly disfunctionnal dynasty, whose smooth image only serves to hide a metric tons of shaddy dealings and deviances.
Expect lots of dreams becoming nightmares, everyday torment driving to insanity and an underlying sadness to it, but also broken hopes being rebuild and characters facing their fears, accepting past mistakes and growing as persons. Welcome to Clive Barker.
Deleted line(s) 23,27 (click to see context) :
* AlienSky: Despite seeing the antlered John Mischief and his seven brothers, the fish-human Sea Skippers, and the summoning of the Sea of Izabella, it's the unrecognizable stars in the sky that really hits home for Candy that she's in another world.
* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Abaratians Speaking English]]: Justified since it's the CommonTongue, although there are some other languages.
* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The Abarat and its 25 islands.
** AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: ...with a crazily colorful population to match.
** AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: ...and more crazily colorful monsters and creatures to match them.
* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Abaratians Speaking English]]: Justified since it's the CommonTongue, although there are some other languages.
* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The Abarat and its 25 islands.
** AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: ...with a crazily colorful population to match.
** AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: ...and more crazily colorful monsters and creatures to match them.
Changed line(s) 29,40 (click to see context) from:
* AntiVillain: Christopher Carrion. Played with, as his CharacterDevelopment makes him swing wildly:
** ''Abarat'': Clear AntiVillain with a tragic {{Backstory}}.
** ''Days Of Magic, Nights Of War'': Villainous StalkerWithACrush.
** ''Absolute Midnight'': AntiVillain again [[spoiler:and with the ''villain'' in name only]], with a huge portion of the {{Woobie}}.
* ApocalypseHow: As of ''Absolute Midnight'', at least a Class 0. [[spoiler: Mater Motley releases the sacbrood, which blot out the Abarat's sky. The resulting darkness wakes a metric ton of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, which rampage unchecked over several of the islands. Thousands die.]] It's heavily implied over the course of the book that it's only going to get ''worse''.
* ArtificialHuman: Some of the stitchlings are fairly close. Also the Kid of Commexo.
* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Princess Boa.]] People rhapsodize about her in glowing terms, painting a picture of someone who was [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth incredibly kind, gentle and loving]]. In ''Absolute Midnight'', [[spoiler: it turns out that it was a MASSIVE ruse on Boa's part.]]
* BodyHorror
* CatFolk: The tarrie-cats.
* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats. [[spoiler: Subverted; they're menacing-looking but otherwise perfectly civil.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]
** ''Abarat'': Clear AntiVillain with a tragic {{Backstory}}.
** ''Days Of Magic, Nights Of War'': Villainous StalkerWithACrush.
** ''Absolute Midnight'': AntiVillain again [[spoiler:and with the ''villain'' in name only]], with a huge portion of the {{Woobie}}.
* ApocalypseHow: As of ''Absolute Midnight'', at least a Class 0. [[spoiler: Mater Motley releases the sacbrood, which blot out the Abarat's sky. The resulting darkness wakes a metric ton of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, which rampage unchecked over several of the islands. Thousands die.]] It's heavily implied over the course of the book that it's only going to get ''worse''.
* ArtificialHuman: Some of the stitchlings are fairly close. Also the Kid of Commexo.
* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Princess Boa.]] People rhapsodize about her in glowing terms, painting a picture of someone who was [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth incredibly kind, gentle and loving]]. In ''Absolute Midnight'', [[spoiler: it turns out that it was a MASSIVE ruse on Boa's part.]]
* BodyHorror
* CatFolk: The tarrie-cats.
* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats. [[spoiler: Subverted; they're menacing-looking but otherwise perfectly civil.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]
to:
** ''Abarat'': Clear AntiVillain with a tragic {{Backstory}}.
** ''Days Of Magic, Nights Of War'': Villainous StalkerWithACrush.
** ''Absolute Midnight'': AntiVillain again [[spoiler:and with the ''villain'' in name only]], with a huge portion of the {{Woobie}}.
* ArtificialHuman: Some of the stitchlings are fairly close. Also the Kid of Commexo.
* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
*
* CatFolk:
* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats.
