Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (rack) (Abarat)

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The eagerly anticipated second volume of Clive Barker's four part fantasy series, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, picks up right where the highly praised first novel leaves off. Candy Quakenbush is still on the run from the Lord of Midnight, Christopher Carrion, who plans to establish a Permanent Midnight throughout the 25 islanads that make up Abarat. Candy, aided and abetted by a host of colorful new characters, including Malingo (the affable geshrat she rescued in Book One), continues to dodge Carrion's hired assassins, as forces gather on both sides of Day and Night to prepare for the inevitable war between the Hours.

Days of Magic, Nights of War is a true series book--those who have not traveled to Abarat before will have a difficult time picking up the threads of Barker's complex mythical opus without having read the first installment. But teen readers who have been waiting breathlessly for Candy's return are rewarded with a stunning sequel that reveals her true identity at the novel's smashing climax. As in Abarat, Clive Barker's full-colored, organic illustrations of Abarat's inhabitants stalk and swim across the pages like a Stephen King-meets-Dr. Seuss circus. There seems to be no end to Barker's ever-expanding idiosyncratic vision, and for that, fantasy fans of all ages can be grateful. --Jennifer Hubert

Book Description

All things in their time . . .

Candy Quackenbush's adventures in the Abarat are getting stranger by the hour. Why has the Lord of Midnight sent his henchman after her? Why can she suddenly speak words of magic? Why is this world familiar?

Candy and her companions must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands.

A final war is about to begin. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Book.......2007-07-15

I loved both Abarat book and would highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy books. It is fast paced and intriguing.

More Abarat Please.......2007-05-20

It had been quite some time since I read the first book of Abarat, but it really didn't matter. Even though I didn't remember everything from the first book this storyline pulled me right in and refreshed my memory.

In this book Candy really grows as an individual and begins to understand her feelings about herself, her family (mostly her father) and also she opens a can of worms in regards to the untold story of Christopher Carrion and Princess Boa. What really happened between them?

Candy also begins to realize her power.

The characters, creatures and landscape are all amazing. So beautiful and intricate that I want to be there. I couldn't put this book down until the very end, and now I want more.

It's a pleasure to see something truly original and inspired for young adults that can also wholly please an adult. It's also a pleasure to see a female in the lead role instad of the obligitory young boy in the lead with females only for supporting characters.

I reccomend this book to anyone who who wants to embark on a voyage into the fantastic and unknown. I reccomend this book to anyone who has a heart, young or old you won't be disappointed.

Put down the harry potter and pick up Abarat! :-)

A Journey Through the Mind of Clive Barker.......2007-05-15

I loved the first book of Abarat so much that I ordered this book four times! (Well, actually, I forgot I had ordered it when I ordered it again, and accidentally ordered it a third time, and then found it at a secondhand shop before the first order came in, and forgot I'd ordered it until after I'd paid for it....or was Candy Quackenbush calling to me from Abarat?) I had been away a long time from the first volume, and the second does NOT contain a "Previously in the Abarat Series" chapter, so I had something of a hard time remembering where we were and what was happening and who was who, or what was who, as the case may be. But once I had mentally refreshed myself, I thoroughly enjoyed Days of Magic, Nights of War. I do understand the criticisms that there is 'not enough plot', but that's not an accurate description of the book--there's plenty of storytelling, but little that is predictable because our plucky heroine, the amusingly named Candy Quackenbush, is not in charge of events but is rather carried along by them, rather like a ragdoll in a hurricane. When I say ragdoll, I mean a ragdoll with two souls, that knows magic and can travel interdimesionally. And when I say hurricane, I mean, a living hurricane with red dreadlocks and three rows of teeth filed down to knifepoints. Because that's the kind of place Abarat is, sort of the Land of Oz, as seen by Dr. Seuss on acid in a mental hospital. It's not for everyone...in fact I'm a little dubious about the 'young adult' label--sure, maybe the really cool, imaginative young adults, but maybe just as much for the young-adult-at-hearts like myself. My only real quibble is that I have to wait for the next two books--although some big plot points were wound up here, many (including those eponymous Nights of War of the somewhat inaccurate title) remain unresolved.

