Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
According to Moers’s The City of Dreaming Books, a horrific fire destroyed Bookholm more than 200 years ago. When a distressing telegram is delivered to Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, widely regarded as Zamonia’s greatest author, while he is on vacation in Lindworm Castle, he is forced to return to Bookholm to look into a mystery. The gorgeously restored city is once more a centre for literature and storytelling. Mythenmetz runs across old friends, strangers, as well as the mysterious “Invisible Theater.” This is a gripping tale from the crazy imagination of Walter Moers that is astoundingly original, humorous, and engrossing.
Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
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Up to this point, Moers’ novels about the people of Zamonia have been stand-alone works with sporadic allusions to the characters and events in his prior works. This book represents the first sequel in the Zamonian universe for Optimus Yarnspinner, who returns to Bookholm around 200 years after his first experiences there.
This literature features Moer’s creative, world-creating imagination once more, but it does so in a different way than in her previous works. Fewer words are used to paint a picture of Bookholm itself and more are used to describe its changing society and creative trends. Any reader who enjoyed solving the great classical artist anagrams contained in “The City of Dreaming Books” will be even more rewarded in this sequel. Moers returns to his roots as a parodist in his examination of puppetism, attacking real-world theatre and music. The drawings he offers are more comprehensive and detailed than those from any earlier Zamonian book. This book is intended for a little older readership with an understanding of the Western Classical arts, but it still has enough thrilling imagery and action to amuse younger readers and humour to sustain previous broad readers of Moers.
It is part of Optimus Yarnspinner’s ongoing series The City of Dreaming Books and serves as a prelude to the finale, which I am eagerly anticipating. 200 years have passed since the events of the preceding book. After a quick departure years ago, he suddenly finds himself back in that terrible city, pulled once more by some enigmatic letter from an unidentified author. He discovers that new art has taken hold in the city and embarks on an educational quest that takes him to unexpected places.