* TheChosenOne: Discussed on several levels of interpretations. Maddox sees himself as this, with the book writing as a sacred mission. Even if, or rather, because he's only an observer and not an actor in the story, he tends to think himself as being the only one fitted for it. [[spoiler:
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* AdiposeRex: King Claus, after the death of his beloved daughter.
* AerithAndBob: Often of the normal first name, strange last name variety like Candy Quackenbush, John Mischief (and all his brothers), and Christopher Carrion. Then there are just the strange ones, like Tropella and Izarith.
* AxCrazy: Mater Motley. A vicious piece of work who unleashed an EldritchAbomination in order to cause wanton chaos, death and destruction, killed her own grandchildren and sewed their souls into her dress so they would be in constant agony, and gleefully abused Christopher Carrion for [[ForTheEvulz no reason]] other than that's she's a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[{{Sadist}} sadist]] [[CardCarryingVillain and proud of it.]]
* AerithAndBob: Often of the normal first name, strange last name variety like Candy Quackenbush, John Mischief (and all his brothers), and Christopher Carrion. Then there are just the strange ones, like Tropella and Izarith.
* AxCrazy: Mater Motley. A vicious piece of work who unleashed an EldritchAbomination in order to cause wanton chaos, death and destruction, killed her own grandchildren and sewed their souls into her dress so they would be in constant agony, and gleefully abused Christopher Carrion for [[ForTheEvulz no reason]] other than that's she's a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[{{Sadist}} sadist]] [[CardCarryingVillain and proud of it.]]
to:
* AxCrazy:
** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who
** Cesaria gets the worst of it. Sure, she can show some genuine compassion and love... but no one who even remotely knows her
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Changed line(s) 8,11 (click to see context) from:
The books follow the adventures of a young woman named Candy Quackenbush. She hails from the small town of Chickentown, Minnesota, a tiny burg with a higher population of its eponymous fowl than people. She longs for something more than her small-town life, but doesn't know where to find it. One day, a strange compulsion grips her, and she races to the outskirts of town. There, she finds a strange man named John Mischief, [[MultipleHeadCase whose brothers live as heads sprouting out of his impressive antlers]], who is running from a strange, gaunt man named Shape. But through the powers of a magical lighthouse, she manages to summon a sea from nowhere--and from there, she is carted off to the Abarat. The Abarat is an archipelago where every island is an hour of the day, and it is full of strange, wonderful creatures. But sinister beings lurk in the shadows, and they have impure designs on Candy...
Perhaps the most noticable aspect of the books is that they are all lavishly illustrated by Clive Barker himself with hundreds of full-color paintings, on glossy paper. They're a visual trip as well as a mental one. While VanillaEdition, non-illustrated print runs of the books have been made, the pictures are part of the fun.
Perhaps the most noticable aspect of the books is that they are all lavishly illustrated by Clive Barker himself with hundreds of full-color paintings, on glossy paper. They're a visual trip as well as a mental one. While VanillaEdition, non-illustrated print runs of the books have been made, the pictures are part of the fun.
to:
On top of it, Maddox provides us with
Perhaps the most noticable aspect of the books is that they are all lavishly illustrated by Clive Barker himself with hundreds of full-color paintings, on glossy paper. They're a visual trip as well as a mental one. While VanillaEdition, non-illustrated print runs of the books have been made, the pictures are part of the fun.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Candy's father is abusive to everyone in the household.
* AbusiveParents: Candy's father is abusive to everyone in the household.
to:
!!This series book provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents:Candy's father is abusive to everyone You better believe it.
** Cadmus Geary treats his sons and grandsons as assets in his big business, he doesn't hide thehousehold.fact that should they push him too far, he'll get rid of them one way or another. Garrisson doesn't take it well.
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nasty tendencies of leveling cities and killing lots of innocent people. The childrens are rightfully afraid of her. But they hardly ever flee or say no to her, valuing their life to much for it.
** Nicodemus, an absolute nymphomaniac who cheats on Cesaria with about half the woman on the globe (altough she gladly does the same in return), doesn't shy away from showing off his genitals to his 6 year old daughter, and cares more about his horses than his childrens.
