The City of Dreaming Books

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In the first week of January I devoured this latest offering from Walter Moers.  I've read and commented on his two previous novels - The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear and Rumo, and the City of Dreaming Books follows on in much the same way - a children's adventure book for adults.  This time however, I connected better than ever with the subject matter - books, writers, libraries...basically everything literary.

The adventure is beautifully written and created.  There are so many unexpected twists and turns but by the end of the book, no loose end is left untied.  I was about fifty pages from the end wondering how he was going to finish everything off in time but he did it.  He did justice to all the characters and also brought in aspects from his other two novels as they are all set in his fantasy world of Zamonia.

Again, the work of the translator is almost equally amazing.  When Nico gets around to this novel, I really want to take a peek at the German to see how much was adapted for an English speaking audience but it is amazing how it still works so well in English.  A fantastic read.