Still captivating.......2007-02-03

As an author and reader of young adult novels, I greaty appreciate the uniqueness of this series. Barker's ability to use his own artwork to bring the characters and scenes to life is truely unusual, and the frequent and amazingly good drawings give the reader a chance to fill in the blanks when his descriptions of the quirky characters are sometimes hard to visualize. The plot in this second book of the series seems to slow a bit in places, but gradually the reader learns more about Candy Quackenbush (my favorite character)and is treated to her continuous and humorous interfaces in the strange Alice of Wonderland like world that Barker has created. This is high fantasy stuff, and readers should not expect to find a story grounded in the least bit of reality. Some of the scenes and characters are a bit replusive, cruel, or obnoxious as well, so sensitive readers take note. But all in all, its a thoroughly enjoyable read and recommended for readers above age eleven.

too much imagination, too little plot.......2006-12-15

I know I'm in the minority, but I've been underwhelmed by this series. Clive Barker clearly has a vivid imagination -- there are more fantastical creatures and settings running around in his brain than he knows what to do with. Some of the creatures are interesting, particularly those like Malingo whom we actually get to know. But too many pages are taken up with inventories of oddities -- some seen by Candy on her travels, others involving the terrible Christopher Carrion and his assorted gruesome hangers-on. Most of these creations are irrelevant or tangential to the plot, so that I wound up skimming through those passages going "blah, blah, blah," while waiting for something to happen that would actually advance the story arc. I don't think I'll bother with the next book.

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Abarat: Days of Magic,Nights of War
CLIVE BARKER
Manufacturer: Joanna Cotler
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Abarat II: Days Of Magic, Nights Of War
Clive Barker
Manufacturer: Voyager
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War
Clive; Richard, Ferrone Barker
Manufacturer: HarperChildrensAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (SIGNED + author drawing)

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Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (SIGNED + author drawing)
Clive Barker
Manufacturer: Voyager
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (SIGNED)

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Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (SIGNED)
Clive Barker
Manufacturer: Voyager
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Days of Magic, Nights of War [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD) (The Abarat fantasy series, Book 2 of The Abarat fantasy series)

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Days of Magic, Nights of War [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD) (The Abarat fantasy series, Book 2 of The Abarat fantasy series)
Clive Barker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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Product Description

Horror master Clive Barker is a New York Times best-selling author. This is the amazing second installment in his critically acclaimed Abarat fantasy series. Ever since the Lord of Midnight dispatched his emissaries to retrieve her, Candy Quackenbushs life has grown stranger and stranger by the minute. But why does he want with her? Find out in this spellbinding tale of magic, mystery, and mischief.

Book Description

After Capitalism is the apex of the life’s work of one of the most respected scholars of the American workplace. For nearly half a century, Seymour Melman has been an influential commentatoron capitalism, militarism and their discontents. In After Capitalism he explores a growing trend in capitalist systems worldwide: workplace democracy.

The end of the Cold War in 1991 inspired an unprecedented outburst of triumphalist rhetoric among proponents of unfettered capitalism. Free-marketeers believed that we were witnessing “the end of history,” and proclaimed that the market economy was here to stay, that all alternatives had been proven inferior. Melman, in dissent, tracks the increasing social and economic inequities and the resulting cries for workplace reform.

He points out the ominous parallels between the Soviet Union’s planned economy and the relentless onward march of American capitalism. Just as the Soviet planned economy venerated “the State” above all else, American capitalism views the health and eternal expansion of the free market as the ultimate goal: both propagate vast and harmful income gaps, both rely on and promote militarism—and neither leaves much room for consideration of workers’ well-being. Melman analyzes the adverse economic impact of these flaws and oversights, which have led to “grave production weaknesses in the U.S. economy,” and he suggests an alternative to current economic organization that holds out the promise of both greater fairness and equity and more soundly balanced production.