* AbusiveParents:
** Cadmus Geary treats his sons and grandsons as assets in his big business, he doesn't hide the
** Cesaria is of unstable mood and her tantrums have the nasty tendencies of leveling cities and killing lots of innocent people. The childrens are rightfully afraid of her. But they hardly ever flee or say no to her, valuing their life to much for it.
** Nicodemus, an absolute nymphomaniac who cheats on Cesaria with about half the woman on the globe (altough she gladly does the same in return), doesn't shy away from showing off his genitals to his 6 year old daughter, and cares more about his horses than his childrens.
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[[quoteright:294:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/galilee.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:294:some caption text]]
Written in 1998 by Creator/CliveBarker, the story follows Edmund Maddox Barbarossa, on a quest to write down the tale of his family in the very book you're reading. And boy is it a complicated process.
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. The last son, Galilee, is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
The books follow the adventures of a young woman named Candy Quackenbush. She hails from the small town of Chickentown, Minnesota, a tiny burg with a higher population of its eponymous fowl than people. She longs for something more than her small-town life, but doesn't know where to find it. One day, a strange compulsion grips her, and she races to the outskirts of town. There, she finds a strange man named John Mischief, [[MultipleHeadCase whose brothers live as heads sprouting out of his impressive antlers]], who is running from a strange, gaunt man named Shape. But through the powers of a magical lighthouse, she manages to summon a sea from nowhere--and from there, she is carted off to the Abarat. The Abarat is an archipelago where every island is an hour of the day, and it is full of strange, wonderful creatures. But sinister beings lurk in the shadows, and they have impure designs on Candy...
Perhaps the most noticable aspect of the books is that they are all lavishly illustrated by Clive Barker himself with hundreds of full-color paintings, on glossy paper. They're a visual trip as well as a mental one. While VanillaEdition, non-illustrated print runs of the books have been made, the pictures are part of the fun.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Candy's father is abusive to everyone in the household.
* AdiposeRex: King Claus, after the death of his beloved daughter.
* AerithAndBob: Often of the normal first name, strange last name variety like Candy Quackenbush, John Mischief (and all his brothers), and Christopher Carrion. Then there are just the strange ones, like Tropella and Izarith.
* AxCrazy: Mater Motley. A vicious piece of work who unleashed an EldritchAbomination in order to cause wanton chaos, death and destruction, killed her own grandchildren and sewed their souls into her dress so they would be in constant agony, and gleefully abused Christopher Carrion for [[ForTheEvulz no reason]] other than that's she's a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[{{Sadist}} sadist]] [[CardCarryingVillain and proud of it.]]
* AlienSky: Despite seeing the antlered John Mischief and his seven brothers, the fish-human Sea Skippers, and the summoning of the Sea of Izabella, it's the unrecognizable stars in the sky that really hits home for Candy that she's in another world.
* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Abaratians Speaking English]]: Justified since it's the CommonTongue, although there are some other languages.
* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The Abarat and its 25 islands.
** AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: ...with a crazily colorful population to match.
** AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: ...and more crazily colorful monsters and creatures to match them.
* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.
* AntiVillain: Christopher Carrion. Played with, as his CharacterDevelopment makes him swing wildly:
** ''Abarat'': Clear AntiVillain with a tragic {{Backstory}}.
** ''Days Of Magic, Nights Of War'': Villainous StalkerWithACrush.
** ''Absolute Midnight'': AntiVillain again [[spoiler:and with the ''villain'' in name only]], with a huge portion of the {{Woobie}}.
* ApocalypseHow: As of ''Absolute Midnight'', at least a Class 0. [[spoiler: Mater Motley releases the sacbrood, which blot out the Abarat's sky. The resulting darkness wakes a metric ton of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, which rampage unchecked over several of the islands. Thousands die.]] It's heavily implied over the course of the book that it's only going to get ''worse''.
* ArtificialHuman: Some of the stitchlings are fairly close. Also the Kid of Commexo.
* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Princess Boa.]] People rhapsodize about her in glowing terms, painting a picture of someone who was [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth incredibly kind, gentle and loving]]. In ''Absolute Midnight'', [[spoiler: it turns out that it was a MASSIVE ruse on Boa's part.]]
