Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collections
Publication
Harvill Secker (2009), Hardback, 384 pages
Description
"Malaisea is the unhealthiest town in the whole of Zamonia, home to Echo the Crat, a multi-talented creature that resembles a cat but is capable of speaking any language under the sun. When his mistress dies and Echo finds himself starving on the street, he is compelled to sign a contract with Ghoolion the Alchemaster, Malaisea's evil alchemist-in-chief. This fateful document gives Ghoolion the right to kill Echo at the next full moon and render him down for his fat, with which he hopes to brew an immortality potion. But Ghoolion has not reckoned for Echo's talent for survival, and his ability to make new friends."--Dust jacket.
User reviews
LibraryThing member sexy_librarian
Ever since reading "Rumo," I have been enchanted by Walter Moers. A German writer, he brings a new slant to the so called fiction/fantasy genre, and once again shines a new light on his world of Zamonia in this book. Unlike his other books that have the characters roaming all over the country, this
As a writer, Moers tends to take his story slowly, developing characters and weaving many different ideas together. A little story that he will have a character tell at the very beginning may not come back into the plot till the very end. In a way, this is frustrating to readers who are more accustomed to the more quickly paced books of many popular American writers, but I have learned to enjoy his writing as if it is a collection of short stories gathered together into a longer novel. Another habit of Moers that can be frustrating is his lists. If talking about plants, he will spend half a page listing all the various plants that may be found in a scene, or perhaps chemicals, or food, or minerals, or anything at all. While I have gotten used to just skimming over these sections, I do appreciate that he has taken the time to research this information, as well as make up some of his own, seemingly based off his research. If you pay attention, you can see where he has taken an object that may be commonplace to us, but combined and twisted it into something new and unimaginable.
While it takes time to get used to his writing style, I have come to enjoy his somewhat languid pace, development of characters, and very detailed plots. To me this is what a novel should be. By the end I should know the characters as if they were my own friends, or enemies, and this is exactly how I felt as I turned the last page.
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story stays stoically in the town of Malaisea, one of the most degenerate towns in the country, where the sickly people live under the rule of the horrifying Alchemaster. Enter a small Crat, a creature exactly like a cat in size and stature, with the small exception that it can talk to any living creature. When the little Crat strikes a deal with the Alchemaster, we as readers are thrown into a world beyond reckoning. But I will not ruin the story for you. Just be prepared to encounter twisted characters, seemingly meaningless quips and stories, and heart where you thought there was none. As a writer, Moers tends to take his story slowly, developing characters and weaving many different ideas together. A little story that he will have a character tell at the very beginning may not come back into the plot till the very end. In a way, this is frustrating to readers who are more accustomed to the more quickly paced books of many popular American writers, but I have learned to enjoy his writing as if it is a collection of short stories gathered together into a longer novel. Another habit of Moers that can be frustrating is his lists. If talking about plants, he will spend half a page listing all the various plants that may be found in a scene, or perhaps chemicals, or food, or minerals, or anything at all. While I have gotten used to just skimming over these sections, I do appreciate that he has taken the time to research this information, as well as make up some of his own, seemingly based off his research. If you pay attention, you can see where he has taken an object that may be commonplace to us, but combined and twisted it into something new and unimaginable.
While it takes time to get used to his writing style, I have come to enjoy his somewhat languid pace, development of characters, and very detailed plots. To me this is what a novel should be. By the end I should know the characters as if they were my own friends, or enemies, and this is exactly how I felt as I turned the last page.