“Workplace democracy,” in which workers actively participate in the management of their workplace, is gaining ground in venues as diverse as Israeli kibbutzim and Basque factories. Melman explains how workplace democracy can, and why it should, be implemented in America. After Capitalism is the new century’s first essential book about labor: thoughtful, humane, at once commonsensical and revolutionary, Melman’s prescriptions can inspire changes in the way the world works.

Customer Reviews:

A thorough but dry and repetitive analysis.......2005-12-11

Although After Capitalism examines the inherent flaws in modern state capitalism with exhaustive thoroughness, the book is exceedingly boring; the crushing machine of our hierarchical society is described with the sort of prose you'd find in an instruction manual for assembling a desk. This might be excusable (it is, after all, an economic treatise) if Melman managed to turn his critique into a map for a society after capitalism but the book never quite seems to get there. There are vague and repetitive references to attempts by workers to "disalienate" themselves but Melman never explores the workers' efforts with the sort of detail he reserves for outlining the architecture of the Military-Industrial Complex. In all, the book was informative but I'm certain there are tomes out there that manage to portray a more evocative vision of a postcapitalist world.

Book Description

This Reader brings together in a single volume previously dispersed writing's on domestic consumption from the disciplines of sociology, media and cultural studies and feminist theory. In five inter-related sections, the edition provides a series of extracts which illustrates the book's main themes: the politics of domestic life, family unity and division; the creativeness and constraints of consumption and the relationship between home and the outside world. For students of researchers of Sociolog; Media and Cultural studies; Communicaton; and Women's Studies.

Reducing Gasoline Consumption: Three Policy Options (CBO Study)

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Reducing Gasoline Consumption: Three Policy Options (CBO Study)
Terry Dinan , and David Austin
Manufacturer: Congressional Budget Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Compares 3 methods of reducing gasoline comsumption in the United States: setting higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger vehicles; raising the Federal tax on gasoline; and setting a limit on carbon emissions from gasoline combustion and requiring gasoline producers to hold allowances for those emissions, known as a cap-and-trade program.

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Politics of Domestic Consumption, The
Shaun Moores Stevi Jackson
Manufacturer: Pearson Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIAHDS

Customer Reviews:

Another collection of pearls of mathematical wisdom.......2000-11-27

If there were a mathematics of watching paint dry, Martin Gardner would make it interesting. Without peer as a popularizer of mathematics, he is equally adept at explaining all areas. This book, another updated collection of his Scientific American columns, is a twenty member set of polished pearls. Although somewhat mundane as a descriptive adjective, the word readable fits his writing like a custom made body stocking.
Always interesting and entertaining, reading his essays is somewhat like eating tiny chocolate bars. You can't get enough, each seems too small, and there are no negative side effects.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Book Description

No Heavenly Delusion? analyzes three movements of communal living, the Kibbutz, the Bruderhof and the Integrierte Gemeinde, all of which can trace their origins to the German Youth Movement of the first part of the twentieth century. The book looks at the alternative societies and economies the movements have created, their interactions with the wider world, and their redrawing of the boundaries of the public and private spheres of their members. The comparative approach taken allows a picture of dissimilarities and similarities to emerge that goes beyond merely obvious points of difference. Tyldesley places these movements in the context of intellectual trends in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and especially Germany, and enables the reader to evaluate their wider significance.

Michael Tyldesley. No Heavenly Delusion? A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements.(Book Review): An article from: Utopian Studies

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Michael Tyldesley. No Heavenly Delusion? A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements.(Book Review): An article from: Utopian Studies
John Sill
Manufacturer: Society for Utopian Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Utopian Studies, published by Society for Utopian Studies on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 986 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Michael Tyldesley. No Heavenly Delusion? A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements.(Book Review)
Author: John Sill
Publication: Utopian Studies (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: Society for Utopian Studies
Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Page: 215(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

TV's Golden Age.......2003-06-07

Wilk takes readers back to the more innocent days of when television was in its infancy and creativity was the only way to develop ideas because there were no precedents to follow. The pioneers of the medium were the first to pave the way. In a sense there is a taste of that adventuresome spirit in the trial-and-error period of the internet. New ideas are being tested. Looking back at how television developed in the 1950s causes one to realize the principles of creativity are consistent regardless of the method of communication.

