In the tradition of Jansson's Moomintrolls and Juster's Phantom Tollbooth, here we have a story told by Optimus Yarnspinner, a dinosaurish creature whose entire life revolves around books. As our tale opens, Yarnspinner's authorial godfather, Dancelot Wordwright, is on his deathbed. He gives Yarnspinner a short story that is so good that it caused him to stop writing. Yarnspinner then journeys to Bookholm, a city entirely devoted to writing and bookselling, to track down this amazing writer. This book is a real treat for bibliophiles. The illustrations are darling and the literary references are fun to spot. Not a book I probably would have picked up on my own; I'm glad I gave it a try. ( )

As a lover of books, I felt I was going to enjoy this book and I did. At first I was thrown because I didn't know the characters were going to be non-human (I just read the back cover which didn't really say), but once I realized what I was in for, I really got into the story. Optimus' journey through Bookholm and the catacombs, with its book laden tunnels and fascinating array of creatures, kept me wanting to read more. Perhaps it was the Orm. :) ( )

At Lindworm Castle in the country of Zamoria, every young dinosaur has an authorial godfather who is responsible for his literary education and training. When young Optimus Yarnspinner's godfather, Dancelot Wordwright, dies, he leaves his charge a manuscript of such surpassing genius, a piece of writing so perfectly right, that Optimus decides that he must find the author and learn from him.

And so he leaves home and heads for the city of Bookholm, a town that "reeks of old books", where the inhabitants walk with "stacks of books under their arms - indeed, many tow whole handcarts laden with reading matter". But as he begins his search for the mysterious author amid the city's five thousand antiquarian bookstores, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Hidden beneath the city are labyrinthine tunnels where Bookhunters seek rare and precious tomes, and where danger lurks. Optimus finds himself trapped in this nether world, and must find his way back to the light. It is his adventures there that form the core of this delightfully exciting book, as he fends off living books (animatomes), spends time among the Booklings (each of whom has memorized the entire output of such literary geniuses as Aleisha Wimpersleake and Wamilli Swordthrow), and learns the secret of the Shadow King.

An utterly charming and amusing book, filled with literary puns. Many booklovers will appreciate the scene where, hypnotized by an odd form of music, the populace madly invades the bookstores, "sweeping books off the shelves regardless of title or author, price or condition . . . I had been smitten with an insatiable hunger for books and only one thing could cure it: buy, buy, buy!" Sounds like me at the Newberry Library Book Fair.

Fantastic book. Beautiful language. Original. Not only is it a work of astounding imagination and sparkling whimsy, but it's also a scathing satire on all things literary. Full of the darkest sort of humor, no one is spared -- not writers, critics, editors, agents, booksellers, or readers. As a writer myself, I found it hilarious, poignant, uplifting and humbling, all at once. It's also a rollicking good tale! ( )

This book is dear to my heart. A book about a city of books, book stores, book lovers, editors, authors etcpp. A dream come true.

This book takes you on a journey of a wanna-be author searching for the source of his inspiration and ultimately for the answer to the question "what is inspiration anyway". It's about finding your way in life and about appreciating art in a way that has been forgotten in our society. In this book, art is alive. It's on the pages, between the lines and it's talking in the story.

You have to be able to follow Moers into a fantasy world to appreciate this book. If you cannot relate to a saurian who wants to write prose, then you'll have a problem... Try to read it anyway, please. ( )

I really liked "The City of Dreaming Books" by Walter Moer. It is fanciful story with lots of cute illustrations by the author.

This is the story of Optimus Yarnspinner a "Lindworm" (dragon) from Lindworm castle, of course. All Lindworms come from Lindworm Castle and all Lindworms are natural born Authors. After the death of his godfather, Optimus Yarnspinner goes to "The City of Dreaming Books" to find the author of a mysterious manuscript that he inherited. The City of Dreaming Books is full of bookshops, publishers, agents, authors, and book hunters. He meets lots of strange creatures, eats strange food, and goes on a bit of an adventure.