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LibraryThing member ontoursecretly
Moers' tale of anthropomorphism and ultimate evil (again) shares more of the darkness of Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures and the style of The City of Dreaming Books, and ultimately lacks the humorous perfection of The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. Its main characters, Echo the Crat (basically,
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a supernaturally intelligent creature that differs from a cat only in his possession of an extra liver, which seems to only endow him with a slightly better ability to metabolize toxins than the average Moggy), Ghoolion the Alchemaster (the mad, emotionally complex but always evil cross between scientist, wizard and Josef Mengele), and Izanuela (an apparently nonhuman creature roughly equivalent to an unattractive Druid/witch known as an Uggly) are all interesting. Well, Echo, being the narrator, isn't so interesting, but does interesting things and isn't unlikeable, although he is a little thick sometimes. The author takes a pretty well-trodden path in putting together his story, which is mostly predictable and has a prolonged climax of increasingly dull events (and incidentally bears an uncanny resemblance in many respects to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). It tends to ignore points which I thought deserved more attention, especially the character of Izanuella, who is quite clever, scrappy, plucky, and the only (or at least most) prominent female character in Moers' universe to date, and focus on things that didn't bear much fruit (one being the large role of the White Widow, a poorly described creature which is supposed to be "the Queen of Fear" and yet is not particularly horrifying, but is obviously supposed to loom large on the page and drip with significance). Just putting the words in the right places wasn't enough in this case: the problem is, the words Moer chose are simply not that riveting. Show Less
LibraryThing member tolmsted
Summer is over, but no one says we need to back away from the escapist fiction! There’s no shame in losing yourself between the covers of a good book. Just don’t confuse this kind of escape with the chick lit, mysteries and thrillers you were reading on the beach. Save those for next year’s
In the latter category are Alice in Wonderland, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Books so cleverly conceived and brilliantly written that they can be enjoyed by both adults and children alike. Their authors don’t tell stories, they create worlds. Worlds that are intriguing, exciting, and a little bit frightening. Unfortunately, everyone has read those stories (or should have). You’re looking for something a little more BookSexy, a little more cutting edge – a book that hasn’t gone viral…at least not yet.
Enter Walter Moers’ Zamonia novels, published by The Overlook Press. Moers is a German author and cartoonist who has had five books translated into English (four of which are set in Zamonia). The most recent being The Alchemaster’s Apprentice. These books can be read in any order, so don’t worry about starting with the newest book first. What Moers has done is set about exploring Zamonia – so while characters may make cameos in eachothers’ stories, this is not a chronologically told tale. You will not be following the continuing saga of one single character or event through a series of books. Instead, with each story the reader is allowed to pop in and out of different sections and cities of Zamonia. You learn about Wolpertings and Crats, Lindworms and Blue Bears, Shark Grubs and more. You’ll visit Bookholm, the Netherworld and, in this newest adventure, Malaisea.
"Picture to yourself the sickest place in the whole of Zamonia! A little town with winding streets and crooked houses, and looming over it a creepy-looking castle perched on a black crag. A town afflicted by the rarest bacteria and the oddest diseases: cerebral whooping cough, hepatic migraine, gastric mumps, intestinal acne, digital tinnitus, renal measles, mini-influenza, to which only persons less than one metre tall are susceptible, witching-hour headaches that develop on the stroke of midnight and disappear at one a.m. precisely on the first Thursday of every month, phantom toothaches experienced only by persons wearing a full set of dentures.
Picture a town where there are more apothecaries and herbalists, quacks and tooth-pullers, crutch manufacturers and bandage weavers than anywhere else on the Zamonian continent. Where ‘Ouch!’ is the conventional form of greeting and ‘Get well soon!’ takes the place of ‘Goodbye’. Where the air smells of ether and pus, cod-liver oil and emetics, iodine and putrefaction. Where people vegetate and wheeze instead of living and breathing. Where nobody laughs, just moans and groans."
And the cause of all this sickness is Ghoolion the Terrible, the Alchemaster of the book’s title and resident of the creepy-looking castle.
Echo, a Crat (looks like a cat, but can speak any language and has two livers), is our hero. After his mistress’ death he is left to starve on the streets of Malaisea. Ghoolion finds Echo and offers him a Faustian bargain. Until the full moon he will feed Echo the most delicious foods the Crat has ever eaten and teach Echo all his alchemical secrets. Then, at month’s end, Ghoolion will render Echo down for his fat to use in experiments (Crat fat being extremely rare). Seeing no other option other than starvation, Echo agrees.
Moers is not only an inventive writer, he is also a very funny one. As the story progresses, Ghoolion (not without a certain charisma) and Echo form a demented odd couple. The Alchemaster more than keeps to his part of the bargain – and the two main characters seem to develop a mutual respect which borders on friendship. Their interactions, evenMoers.Story moreso than Echo’s quest to break his contract, really propel the plot forward. (In fact, if it wasn’t for the whole killing the Crat for his fat and torturing the citizens of Malaisea with fear and disease – we’d be rooting for team Ghoolian).
The subtitle of The Alchemaster’s Apprentice is A Culinary Tale from Zamonia – and the Zamonian delicacies Ghoolion prepares for Echo are an important (as well as entertaining) element of the story.
