Product Description

Optimus Yarnspinner, a young Zamonian writer, inherits very little from his beloved godfather apart from an unpublished short story by an unknown author. This manuscript proves to be such a superb piece of writing that he can't resist the temptation to investigate the mystery surrounding the author's identity. The trail takes him to the City of Dreaming Books. After falling under the spell of this book-obsessed metropolis; Yarnspinner also falls into the clutches of its evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the city's labyrinthine catacombs. He finds himself in a subterranean world where reading books can be genuinely dangerous, where ruthless Bookhunters fight to the death for literary gems and the mysterious Shadow King rules a murky realm populated by Booklings, one-eyed beings whose vast library includes live books equipped with teeth and claws. Walter Moers transports us to a magical world where reading is still a genuine adventure, where books can not only entertain people and make them laugh but drive them insane or even kill them. Only those intrepid souls who are prepared to join Optimus Yarnspinner on his perilous journey should read this book. We wish the rest of you a long, safe, unutterably dull and boring life!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26312 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 532 pages

Boyd, The Independent, 01 April 06
A ‘crossover’ blockbuster about the dark magic of reading.

From the Publisher
'[A] ‘crossover’ blockbuster about the dark magic of reading' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent

About the Author
Walter Moers was born in 1957 and is a writer, cartoonist, painter and sculptor. He is the creator of the comic strips The Little Asshole and Adolf and the author of the cult bestseller The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear and A Wild Ride Through The Night. He lives in Hamburg.

Customer Reviews

A joyful, engrossing read!
It really is a pleasure to 'find' such a book as this. The author clearly has had a fine time writing it, and the joy is evident in every chapter - as is the sense of adventure!

The mad world of Walter Moers continues with a budding Lindworm (dinosaur) writer visiting the City of Dreaming Books... and the myriad adventures as he encounters the thousands of entirely non-human residents. Everyone is obsessed with books for one reason or another, but never in a boring manner - the Bookhunters, for example, are fully armoured against the more dangerous, man-eating or explosive tomes!

If you enjoy the wordplay of Jasper Fforde, you will enjoy this. The names of many 'famous' writers are cunning anagrams of existing 'real world' novelists, while the titles of rare books themselves are often enough to make you laugh out loud.

A thoroughly engaging page-turner, suitable for adults and older children - although I am sure, on repeated readings, new jokes will suddenly appear, depending on how well-read you are!

More Moers? Many Thanks!
Thanks to translator and publisher for the latest Moers. Sad to say, I've read the previously-translated books ... which means that, with this book, I couldn't enjoy the intense delight of encountering Moers' strange, dark and strangely meaningful world for the first time. But the pleasure of reading Moers is far from being confined to the strangeness of his imagination and his fantasy world(s). His themes are relevant in subtle and, sometimes, not-so-subtle ways; but above all, his books are one of the great pleasures of reading life. A more than worthy member of that elitist List of Golden Books.

Books as far as the eye can see!
Having read the Captain Blue Bear book this was a book of a much darker nature, still great in it's absurdity. If you want proper escapisium then this is the author for you!

Not as good as Blue Bear but close enough.