It is a very literary story, in the sense that it is about books and authors. It has a lot of references that adults will enjoy, such as literary agents who can not tell good writing from bad and famous authors disguised by scrambling their names (and some of their most famously quoted words). I was reminded of "The Phantom Tollbooth".

Unfortunately the writing is a little heavy handed in places. The author occasionally repeats himself as if afraid we will miss a plot point. The main character is a bit pompous and unlikable at times. Altogether the writing is not as inspired as the author would like it to be. Which makes it a good book rather than a Great one. Although one can not be sure how much of this is a fault of the translation. ( )

Walter Moers' fantastical novel is calculated to titillate the senses of the inveterate book lover. Moers creates a whole world that revolves around the conception, writing, publishing, distribution, and consumption of books, set in a fantasy world that reads like a cross between Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein. But the calculation is a trifle too deliberate to my mind.

The story is narrated by Optimus Yarnspinner, a Lindworm (or dinosaur) from Lindworm Castle. Following the death of his authorial godfather, Optimus comes into possession of a manuscript by an unknown author, written with such sublime skill that it completely captivates any person who reads it. Optimus is determined to find this writer, but his only clue is his godfather's letter which told the young author to go to Bookholm. Bookholm is the book capital of the world, and every aspiring author's mecca.

Bookholm turns out to be a rather cutthroat place, where books and danger lurk together. For underneath the city are the Dreaming Books, a catacomb of volumes that extends miles below the surface and yields great treasures to the rapacious Bookhunters. Naive Optimus is soon lured into the very heart of the city's corruption, and is thrust down into the labyrinth to be left for the horrible Shadow-King who is rumored to dwell there. Optimus must draw on his knowledge of literature and his own wisdom to survive the perils of the labyrinth and its inhabitants.

This book and I started out on excellent terms. It was fantasy, it had a fun premise, the narration was humorous, and I was as tickled as any bibliophile at the extreme reverence paid to books. But as the story went on, it became less and less congenial to me. I don't want to spoiler anything, but certain plot elements seemed very out of place and forced. Certain characters' motivations were just not plausible enough. And the story dragged on quite a lot.

None of the things that drew me to the book in the first place really disappeared as the story went on. They just became alien to me somehow. The humor became more black, the fantasy more disturbing, and the worship of books more dangerous. One of Moers' biggest points is that books are perilous things. His point is made with books that are actually alive and that can poison or harm you, but of course they are simply a metaphor for the dangerous ideas a book can carry.

One fun thing was the way he garbled authors' names (for instance, an Aleisha Wimperslake is mentioned several times... it doesn't take much to figure out it's William Shakespeare). I didn't figure them all out though; I was rather too impatient for the story to go on to stop and play anagrams with author names. A more leisurely reader than myself might enjoy those though.

Overall, I just can't recommend this book. Somehow it just didn't do it for me. I can see how Moers' work could become a "cult favorite" (as with his other books, the back of my ARC informs me), but I guess I'm just not part of the cult. ( )

Optimus Yarnspinner destiny is to become a writer. Some of the best Zamomian literature has come from Lindworm Castle where Optimus lives. When his authorial godfather, Dancelot Wordwright, passes away he lives Optimus a mysterious manuscript. After reading it he decides he must find the author. So he sets off for the only place a mysterious author might be found, Bookholm.

"Bookholm had more than five thousand officially registered antiquarian bookshops and roughly an thousand semi-legal establishments that sold, in addition to books, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and intoxicating herbs and essences whose ingestion was reputed to enhance your pleasure and powers of concentration when reading. There was also an almost incalculable number of itinerant vendors with printed matter of every conceivable kind for sale in shoulder bags or in handcarts, in wheelbarrows and mobile bookcases. Bookholm boasted over six hundred publishing houses, fifty-five printers, a dozen paper mills and a steadily growing number of factories producing lead type and printers ink. There were shops offering thousands of different bookmarks and ex-libris, stonemasons specializing in bookends, cabinetmakers workshops and furniture stores filled with lecterns and bookcases, opticians who manufactured spectacles and magnifying glasses, and coffeeshops on ever street corner."