"My dear Echo,
I regret my inability to offer you a particularly lavish breakfast this morning, as I will be engaged on a research project all day. However, the honey on the bread is very special. It’s made by the Demonic Bees of Honey Valley.
Don’t worry about the dead bees in it, they’ve had their stings removed and they make the honey nice and crunchy. But be sure to chew with care. It sometimes happens, though very rarely, that one of the bees has not had its sting removed. Although a prick in the gum or tongue wouldn’t kill you, it would certainly give you an unpleasant time. The risk factor is said to be part of the enjoyment one derives from eating a slice of bee-bread.
Bon Apetit!
Succubius Ghoolion
‘Well, well,’ Echo thought sleepily, ‘Demonic Bees from Honey Valley. Whatever. After last night I’d eat a grilled Sewer Dragon, with or without it’s knilch.’ He hurriedly devoured a few morsels and took a swig of milk. The milk tasted odd – soapy, somehow – so he wolfed another piece of bee-bread to take the taste away – and instantly felt a stabbing pain in his tongue.
‘Ouch!’ he said, but that was as far as he got. The room began to revolve, alternately bathed in light and darkness, and he went plummeting down a black-and-white shaft that spiraled into the depths, losing consciousness on the way.
When Echo came to, he seemed to be looking into a shattered mirror that reflected many little fragments of the world around him…"
(What comes next is one of the funniest scenes in the book, but we won’t ruin it for you).
The Alchemaster’s Apprentice is a story that you lose yourself in – the very definition of escapist literature. It has a cast of supporting characters and settings – all examples of Zamonian flora and fauna – that will fascinate and enchant you. And when you finish, we promise you’ll want to get the rest of the series: Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures; The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear, and The City of Dreaming Books. You can pass them on to your friends or just wait for them to discover the books themselves. “Oh… Moers? Sweetie, I was reading him back in 2009. The movie just isn’t as good…”
Suggestions: The Zamonia novels are perfect to share with the little people in your life. Whether as a bedtime story that won’t put you to sleep, or just to give you something to talk about on the car trip to the grandparents (nothing like discussing Leathermice philosophy with your favorite tween) – there’s something here for everyone. Including illustrations.
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daiquiri. Instead, we advise walking proudly into the Sci-Fi / Fantasy aisle of your local bookshop. Shove past the pallid guy with the stack of Forgotten Realms paperbacks and the teenage girls with dark circles under their eyes surrounding the Twilight feature table. Hold your head high! We’re about to let you in on a little secret. You see, there are fantasy novels and then there are Fantasy novels.In the latter category are Alice in Wonderland, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Books so cleverly conceived and brilliantly written that they can be enjoyed by both adults and children alike. Their authors don’t tell stories, they create worlds. Worlds that are intriguing, exciting, and a little bit frightening. Unfortunately, everyone has read those stories (or should have). You’re looking for something a little more BookSexy, a little more cutting edge – a book that hasn’t gone viral…at least not yet.
Enter Walter Moers’ Zamonia novels, published by The Overlook Press. Moers is a German author and cartoonist who has had five books translated into English (four of which are set in Zamonia). The most recent being The Alchemaster’s Apprentice. These books can be read in any order, so don’t worry about starting with the newest book first. What Moers has done is set about exploring Zamonia – so while characters may make cameos in eachothers’ stories, this is not a chronologically told tale. You will not be following the continuing saga of one single character or event through a series of books. Instead, with each story the reader is allowed to pop in and out of different sections and cities of Zamonia. You learn about Wolpertings and Crats, Lindworms and Blue Bears, Shark Grubs and more. You’ll visit Bookholm, the Netherworld and, in this newest adventure, Malaisea.
"Picture to yourself the sickest place in the whole of Zamonia! A little town with winding streets and crooked houses, and looming over it a creepy-looking castle perched on a black crag. A town afflicted by the rarest bacteria and the oddest diseases: cerebral whooping cough, hepatic migraine, gastric mumps, intestinal acne, digital tinnitus, renal measles, mini-influenza, to which only persons less than one metre tall are susceptible, witching-hour headaches that develop on the stroke of midnight and disappear at one a.m. precisely on the first Thursday of every month, phantom toothaches experienced only by persons wearing a full set of dentures.