The Golden Age of Television- Notes from the Survivors

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The Golden Age of Television- Notes from the Survivors

Manufacturer: (Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GVAP3A

Book Description

Flash MX 2004 Game Design DemystifiedYour comprehensive guide to creating games using Flash MX 2004. It will take you through the process of creating a game in Flash MX 2004. The first several chapters introduce general processes for creating games, while the second section looks at the important concepts for creating realistic games. Such concepts include math, physics, collision detection, and collision reaction. A third section delves into more creative concepts: tile-based worlds, 3D visualization, artificial intelligence, using graphics, and using sound. Later chapters provide an introduction to multiplayer games, creating a high score list for games, and a selection games for which the authors share the development process, including code. The accompanying CD will provide the code for each function discussed in the book as well as working versions of the games.

Customer Reviews:

Technically good, except for one flaw........2007-04-11

Very informative as far as what it teaches, but I noticed it's written for the experienced user...so why does it come with a demo of the software you're being taught? If you're experienced, you already own it, I think.

Decent book with a mixed approach.......2006-12-01

This book does not use the typical approach where various games of increasing complexity and size are used to explain concepts throughout the chapters. Instead, part of the book is dedicated to small games pieces or recipes and another to full games. In any case, there are many areas of Flash game programming that are covered. Some of the topics include game math, level editors, artificial intelligence (AI) and even multiplayer games. Of course not ever topic is covered with as much detail as others. But, plenty of references to both web links and books are provided throughout the chapters and in the appendix for more information on certain topics. The book includes a CD with demo software, game files, PDFs and other various files.

The first chapters (Part I) start with an introduction to gaming, including terminology and genres. Then is a description of Flash's capabilities and limitations. Surprisingly, there is no basic introduction to Flash or ActionScript that is frequently seen in other books. The rest of this section is dedicated to general development issues including game design and planning.

The core material of this book was cover in Part II (Chapter 3-14). Here many of the fundamentals of game programming were explained through small example scripts and incomplete games. Game math is one of the first topics introduced, followed by physics and then collisions (detections and reactions). Following the math and physics related scripts did get a bit difficult at times. However, full understanding is not necessarily required since the many scripts provided can be easily implemented into other games. Also, the PDF files on the CD consisted of some of the equations used in the scripts with the math worked out in pencil. Aside from the math intensive chapters, there was still a lot of useful material in the remaining chapters. The chapters on tile and isometric based games provided good information on how to handle them more easily and efficiently. In addition, the chapter on AI was original, since it covered maze creation and path finding as well as the usual enemy attack/pursuit scripts that many books focus on. There was even a decent, although single and short, chapter on sound, including using it in Flash and creating your own. All the material in these chapters were explained in detail and included numerous images.

The final part of the book concludes with discussion on several full functioning games. There is one game for each of the remaining chapters (15-18). Not all of the code from each game could be discussed, as the chapters from Part II took up the bulk of the book. Nonetheless, the key areas of each game were described in detail and the .fla source files on the CD did include comments. The CD also provided additional source files for a handful of full and incomplete games. Still, the games in these chapters were each complex and large enough to have warranted more coverage. The multiplayer chess game, which used a socket server (Chapter 16), could have definitely benefited from more content. Ultimately there were probably too few pages to fairly discuss the games in the final chapters.