* BodyHorror
* CatFolk: The tarrie-cats.
* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats. [[spoiler: Subverted; they're menacing-looking but otherwise perfectly civil.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]
* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.
* CoolShip: The glyphs.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rojo Pixler.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted with Shape. He survives his fall, and his true death is at the hands of the Sacbrood in Book 2.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, but it ends on a fairly joyous and uplifting note. [[spoiler:It's similar for ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated'' to be one.
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape, and instead shoots the lighthouse light out. When Serpent asks him why he'd do this, he notes that he [[DoesNotLikeGuns takes no pleasure in harming living things.]] And shooting out the light means Shape will have to follow them, leaving Candy safe.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: John Mischief's contribution in the battle with the sea dragon, before Nonce--he stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook.]]
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
----
[[caption-width-right:294:some caption text]]
Written in 1998 by Creator/CliveBarker, the story follows Edmund Maddox Barbarossa, on a quest to write down the tale of his family in the very book you're reading. And boy is it a complicated process.
First, the Barbarossa are don't exactly belong to the human race. Cesaria and Nicodemus, the parents, are gods with an equally godlike temper. The children are Zabrina an obese woman drawning her sorrow in tons of food, Luman, who spent half his life in asylums, Edmund Maddox himself, a wheelchair-ridden cynical who didn't leave home for most of his life. And he is about a 140 years old. The last son, Galilee, is a subject of contension in the family, and one of the reasons why the book is written.
The books follow the adventures of a young woman named Candy Quackenbush. She hails from the small town of Chickentown, Minnesota, a tiny burg with a higher population of its eponymous fowl than people. She longs for something more than her small-town life, but doesn't know where to find it. One day, a strange compulsion grips her, and she races to the outskirts of town. There, she finds a strange man named John Mischief, [[MultipleHeadCase whose brothers live as heads sprouting out of his impressive antlers]], who is running from a strange, gaunt man named Shape. But through the powers of a magical lighthouse, she manages to summon a sea from nowhere--and from there, she is carted off to the Abarat. The Abarat is an archipelago where every island is an hour of the day, and it is full of strange, wonderful creatures. But sinister beings lurk in the shadows, and they have impure designs on Candy...
Perhaps the most noticable aspect of the books is that they are all lavishly illustrated by Clive Barker himself with hundreds of full-color paintings, on glossy paper. They're a visual trip as well as a mental one. While VanillaEdition, non-illustrated print runs of the books have been made, the pictures are part of the fun.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Candy's father is abusive to everyone in the household.
* AdiposeRex: King Claus, after the death of his beloved daughter.
* AerithAndBob: Often of the normal first name, strange last name variety like Candy Quackenbush, John Mischief (and all his brothers), and Christopher Carrion. Then there are just the strange ones, like Tropella and Izarith.
* AxCrazy: Mater Motley. A vicious piece of work who unleashed an EldritchAbomination in order to cause wanton chaos, death and destruction, killed her own grandchildren and sewed their souls into her dress so they would be in constant agony, and gleefully abused Christopher Carrion for [[ForTheEvulz no reason]] other than that's she's a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[{{Sadist}} sadist]] [[CardCarryingVillain and proud of it.]]
* AlienSky: Despite seeing the antlered John Mischief and his seven brothers, the fish-human Sea Skippers, and the summoning of the Sea of Izabella, it's the unrecognizable stars in the sky that really hits home for Candy that she's in another world.
* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Abaratians Speaking English]]: Justified since it's the CommonTongue, although there are some other languages.
* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The Abarat and its 25 islands.
** AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: ...with a crazily colorful population to match.
** AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: ...and more crazily colorful monsters and creatures to match them.
* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.
* AntiVillain: Christopher Carrion. Played with, as his CharacterDevelopment makes him swing wildly:
** ''Abarat'': Clear AntiVillain with a tragic {{Backstory}}.
** ''Days Of Magic, Nights Of War'': Villainous StalkerWithACrush.
** ''Absolute Midnight'': AntiVillain again [[spoiler:and with the ''villain'' in name only]], with a huge portion of the {{Woobie}}.