Picture a town where there are more apothecaries and herbalists, quacks and tooth-pullers, crutch manufacturers and bandage weavers than anywhere else on the Zamonian continent. Where ‘Ouch!’ is the conventional form of greeting and ‘Get well soon!’ takes the place of ‘Goodbye’. Where the air smells of ether and pus, cod-liver oil and emetics, iodine and putrefaction. Where people vegetate and wheeze instead of living and breathing. Where nobody laughs, just moans and groans."
And the cause of all this sickness is Ghoolion the Terrible, the Alchemaster of the book’s title and resident of the creepy-looking castle.
Echo, a Crat (looks like a cat, but can speak any language and has two livers), is our hero. After his mistress’ death he is left to starve on the streets of Malaisea. Ghoolion finds Echo and offers him a Faustian bargain. Until the full moon he will feed Echo the most delicious foods the Crat has ever eaten and teach Echo all his alchemical secrets. Then, at month’s end, Ghoolion will render Echo down for his fat to use in experiments (Crat fat being extremely rare). Seeing no other option other than starvation, Echo agrees.
Moers is not only an inventive writer, he is also a very funny one. As the story progresses, Ghoolion (not without a certain charisma) and Echo form a demented odd couple. The Alchemaster more than keeps to his part of the bargain – and the two main characters seem to develop a mutual respect which borders on friendship. Their interactions, evenMoers.Story moreso than Echo’s quest to break his contract, really propel the plot forward. (In fact, if it wasn’t for the whole killing the Crat for his fat and torturing the citizens of Malaisea with fear and disease – we’d be rooting for team Ghoolian).
The subtitle of The Alchemaster’s Apprentice is A Culinary Tale from Zamonia – and the Zamonian delicacies Ghoolion prepares for Echo are an important (as well as entertaining) element of the story.
"My dear Echo,
I regret my inability to offer you a particularly lavish breakfast this morning, as I will be engaged on a research project all day. However, the honey on the bread is very special. It’s made by the Demonic Bees of Honey Valley.
Don’t worry about the dead bees in it, they’ve had their stings removed and they make the honey nice and crunchy. But be sure to chew with care. It sometimes happens, though very rarely, that one of the bees has not had its sting removed. Although a prick in the gum or tongue wouldn’t kill you, it would certainly give you an unpleasant time. The risk factor is said to be part of the enjoyment one derives from eating a slice of bee-bread.
Bon Apetit!
Succubius Ghoolion
‘Well, well,’ Echo thought sleepily, ‘Demonic Bees from Honey Valley. Whatever. After last night I’d eat a grilled Sewer Dragon, with or without it’s knilch.’ He hurriedly devoured a few morsels and took a swig of milk. The milk tasted odd – soapy, somehow – so he wolfed another piece of bee-bread to take the taste away – and instantly felt a stabbing pain in his tongue.
‘Ouch!’ he said, but that was as far as he got. The room began to revolve, alternately bathed in light and darkness, and he went plummeting down a black-and-white shaft that spiraled into the depths, losing consciousness on the way.
When Echo came to, he seemed to be looking into a shattered mirror that reflected many little fragments of the world around him…"
(What comes next is one of the funniest scenes in the book, but we won’t ruin it for you).
The Alchemaster’s Apprentice is a story that you lose yourself in – the very definition of escapist literature. It has a cast of supporting characters and settings – all examples of Zamonian flora and fauna – that will fascinate and enchant you. And when you finish, we promise you’ll want to get the rest of the series: Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures; The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear, and The City of Dreaming Books. You can pass them on to your friends or just wait for them to discover the books themselves. “Oh… Moers? Sweetie, I was reading him back in 2009. The movie just isn’t as good…”
Suggestions: The Zamonia novels are perfect to share with the little people in your life. Whether as a bedtime story that won’t put you to sleep, or just to give you something to talk about on the car trip to the grandparents (nothing like discussing Leathermice philosophy with your favorite tween) – there’s something here for everyone. Including illustrations.
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LibraryThing member amareshjoshi
The Alchemester's Apprentice is set on the imaginary world of Zamonia (where Moers' other books are also set). The hero is a crat (lika a cat, but with the ability to understand and speak all languages) named Echo. He lives in the town of Malasie which is dominated by the evil alchemist
After Echo's mistress dies he is living on the streets and dying of hunger. Ghoolian agrees to take him in and feed him on the condition that after one month, on the full moon, Echo will be killed and his fat rendered down for Ghoolian's collection.
