sirinrob Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 (edited) I read this book following a recommendation by BookJumper Here is a short synopsis taken from amazon.co.uk Optimus Yarnspinner, a young Zamonian writer, inherits very little from his beloved godfather apart from an unpublished short story by an unknown author.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 Bookholm, the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop containing millions of musty old volumes. His nostrils are assailed by clouds of book dust, by a hint of acidity reminiscent of lemon trees in flower, the stimulating scent of ancient leather, and the acrid, intelligent tang of printer's ink. Yarnspinner not only falls under the spell of this book-obsessed city; he falls into the clutches of its evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the labyrinthine catacombs that extend for many miles beneath the surface. 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! This is the third book in Walter Moers Zamonia series. It is a standalone book. I found the start to be a bit pedestrian, but it soon grabbed me by the collar and I was hooked. The protagonist is a lovable character who gets himself into alsorts of bother, often innoncently. The other main characters are good as well and make the whole story work. Bearing in mind this was originally written in German, the English version flows very well, so much so its difficult to believe it is a translation ( tho there are a couple of times where you can detect is). My favourite part is when Yarnspinner ends up with the Booklings. These little guys completey won me over, at one point I felt very sad for them but then got very pleasantly surprised near the end - I found myself cheering them !!! One of the fun parts of this book are the literary puzzles which are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. Most are anagrams of real authors names, with a book title attached which is cryptic clue to one of their books, but some are crpytic clues. There also a large number of literary allusions. so if you like books, authors, words and the like I believe you will love this book. I found the last 100 pages caught me completely by surprise. It wasnt just the story but other concepts to with creative writing/reading as well. what Moers points reveals , though the reader has to follow this up, is the creative process for some of the events in the story. Ilearnt alot about creative reading from this, so I'm well pleased Whist reading the book I got to one point and it struck me that I had read something similar in concept before. Sure enough I found it 'The library of Babel' by Borges. The concept was similar , but the detail was different. Reading the Borges fiction again I spotted a host of other parrallels. this leas me to think that the Borges fiction provided the conceptual model for Moers book, so extending the literary connexion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and going to put sometime aside to track all of the refernces it contains.:D:D:D wish I could give this infinity points but guess a 100 out of 10 will have to do... Edited September 30, 2009 by sirinrob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Glad you enjoyed it so much it seems like my judgment based on the first hundred pages or so was a correct one, then! Can't wait to find the time to actually pick it up again and finish it - then we can have enlightened conversations about it. In the meantime, everybody else on the forum should read it, so they can join us in our conversing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 This sounds like a great book. I think I'll have to put it on my wishlist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 This sounds like a great book. I think I'll have to put it on my wishlist. Same here! Great review sirinrob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Great review sirinrob, I have 'The City of Dreaming Books' waiting to be read, I am looking forward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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