* ApocalypseHow: As of ''Absolute Midnight'', at least a Class 0. [[spoiler: Mater Motley releases the sacbrood, which blot out the Abarat's sky. The resulting darkness wakes a metric ton of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, which rampage unchecked over several of the islands. Thousands die.]] It's heavily implied over the course of the book that it's only going to get ''worse''.
* ArtificialHuman: Some of the stitchlings are fairly close. Also the Kid of Commexo.
* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Princess Boa.]] People rhapsodize about her in glowing terms, painting a picture of someone who was [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth incredibly kind, gentle and loving]]. In ''Absolute Midnight'', [[spoiler: it turns out that it was a MASSIVE ruse on Boa's part.]]
* BodyHorror
* CatFolk: The tarrie-cats.
* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats. [[spoiler: Subverted; they're menacing-looking but otherwise perfectly civil.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]
* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.
* CoolShip: The glyphs.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rojo Pixler.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].
* CreepyChild: The pale-haired and pale-skinned Tria, paired with DissonantSerenity.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all denizens of the late evening hours are evil. In fact, a lot of them are pretty nice folks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Christopher Carrion has his moments.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Requiax to Pixler. However, the two of them agree on wanting to kill Mater Motley.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted with Shape. He survives his fall, and his true death is at the hands of the Sacbrood in Book 2.]]
* TheDragon: Houlihan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second book is remarkably dark, grim, and frightening, but it ends on a fairly joyous and uplifting note. [[spoiler:It's similar for ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* EgomaniacHunter: Rojo Pixler--who boasts nineteen thousand specimens from fleas to Kiefalent whales back at Commexo City.
* EldritchAbomination: In the order of appearance:
** The Sacbrood.
** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".
** [[spoiler: The Nephauree]], even ''explicitly stated'' to be one.
* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gay Guys Want Her]]: It's outright stated that even [[StraightGay Two-Toed Tom]] has a bit of a crush on Geneva Peachtree.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: John Mischief does not harm Shape, and instead shoots the lighthouse light out. When Serpent asks him why he'd do this, he notes that he [[DoesNotLikeGuns takes no pleasure in harming living things.]] And shooting out the light means Shape will have to follow them, leaving Candy safe.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: John Mischief's contribution in the battle with the sea dragon, before Nonce--he stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook.]]
* FantasyGunControl: John Mischief actually carries an old-fashioned pistol, but generally DoesNotLikeGuns, so he uses it sparingly.
* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.
* FriendToAllChildren: The blind card-reader at the start of book 3, [[spoiler: AKA Zephario Carrion.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.
* GentlemanThief: The John brothers. And boy, are they ever gentlemanly!
* GiantFlyer: The enormous "corpse-moth" from the first book. A "[[PunnyName behe-moth]]," if you will.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Klepp's ''Almenak,'' though the Abaratians know you'd be wise to take everything Klepp writes with a grain of salt. It's good in a ''general'' sense, though.
%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Lots and lots of them everywhere around--Izarith the part-Skizmut, the half-dragon priest Deetha Maas.
* TheHecateSisters: [[spoiler: The Fantomaya. Mespa is the Maid, Joephi the Matron, and Diamanda the Hag.]]
* HeadPet: Candy briefly has a squid as one. [[spoiler: He dies of exposure, sadly.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: Many of the islands, other than the ones we spend the "most" time on.
* ImpossibleTheft: John Mischief and his brothers managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler: Candy, who adapts quickly to Abarat.]] The strangeness of this is discussed--people from the Hereafter have gone mad from trying to adapt too quickly, since their imaginations couldn't handle the strangeness of Abarat. [[spoiler:By comparison, not only is Candy still sane, despite being hunted by Christopher Carrion's minions, she displays an innate talent for magic.]]
** [[spoiler:It's because she has Princess Boa's soul inside her.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Several. [[spoiler: Candy and Gazza, mostly [[ShipTease shipteased]] Candy and Malingo. Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb are this, too.]]
* IronicNurseryTune: Shape likes to use these to intimidate people, though they're more openly sinister than tunes from our world, having apparently been written by {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. There are some innocent nursery tunes too, though. [[spoiler: For example, the lullaby Zephario Carrion sung to his son, Christopher]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]
* LighthousePoint: In the middle of a field. In Minnesota. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Finnegan Hob's love for Princess Boa causes him to commit mass genocide against all dragons when a single dragon kills Boa.