Echo reluctantly agrees to this. Ghoolian is a master chef as well as alchemist and he prepares the finest delicacies for Echo and allows him the freedom to roam about the creepy castle. The alchemaster wants to train Echo in all the alchemical knowledge and use his fat after he kills him in a bizarre experiment.
The rest of the novel is about the various adventures that Echo has in the castle and the town as he tries to find a way to escape his grisly fate. He makes friesnd with a wise owl and a Uggli (witch) and has a few mind blowing experiences.
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Ghoolian.After Echo's mistress dies he is living on the streets and dying of hunger. Ghoolian agrees to take him in and feed him on the condition that after one month, on the full moon, Echo will be killed and his fat rendered down for Ghoolian's collection.
Echo reluctantly agrees to this. Ghoolian is a master chef as well as alchemist and he prepares the finest delicacies for Echo and allows him the freedom to roam about the creepy castle. The alchemaster wants to train Echo in all the alchemical knowledge and use his fat after he kills him in a bizarre experiment.
The rest of the novel is about the various adventures that Echo has in the castle and the town as he tries to find a way to escape his grisly fate. He makes friesnd with a wise owl and a Uggli (witch) and has a few mind blowing experiences.
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LibraryThing member LemurKat
One cannot help but love the demented imagination of German author, Walter Moers. This book is a delicious delight. It is the story of Echo - the last Crat in Malaisea (the city where everyone is ill). What is a Crat? Well, it's a lot like a cat except that he can talk and has two livers. Echo's
If you enjoy books that are quirky and weird, with random passages of philosophy and science, crazy characters and demented plots - Moers might well be the author for you.
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kind mistress has died and he is now alone in the world - and slowly starving and freezing to death. When the fearful Alchemaster, Ghoolian, discovers him, he has not the strength to run away but instead the two make a deal. Ghoolian requires the Crat's fat for his dastardly plans of immortality - and as an extra month of life and a hearty diet is favourable to the slow, cold death he is currently experiencing, Echo agrees. Now as a guest for the Alchemaster, Echo is treated lavishly and fed man delectable treats - all described in mouth-watering (and occasionally eye-watering) detail. But never fear: at no time does this book drag on or get boring! Some of the meals cause surprising insights and slowly Echo hatches a plan for his ongoing survival. Meanwhile, he has much to learn from the Alchemaster, for the more learned the creature, the more improved its fat will be. He makes some surprising allies and meets some strange beasties and all in all, this is a whimsical, fantastical tale of the highest order.If you enjoy books that are quirky and weird, with random passages of philosophy and science, crazy characters and demented plots - Moers might well be the author for you.
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LibraryThing member wester
A very dark fairy tale, without any Disney sweetness in sight even though the main character is a talking cat.
This talking cat, Echo, is forced to a diabolical agreement with the equally diabolical Eisspin. The following month is a strange mix of true horror, incredible culinary refinement, and
This talking cat, Echo, is forced to a diabolical agreement with the equally diabolical Eisspin. The following month is a strange mix of true horror, incredible culinary refinement, and
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mounting despair. This could end very badly ... Show Less
LibraryThing member amandrake
Not my favorite of his, and the ending is extended and just not satisfying. However, still worth reading, and the descriptions of meals and sundry foods are really a lot of fun.
LibraryThing member PeterNZ
It is quite funny that I stumbled across this German author here in New Zealand. I loved his Captain Blaubaer stories and we watched it every Sunday.
The book is about a crat which basically is a very clever cat. He can speak any language and can memorize everything. He gets into a contract with an
The story is nice fairy tale with all a fairy tale has to have. A wizard a sort of a witch, monsters and talking animals. It is a fairy tale for adults or older kids. I wouldn't read it to a small child because it might cause them nightmares.
The book is about a crat which basically is a very clever cat. He can speak any language and can memorize everything. He gets into a contract with an
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Alchemaster of a city which means he will lose his life soon at the hands of the alchemaster.The story is nice fairy tale with all a fairy tale has to have. A wizard a sort of a witch, monsters and talking animals. It is a fairy tale for adults or older kids. I wouldn't read it to a small child because it might cause them nightmares.
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LibraryThing member ozzieslim
This is a great fantasy novel in all the best ways. I found myself comparing it a little bit to a Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman with a dash of Douglas Adams. Originally written in German, it definitely has the feel of a traditional fairy tale a la the Brother's Grimm.
