This is my favorite Clive Barker book ever. A long epic story that takes you thru multiple adjacent worlds effortlessly and engagingly. I’ve gone back to re-read it a number of times now. There’s magic and mayhem reminiscent of Roger Zelazny’s Amber. Horror that puts you in mind of Stephen King’s The Stand. Fantasy that puts you in mind of J.R.R. Tolkien. And all deliciously combined in a way that cannot be matched by any other author.

Abarat (a young adult book by Clive Barker) is Imajica for the weak. Good, but not the full-strength stuff. But you, gentle reader, want the real thing.