The City of Dreaming Books
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Editor’s note Walter Moers’s 2004 Zamonia novel is narrated by Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, a young poet of the dinosaur-like Lindworm race. His dying literary godfather leaves him a short, flawless manuscript, and he travels to Bookholm, a city that lives off books, to find its author. He ends up in the labyrinthine catacombs beneath it, among bookhunters, living books and the Shadow King. Moers drew the illustrations himself; the story continues in The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books (2011).
About the book
The City of Dreaming Books is the fourth novel in the Zamonia series written and illustrated by German author Walter Moers, but the third to be translated into English by John Brownjohn. The German version was released in Autumn 2004, and the English version followed in Autumn 2007. It is followed by The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books (2011).
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 98 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 39% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 8.2 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 8 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 90 | 92% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“I have no words for this book. I want to rate it 5 stars SO HARD....but there's a little tick that I can't remove. I won't feel good rating this 5 stars if I feel like it didn't deserve it. It didn't. This is simultaenously…”
“I've never read a more accurate yet imaginative novel about writing. Clearly disillusioned with the business of publishing, Walter Moers created this absurdist, romantic world where books are centric to civilization and being a writer is the ambition of most anthromorphized animals living in this…”
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
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