Here the ordinary is intertwined with the unprecedented. Here words take on flesh, here time has its own laws, here in the depths of the waters ominous monsters wait in the wings, here strange creatures live on equal terms with people. Here the waters of the Isabella Sea wash twenty-five islands, none of which are like the other. There are so many miracles here that even the locals don’t know the answers to all the riddles. This is Abarat. This is a magical world, the fate of which depends on young Candy Quackenbush from the boring town of Chickentown in Minnesota. To escape from your daily routine into the dizzying wonders of Abarat, you just need to turn on the light. After all, light is the oldest game in the world. “Abarat” is only the first part of a tetralogy that Clive Barker is currently working on. And although this author is known throughout the world as an unsurpassed master of literature in the genre of mysticism and magical realism, this time from his pen came a book that is rightfully compared to the famous “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.