Optimus was in a booklovers paradise. He spends the next couple days just wandering through the city. He even sees his first bookhunter! He happens upon a building with a sign outside saying it was "The Chamber of Hazardous Books". The Vulphead outside tells passerby to make out their wills before entering. There are books that can bite, strangle and fly. Optimus decides against going in. He also gets to see the "Graveyard of Forgotten Writers" (not an actual graveyard), "Poison Alley" and "Editorial Lane".

He makes a few attempts at finding the author to the manuscript he carries. Either no one knows or is unwilling to talk about who the author is. Finally he finds someone whom he thinks will help him. Poor Optimus is tricked and banished deep within the catacombs of the city. Opitmus is in for an adventure of a lifetime if he can only survive trying to find his way out of the catacombs.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. I loved reading the descriptions of the city and the titles of some of the books Optimus finds. Walter Moers has written several books set in this same world of Zamomian. If you haven't had a chance to read this I think most readers will enjoy this book. I enjoyed his other book called "the 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear". ( )

http://bookchronicle.wordpress.com/20... ( )

Moers's third Zamonia book is full of his terrific cartoon illustrations, his love of puns, and all the delightfully odd characters he's known for. It is also a better book that Captain Bluebear. While Bluebear is at times a fast-paced travelogue of Zamonia, trying to cram in every possible place and every possible species, The City of Dreaming Books uses a more limited palate.

We follow Optimus Yarnspinner, a Lindworm (dinosaur) from his home in Lindworm Castle to Bookholm, and the catacombs underneath. Compared to Bluebear, Optimus spends incredibly amounts of time in one place, helping us get to know the place and the people who live there - Bookholm, the bookhunters, the booklings, and the Shadow King particularly. A few times it reverts to a catalog-like listing of places, events, and creatures, as when Optimus meets a half dozen of the worst denizens of the catacombs in short order or the made-to-order Disney/Indiana Jones ride through abandoned tunnels on a rickety mine car, excuse me, I meant book shelf.

And, if you enjoy puzzles there are a few thrown in. On two pages not too far in to the book is everything you need to decipher the bookholm numbering system (though there are plenty of hints elsewhere) and the booklings really are all named after real authors. Some are more obvious than others, but everything you need to know is right there in the name. The illustrations are good. The story is entertaining. Does it flow with the Orm? Maybe not, but it is worth the time. ( )

I don't often read fantasy -- and I'm not really sure what made me pick up this cross between Lord of the Rings and Shrek. But, I'm glad I did.

This is the story of Optimus Yarnspinner, born to be an author, but unable to find the inspiration to actually write anything. He goes off in search of an unknown author who has written a perfect manuscript. And, that's where the adventure begins, full of quests (heroic and otherwise), fascinating, and imaginative creatures (one-eyed booklings who memorize texts as nourishment; animatomes or living books, bookhunters and more). It's a universe where all things revolve around books.

Great story, wildly imaginative, intriguing use of language. ( )

The City of Dreaming Books reads like an overnight collaboration between Theodore Geisel, Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl, and maybe even Robin Williams. Wacky and whimsical, this parody of everything to do with books is inspired and sometimes extremely bizarre. Moers recounts the adventures of a prospective young Zamonian author on his quest to the legendary city of Bookholm to find the world’s greatest writer, personal fame, and the ever-elusive Orm.