* {{Magitek}}: Most of the Pixler Company's inventions, the Sublime Verities.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: As of the second book, it seems like Mater Motley is the real BigBad of the series and always was.]]
** [[spoiler: ...and then we are introduced to the Nephauree, who have given Mater Motley the capabilities to conquer the Abarat.]]
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler: Boa]] turns out to be quite a large one in Absolute Midnight.
* MonsterSobStory: Christopher Carrion's backstory. [[spoiler: His entire family, except for his grandmother and absent father, died in a massive fire, he was brought up to be a perfect villain by his abusive grandmother who had ''sewn up'' his lips for saying the word ''love'', fell in love with a princess who used and then shunned him...and his life didn't get better since then.]]
* MoralityPet: Maratien to Mater Motley in the third book. She's one of the few people who Motley's shown actual kindness and concern for, even more so than her own son.
** [[spoiler: ...and then she kills Maratien and sews her soul to her dress.]]
* MultipleHeadCase: The John brothers, who share a body, but different heads.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].
** A mild case with Candy. She apparently got it from her grandmother, who loved to go to strangers' funerals.
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.
* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.
** The idea is also {{deconstructed}} with [[spoiler: Zephario]], who explains that he realized after his youth the pointlessness of the SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum, and reformed.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Actually, the dragons in Abarat are more of a {{Reconstruction}} of the classical dragon. They ''are'' hermaphrodites, though.
* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.
* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Twenty-Fifth Hour, which is always surrounded by a thick fog. [[spoiler:Over the edge of the world.]]
* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler: Zephario Carrion, who was a monster in his youth, but realized the error of his ways and became a fairly gentle old man.]]
* ReluctantPsycho: Christopher Carrion is fully aware of how screwed up he is, and hates it.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.
* {{Sadist}}: Mater Motley is a horrendous case. Everything she did, all the atrocities she committed were simply because she liked inflicting pain just as much as wanton murder and mass destruction.
* SplitAtBirth: Inverted. Maybe. [[spoiler: Princess Boa's spirit was reincarnated into a just-about-to-be-born Candy. However, prenatal Candy had a soul of her own. So Candy as an adolescent girl is referred to as the "Two in One," and realizes that "Candy" and "Princess Boa" are two halves of the same whole within her--hence, [[MentalFusion fused at birth]].]] It's not exactly clear, just roll with it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Carrion is of the more malicious sort. [[spoiler: Gazza gets disturbingly close, too.]]
* StraightGay: Two-Toed Tom (who [[AuthorAppeal tells off]] [[JerkAss John Serpent]] for an apparently bigoted comment) and his (thus far offstage) love interest Tidal Jim.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The House of Midnight has spies everywhere. ''Everywhere.''
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]
* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].
* VanillaEdition: There are two paperback editions of each book--one that has the pictures (and is still [[CrackIsCheaper pretty expensive even by hardcover standards]]), and one that doesn't. Interestingly, the VanillaEdition tends to get shelved in either the teen or adult section of most bookstores/libraries, while the regular ones tend to get shelved with the kid's stuff--[[AnimationAgeGhetto Illustration Age Ghetto]], perhaps?
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Kiss Curl Carlotti, eaten by the sea dragon.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Christopher Carrion [[spoiler: cemented by the happenings in ''Absolute Midnight'']].
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In the second book, Candy abruptly learns a specific word of power: "Jassassakya-Thüm". When she says it, it shakes or breaks whatever she focuses on (or if she is ''not'' focusing, everything around her). And it will ''keep'' shaking and breaking until she inhales it again. In fact, the longer the word is "loose", the stronger it gets.
* {{Yandere}}: Christopher Carrion. After Princess Boa rejected him, he sent a ''dragon'' to kill her.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Apparently, seeing the Nephauree's true form is so [[BrownNote horrifying and traumatic]] it makes you want to [[EyeScream stab out your own eyes]]. [[spoiler: Mater Motley tried. It was a mistake.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.
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