History Literature / Abarat

* BecomeARealBoy: Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life to give life to the Commexo Kid.

%%* UltimateEvil:
%%** The Requiax, the "enemies of love".
%%** In ''Absolute Midnight'', [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].

** Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares to swim in]].

* CoolHat: The aquarium hats that are ever so popular in Babylonium. The magical hats of the Noncian Magic Circle.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Quite normal for the Abaratians. The Commexo Kid's design does have blue hair.

* AdiposeRex: King Claus, after the death of his beloved daughter.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Well, Abaratians, but still... It's {{justified|Trope}} 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.

** ''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}}.

* BecomeARealBoy: What Rojo Pixler wants for the Conjuration of Life for--to give life to the Commexo Kid.

* CatsAreMean: Likewise the tarrie-cats. [[spoiler: Subverted; they're menacing-looking but otherwise perfectly civil.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]

* CorruptTheCutie: It's suggested in the second novel that Carrion had this effect on [[spoiler:Candy]].

* 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, Christopher Carrion's chief assassin.

* 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.

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Well, actually, it's 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.

* 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.

* 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.]]

* 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.
* 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.]]

* MusclesAreMeaningless: Mater Motley is far stronger and tougher than any woman her age - or any ''human'', period - has any right to be.
* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares to swim in]].

* OhMyGods: "A'zo and Cha!", "Lordy Lou!"
* OmnicidalManiac: Mater Motley would be as happy destroying the islands as she would be ruling them.

* SentientCosmicForce: The Skein, the Thread.

* UltimateEvil: The Requiax, the "enemies of love."
** And as of Absolute Midnight, [[spoiler:the Nephauree]].

* NightmareFetishist: Christopher Carrion, [[UpToEleven who even wears a glass collar for his embodied nightmares swim in]].

* 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.]]

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* BodyHorror
* CatFolk: The tarrie-cats.

* CoolShip: The glyphs.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rojo Pixler.

* EldritchLocation: The 25th Hour, Odom's Spire.

* 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.]]

* FishOutOfWater: Candy, at first. She assimilates pretty quickly, which the John brothers notice.

* FromBadToWorse: Book 3. In. Spades.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Malingo, but he gets better.]]

* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Chickentown.
* OceanPunk: The Fisherman's Ghetto in the Great Head of Yebba Dim Day.

* PardonMyKlingon: Abaratian is full of unique swears.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: The Pixler Company.

* AndIMustScream: The dolls that Mater Motley's dress are made out of are ''alive''.

* TheDragon: Houlihan.

%%* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]

* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Malingo]] gets one when [[spoiler: Christopher Carrion messes with the course of the glyph through his mind]].

* 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.]]

* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Abaratians Speaking English]]: Justified since it's the CommonTongue, although there are some other languages.

* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Candy is the reincarnation of Princess Boa.]]

* [[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.

* 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.]]

* 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.]]

* 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.

* TykeBomb: [[spoiler: Christopher was explicitly designed to be one.]]

* 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.]]

** The Requiax, even to the point of being "[[CthulhuMythos a creature of the Deep]]".

* MeaningfulName: A ''lot'' of them.

* ImpossibleThief: John Mischief and his brothers, who managed to steal the ''tattoos'' of a criminal named Monkai-Monkai while he was in prison.

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]

* [[spoiler: BiggerBad: As of Absolute Midnight, the Nephauree.]]

[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-Abarat_book_cover_6845.jpeg]]

* ScheduleSlip: The third book, ''Absolute Midnight,'' took ''seven years'' to finish, officially getting out on September 27, 2011.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: For the first book, Barker admits that most of the pictures came first, and a story just kind of sprung up around them. He's planned the rest a bit more carefully, though.

''Abarat'' is an as-yet unfinished YoungAdult fantasy quintet (of which so far only the first three books have appeared, ''Abarat,'' ''Days of Magic, Nights of War,'' and ''Absolute Midnight''--the intended sequel of which is tentatively titled ''"Kry Rising"'') written and illustrated by one Clive Barker.