A humorous delight for all who like to spend their time reading, or writing too. ( )

From Publishers Weekly
German author and cartoonist Moers returns to the mythical lost continent of Zamonia in his uproarious third fantasy adventure to be translated into English (after 2006's Rumo), a delightfully imaginative mélange of Shel Silverstein zaniness and oddball anthropomorphism à la Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Optimus Yarnspinner, a young saurian novelist, embarks on a quest to track down the anonymous author of the most magnificent piece of writing in the whole of Zamonian literature. Traveling to Bookholm, the legendary City of Dreaming Books, the naïve Yarnspinner falls victim to Pfistomel Smyke, a maggotlike literary scholar who poisons Yarnspinner and abandons him in the treacherous catacombs miles below the city's surface. Stranded in an underworld steeped in terror-inducing myth and home to more than a few bizarre inhabitants, Yarnspinner undertakes a long and perilous journey back to the world above. Enchanting illustrations by the author compliment a wonderfully whimsical story that will appeal to readers of all ages.

I loved ALL of the Zamonia books. Very absorbing and whimsical stories, sympathetic characters. They remind me very much of Gulliver's Travels, in that they mix social and political commentary (satire, really) with a quirky and interesting story. ( )

"It's hard to figure out how to describe this book. I tried to explain to my fiance - "it's very strange and I'm not sure if I like it entirely, but I can't put it down."

What on earth can one make of a statement like that? The trouble, I think, is that the characters look like distant cousins of Dr. Seuss, (and I must admit the pictures are part of what got me started with this book and with the 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear), but this is not really a kids' book. The author too well describes the horrible things that happen to characters in the book for it to be bed-time reading from parent to kid. These often charming, sometimes horrifying characters are meant for adults, as are some of the looong descriptions (in this book, especially of music) that seem almost drug-related. In that the plot is driven by a manuscript, and follows around readers and writers and pieces of books (that he has mostly made up), it reminds me a bit of Italo Calvino's if on a winter's night a traveler.

This is a world where books and writing are highly valued (a cousin of Jasper Fford's world, but the world looks a lot less like ours). The hero is a bookworm (of the saurian variety) who, in search of the writer of a mysterious but utterly perfect manuscript (about writer's block), gets into all sorts of trouble and adventure. Involved are cute mini book-reading cyclops, live books, catacombs, and antiquarian book-shop owners.

Was the book good? Yes. I wish he wouldn't spend quite so much time on description. Sometimes it seems like a pause from the book, or rather an interlude, and I just wanted to see what happened next. I like the world he creates, and the puns he uses when naming some of his characters.

So - read and be puzzled but engaged!" ( )

http://12frogs.com/reading/reviews/20... ( )

Moers returns with his third book to be translated into English. Endlessly inventive, Moers directs this tale at a more adult audience. Although I had some trouble with the literary devices that he unashamedly employs (he even makes The Shadow King joke about this), I still had fun and found myself rather involved in this book - albeit after a slow start. (In fact, if I had not read other Moers books, I would most likely have abandoned this work.) Quite fun overall. ( )

What a fantastic book! I absolutely loved it. ( )

An ambitious - and in many ways successful - exercise in world building with wonderfully cute illustrations. Found the style difficult to read to start with (particularly as I rarely read in German these days) but got into it reasonably quickly. I remain unconvinced by the characters, particularly that of Hildegunst (Optimus for those who've read in translation) but also Smeik, whose motivation remain unclear until the end. Hildegunst himself is pompous, and that comes through in the writing, with the effect of preventing any emotional attachment the reader might develop for him and removing the reader from the action, so that at no point does one feel anything for him, be it sympathy or even fear for his life.

The Shadow King is a mixed bag of goods - a bit of a nutter at times, funny and entertaining at others. The booklings were probably by far the best characters in the novel.

Also, I not entirely sure what the moral of the story was - or whether there was supposed to be any. The Shadow King spends far too much time lamenting how he has turned into a monster and killed so many book hunters, before proceeding to murder quite a few more. I am not convinced that he was in any way redeemed at the end of the novel, and nor do I see any great development in Hildegunst's character apart from his alleged acquisition of the Orm.

Enjoyable in parts, great world building, could try harder on characters and plot. Then again, my own priorities in reading tend to centre around characters and plot, with world building only playing as a hygiene factor. I can see how someone who enjoysworld building for its own sake would absolutely love this. ( )

Der absolute Wahnsinn! ( )