The story revolves around Echo
As the story rolls along, we find out more about Ghoolion and how Malaisea became the illness capital of the Kingdom of Zamonia. We find out more about Echo and what it means to be a Crat. Echo has the opportunity not only to eat to his hearts content, but also to explore Ghoolion's castle – a place the locals fear and dread.
Along the way, Echo makes friends with Leathermice (a vampiric race of mice/bats), Theodore T. Theodore (an owl with a speech impediment), Cooking Ghosts, a Snow White Widow, Ugglies, a mossback Toad and a whole host of other fantastical residents of Malaisea. There is a method and means to Ghoolion's madness that unfolds as the story unfolds.
I try to read widely and from all genre's. This book was given to me as a gift and I am glad I got it because I doubt I would have grabbed it off the shelf under my own volition. You know how it is – you go to your favorite bookstore and you tend to gravitate to those shelves that usually yield you a reliable selection. I am not a discerning enough fan of fantasy to always grab these novels, so often, I am introduced to authors through friends giving me gifts or making recommendations.
I have also discovered something about readers – unless they are fantasy fans from the outset, many readers are adamantly opposed to dipping their toes into this genre. I'm not sure why. Partly I think it comes from an inability or unwillingness to suspend belief. Partly because readers feel that the fantasy genre somehow translates to children's writing. Another(no offense intended here) the genre is associated with fan geeks. For me, it has been because there aren't many stand alone pieces in the genre. They all revolve around a series and one feels that once you have committed to one book, you just have to read the rest.
This is the beginning of a series. However, I would be very comfortable in advising those who find the ideas and story intriguing, that it can be read as a stand alone novel. There is resolution at the end of the story as well as an opening for future works. And for those who love the genre, there are future works.
The other thing I loved about this story is that it is written by a European author and translated into English. I always find it refreshing to read authors who are from other countries. Their viewpoint on the world enriches me as a reader and engages my imagination as a writer to explore the world in different ways.
This is a book for all ages. It can be read to children (although there are some parts that small children would consider frightening or scary.) It is a great novel for an older elementary schooler to cut their teeth on in adult fiction. It is great for adults because the story is engaging and fun with a bit of black humor. An easy 4 stars for all to enjoy.
The story revolves around Echo
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the Crat (yes, Crat, that is not a spelling error) who has been captured by the local Alchemaster of Malaisea, his name is Ghoolion, and Echo is being held and fattened up so that the Alchemaster can obtain his fat for his potion library. As the story rolls along, we find out more about Ghoolion and how Malaisea became the illness capital of the Kingdom of Zamonia. We find out more about Echo and what it means to be a Crat. Echo has the opportunity not only to eat to his hearts content, but also to explore Ghoolion's castle – a place the locals fear and dread.
Along the way, Echo makes friends with Leathermice (a vampiric race of mice/bats), Theodore T. Theodore (an owl with a speech impediment), Cooking Ghosts, a Snow White Widow, Ugglies, a mossback Toad and a whole host of other fantastical residents of Malaisea. There is a method and means to Ghoolion's madness that unfolds as the story unfolds.
I try to read widely and from all genre's. This book was given to me as a gift and I am glad I got it because I doubt I would have grabbed it off the shelf under my own volition. You know how it is – you go to your favorite bookstore and you tend to gravitate to those shelves that usually yield you a reliable selection. I am not a discerning enough fan of fantasy to always grab these novels, so often, I am introduced to authors through friends giving me gifts or making recommendations.
I have also discovered something about readers – unless they are fantasy fans from the outset, many readers are adamantly opposed to dipping their toes into this genre. I'm not sure why. Partly I think it comes from an inability or unwillingness to suspend belief. Partly because readers feel that the fantasy genre somehow translates to children's writing. Another(no offense intended here) the genre is associated with fan geeks. For me, it has been because there aren't many stand alone pieces in the genre. They all revolve around a series and one feels that once you have committed to one book, you just have to read the rest.
This is the beginning of a series. However, I would be very comfortable in advising those who find the ideas and story intriguing, that it can be read as a stand alone novel. There is resolution at the end of the story as well as an opening for future works. And for those who love the genre, there are future works.
The other thing I loved about this story is that it is written by a European author and translated into English. I always find it refreshing to read authors who are from other countries. Their viewpoint on the world enriches me as a reader and engages my imagination as a writer to explore the world in different ways.
