Walter Moers

Cute, whimsical, young dinosaur with authorial aspirations goes to the city of publishing and antiquarian bookshops, there's a dark underbelly of the city in which old editions are being destroyed by time, damp, Amontillado-minded hoarders, and armored Indiana-Jones-wannabes, the whole place reeks of mold aboveground and below, there's a sinister holdover society of post-alchemists who have a tasteless version of a golem in their highly nonlinear history, and petulant dinos hurling rare show more editions around in a bookshop is something unattractive female antiquarian specialists can't do anything about. Also critics live in hovels, agents are disposable idiots with no discernment for anything other than pastries, and publishers are embittered crooks. Conflagrations in which creations destroy creators as well as vast libraries and entire civilizations are sufficiently answered by the inspiration of a solitary trope-pumper and the threat of more books in a series. If you love books and would like to read a magical bibliophilia tale, feel free to contact me for a list of several thousand stories in which at least one of the characters actually shares your sentiments. This novel isn't on it. show less

Listen, it's a Hänsel Gretel retelling. But boy is it masterfully done in a way that blends perfectly into Zamonia lore and if anyone told me that Moers was the original source of the tale, I'd believe it.

i read this one night in one sitting. i was able to do so because i have a special, secret knowledge infiltration center beneath my house unknown to anyone but myself (and now you). i usually read by flashlight because, as Bluebear explains, darkness is conducive to deep thinking but i cannot see in the dark.

Hitchhiker's could not have done better in describing the world into which i stepped. Bluebear is simply part of an infinite universe in which there are trees that grow wrenches, swamps show more that grow mattresses, and antique worlds that have edible islands, dimensional hiatuses, minipirates, and cogitating quicksand.

modern mythologizing and parables, Bluebear is rich and deep and curiosity-causing. it makes you think about things and ponder more. the writing is simple yet engaging and the word-choice is phenomenal - partly, i'm sure, due to the fact that this has been translated from the German but moreso because Moers likes to coin words and phrases that feel good when you say them and read them akin to the way JK Rowling churns out verbage.

this is classified as a kids or YA book but i really think it shouldn't be thought of that way. yes, it might do well with kids that need an imagination boost but, really, let's face it: adults need their minds pried free of the primordially stodgy ooze that exists between their ears most of the time. show less

Ever wondered what it's like to walk through a giant's brain, or live in a tornado? Now you can find out. Gasp! as the eponymous Bluebear narrowly escapes all manner of horrible deaths, from drowning in ear-wax to being dissolved in Spiderwitch venom. Thrill! as your blue hero goes ninety-nine rounds in an all-star lying contest, in front of a gawping Atlantis stadium-crowd! Okay, this is a deeply silly book, and you have to be in the right mood for it. But I love it dearly. Give it a show more wallop, I say. show less