Krabat
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Editor’s note Otfried Preußler based this 1971 novel on a Sorbian legend. Krabat, a fourteen-year-old beggar boy in Lusatia around 1700, follows a voice from his dreams to a lonely mill in the marshes, where the master teaches black magic to twelve journeymen; every year, on New Year’s Eve, one of them dies. Only someone who loves him can set him free. The book won the German Youth Literature Prize in 1972, was published in English as The Satanic Mill, and was filmed in 2008 with David Kross.
About the book
Krabat is a 1971 fantasy novel about the eponymous Sorbian folk hero, written by Otfried Preußler. The book deals primarily with black magic and the lure of evil. Other themes include friendship, love, and death. It won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1972.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 77 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 34% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 8 | 10% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 69 | 90% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“BESTES BUCH DAS ICH JEMALS GELESEN HAB, ENDE IST LEICHT SCHLECHT ABER DIE ATMOSPHÄRE IST SOOOOO SCHÖNNNN+++BRACHTE MICH IN DIE WELT DER KLASSISCHEN LITERATUR UND DAFÜR BIN ICH FÜR IMMER DANKBAR (English) BEST BOOK ICH EVER REAAAADDD, THE ENDING IS SLIGHTLY BAD BUT THE VIBE…”
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Fantasy — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