This is a book for all ages. It can be read to children (although there are some parts that small children would consider frightening or scary.) It is a great novel for an older elementary schooler to cut their teeth on in adult fiction. It is great for adults because the story is engaging and fun with a bit of black humor. An easy 4 stars for all to enjoy.
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LibraryThing member KateSherrod
Every new-to-me Walter Moers book I pick up immediately becomes my new favorite Walter Moers book, and thus one of my favorite books, full stop. This has happened ever since I first stumbled across a somewhat battered copy of Rumo and his Miraculous Adventures several years ago at my local public
Or at any rate, if Brownjohn is in any way not hitting Moers' mark, then I'm not sure I could handle more Moers. As such. Feel free to throw something at me now.
The Alchemaster's Apprentice is another Zamonia book, Zamonia being, of course, a lost continent that once took up most of the Atlantic Ocean and was home not only to sentient and literate dinosaurs who achieved a very high standard of culture indeed (at least a high Middle Ages standard), but to a myriad of other astonishing creatures as well, including the new-to-this-fifth-novel Crat. A Crat being a sort of cat who can speak every language, human or animal, in the known world, and whose body fat is an alchemist's, well, I would say an alchemist's philosopher's stone, but everyone knows that the philosopher's stone is the alchemists' philosopher's stone, so something just short of that. At any rate, very desirable indeed.
Enter one Succubius Ghoolion*, titular Alchemaster, who is a sort of Jean-Baptiste Greouille through Moers' funhouse mirror in that, like the perfidious perfumer of Suskind's most famous novel, he is obsessed with capturing the essences of things in the most durable possible form, that form being the rendered fat of rare and fabulous creatures like Crats. Of whom Ghoolion suspects our adorable little hero, Echo the Kitty Crat, to possibly be the very last one. Um.
What follows from this state of affairs is another deliciously daffy Moers adventure -- perhaps the most delicious of all because, when Ghoolion finds Echo, Echo is starving to death and has no fat on him, but Ghoolion is a culinary genius and so sets about fattening his foundling in outlandishly opulent ways. If one doesn't drool through at least a few of these chapters, one is obviously some kind of icky ascetic who subsists on room temperature water and celery sticks or something.** Echo befriends a cyclopean owl-type thing who speaks in spoonerisms (Brownjohn must have had a heck of a time with those. He needs all of the awards for translating. All of them, do you understand me?) and is dedicated to helping Echo escape the terrible fate that awaits him, learns a lot of alchemical secrets, eats a lot of absurdly delicious food, and develops a charmingly weird relationship with Ghoolion in the process.
Along the way he picks up some other weird allies, such as a Cooked Ghost (which Echo helps to cook himself as part of his education), a couple thousand Leathermice (like extraordinarily ugly vampire bats with extremely strange habits of thought. Nobody understands Leathermice, dude. Not even Leathermice), and the last remaining Uggly in the city -- an Uggly being, of course, a sort of gypsy practitioner of a natural/homeopathic/herbal medicine that is pretty much the absolute antithesis of what Ghoolion does. Who despite Ghoolion's long history of persecution of Ugglies in every horrible way imaginable, has a crush on Ghoolion. Yeah, it's complicated.
It all builds to a thrilling and insane climax, Moers' best yet! So yeah, The Alchemaster's Apprentice is my new favorite Walter Moers. At least until the next one.
But yeah, I'm still puzzled about that roast wildfowl Echo was sort of tricked into eating mid-story. That's a head-scratcher of a loose end. But Echo does spend a lot of this novel tripping balls on some hallucinogenic meal or other... so... umm... yeah, I've got nothing.
*The character names are part of the fun of Moers, most of them being anagrams of popular authors' names, though so far I can't figure out whose name became Succubius Ghoolion, and I have tried. Oh, have I tried. But I'm a poor hand at anagram solving.
**Seriously, the food porn in this book is completely off the hook. Imagine Lewis Carroll and China Mieville collaborating on a cookbook and you might just get a hint of the flavor. WOW.