This book is certainly not for a beginner, since it does not have a Flash or ActionScript primer that most of these books would include. On the back cover it is categorized as intermediate to advance and I agree for the most part. It was at least a notch above in difficulty from beginner level books I have read so far. However, with little coverage on object oriented programming (OOP), it probably can not be considered a true advanced book. Some of the examples did use exported class files, but actual discussion on them was limited. In the end, I found the middle part on game pieces to be more helpful. Nevertheless, "Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Design Demystified" is still a good book and will work as both a reference and a standard guide.

Rating: 4/5

Not recommended.......2006-11-04

I would suggest any books by Colin Moock or the Robert Penner book "Programming Macromedia Flash MX" over this book. I bought this book because I hoped it would explain some physics applications that I was having trouble with and because it dives into topics like multiplayer games. To be fair, I haven't gotten to the multiplayer games section yet, so it's possible that that part is clear and useful. The physics part is only helpful if you are content to simply copy and paste code into your flash apps. I'd like to really understand the topic at hand and for me this book failed miserably.

1. This book is poorly edited. I know it is difficult to make sure there are no typos when you're reading through code examples, but somehow O'Reilly press gets it done very well. I found several examples in the first few chapters, some of them actually interfering with my comprehension of the text.

2. This book does a very poor job of explaining complicated topics. In some places, the authors suggest readers turn to pdf files on the included cd for further explication. The pdf files I looked at, however, were simply scans of handwritten notes. This would have been acceptable to me, but the notes really didn't explain anything any more than the book or code examples did.

When explaining how to test for collisions between graphic objects, the book attempts to describe a quadratic equation. This appears to be a difficult thing to describe; however, this does not excuse shortcuts such as simply not explaining how/why the authors solve the problem the way that they do. I am particularly frustrated by an example of code in which the variables are named a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j... Yes, the authors need to create a number of temporary variables and perhaps this method was optimized. But for a didactic text? Use variable names that actually mean something, that actually convey what is being done.

Look elsewhere for your flash informationl.

Good Start but lacking details.......2005-09-08

I was hoping that this book would shed some light on how to apply practical mathematics to AS2.0 in order to produce some realistic effects. It provides a good start and even gives good descriptions about the inner workings of some of the concepts.

I took two years of H.S. physics, trig, and calc and I still find the explanations lacking for those of us that require the "why's" to all our questions.

The examples on the CD are extremely helpful IF you understand the code. Sorting through the files to find the code is hard and some of the files seem unfinished.

I would get this used if given the chance to do it all over again.

Great Game Book, Worst ActionScript 2.0 Book.......2005-02-06

I found this book great to learn programming basic game physics but it is certainly one of the worst book to pick if you want to upgrade your ActionScript knowledge from 1.0 to 2.0.

The source codes are ALMOST NO DIFFERENCE from ActionScript 1.0. It is almost as if the arthur thinks that by adding variable declarations, ActionScript 1.0 becomes ActionScript 2.0.

No true Object-Oriented Programming practices (which is the true strength of ActionScript 2.0) at all. The coding style are simply ActionScript 1.0 structure (with variable declarations).

Still, this book is great to pick if you are new to game development. However, be aware that this book is NOT demonstrating how to program in ActionSctip 2.0 properly.

Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified

Average customer rating:

Complete!
First glance is good, but when you delve deeper...
Excellent presentation. Honest coverage of issues
Definitely not for beginners
Good book only if u are good at Maths and ActionScript

Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified
Jobe Makar
Manufacturer: Macromedia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0201770210

Book Description

Macromedia Flash Game Design Demystified starts out with the basics: planning, adapting ActionScript techniques, using introductory Flash game techniques, and more. Then it gets down to the real business of building simple games. You'll tackle simple-logic and quiz games before moving on to multiplayer and complex-logic games (chess, for example)--learning about importing 3-D graphics, adding sound effects, and licensing your games in the process. The book's companion CD includes the source files for a number of games as well as the tutorials and lessons that go along with the book and XML server software to facilitate multiplayer games. If you're tired of the games that you have and want to make your own action, this book offers comprehensive coverage of sophisticated techniques--but put in easy-to-grasp, practical terms.

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