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library and wondered what the hell was going on with that. One is always going on with the mix of over-the-top imaginative fantasy, adorable illustrations, sophisticated plotting and outrageous wordplay that is Walter Moers. Oh, do I love this man. And his translator into English, the wonderfully named John Brownjohn, who has the unenviable task of turning all of those invented and ordinary compound German nouns and verbs into something intelligible in English without losing any of the original's wit and charm and, as far as I can tell, succeeds brilliantly.Or at any rate, if Brownjohn is in any way not hitting Moers' mark, then I'm not sure I could handle more Moers. As such. Feel free to throw something at me now.
The Alchemaster's Apprentice is another Zamonia book, Zamonia being, of course, a lost continent that once took up most of the Atlantic Ocean and was home not only to sentient and literate dinosaurs who achieved a very high standard of culture indeed (at least a high Middle Ages standard), but to a myriad of other astonishing creatures as well, including the new-to-this-fifth-novel Crat. A Crat being a sort of cat who can speak every language, human or animal, in the known world, and whose body fat is an alchemist's, well, I would say an alchemist's philosopher's stone, but everyone knows that the philosopher's stone is the alchemists' philosopher's stone, so something just short of that. At any rate, very desirable indeed.
Enter one Succubius Ghoolion*, titular Alchemaster, who is a sort of Jean-Baptiste Greouille through Moers' funhouse mirror in that, like the perfidious perfumer of Suskind's most famous novel, he is obsessed with capturing the essences of things in the most durable possible form, that form being the rendered fat of rare and fabulous creatures like Crats. Of whom Ghoolion suspects our adorable little hero, Echo the Kitty Crat, to possibly be the very last one. Um.
What follows from this state of affairs is another deliciously daffy Moers adventure -- perhaps the most delicious of all because, when Ghoolion finds Echo, Echo is starving to death and has no fat on him, but Ghoolion is a culinary genius and so sets about fattening his foundling in outlandishly opulent ways. If one doesn't drool through at least a few of these chapters, one is obviously some kind of icky ascetic who subsists on room temperature water and celery sticks or something.** Echo befriends a cyclopean owl-type thing who speaks in spoonerisms (Brownjohn must have had a heck of a time with those. He needs all of the awards for translating. All of them, do you understand me?) and is dedicated to helping Echo escape the terrible fate that awaits him, learns a lot of alchemical secrets, eats a lot of absurdly delicious food, and develops a charmingly weird relationship with Ghoolion in the process.
Along the way he picks up some other weird allies, such as a Cooked Ghost (which Echo helps to cook himself as part of his education), a couple thousand Leathermice (like extraordinarily ugly vampire bats with extremely strange habits of thought. Nobody understands Leathermice, dude. Not even Leathermice), and the last remaining Uggly in the city -- an Uggly being, of course, a sort of gypsy practitioner of a natural/homeopathic/herbal medicine that is pretty much the absolute antithesis of what Ghoolion does. Who despite Ghoolion's long history of persecution of Ugglies in every horrible way imaginable, has a crush on Ghoolion. Yeah, it's complicated.
It all builds to a thrilling and insane climax, Moers' best yet! So yeah, The Alchemaster's Apprentice is my new favorite Walter Moers. At least until the next one.
But yeah, I'm still puzzled about that roast wildfowl Echo was sort of tricked into eating mid-story. That's a head-scratcher of a loose end. But Echo does spend a lot of this novel tripping balls on some hallucinogenic meal or other... so... umm... yeah, I've got nothing.
*The character names are part of the fun of Moers, most of them being anagrams of popular authors' names, though so far I can't figure out whose name became Succubius Ghoolion, and I have tried. Oh, have I tried. But I'm a poor hand at anagram solving.
**Seriously, the food porn in this book is completely off the hook. Imagine Lewis Carroll and China Mieville collaborating on a cookbook and you might just get a hint of the flavor. WOW.
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Awards
IBBY Honour Book (2014)
The White Ravens (2008)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007 (deu.)
2009 (eng.)
Physical description
384 p.; 6.02 inches
ISBN
1846552222 / 9781846552229
Local notes
In Malaisea, the "least healthy place in Zamonia", the city is dominated by the Alchemaster Ghoolion, who lives in a building which towers over the town and who combines a range of activities: alchemy; controlling the city's Ugglies (roughly equivalent to witches); spreading disease among the city's inhabitants; and painting pictures of natural disasters. Echo, a Crat (an animal identical to a cat except that it can speak all languages and has two livers), faces starvation until he makes a deal with the Alchemaster: the latter will fatten the Crat for a month, in return for which he will then be permitted to kill Echo and extract his fat.