The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books

Jun 15, 2025 4:37 AM

Author:Walter Moers,John Brownjohn

Over two hundred years ago Bookholm, the City of Dreaming Books, was destroyed by a catastrophic firestorm. Optimus Yarnspinner, who witnessed this disaster, has since become Zamonia's greatest writer and is resting on his laurels at Lindworm Castle. Spoilt by his monumental success and basking in adulation, he one day receives a disturbing message that finally reinvests his life with meaning: a cryptic missive that lures him back to Bookholm.

Rebuilt on a magnificent scale, the city is once more a vibrant literary metropolis and Mecca of the book trade teeming with book fanatics of all kinds. On the track of the mysterious letter that brought him there, Yarnspinner has scarcely set foot in the city before he falls prey to its spirit of adventure. He is reunited with old friends like Inazia Anazazi the Uggly and Ahmed ben Kibitzer the Nocturnomath, but he also encounters the city's new marvels, which include the mysterious Biblionauts, the warring Puppetists, and the city's latest craze, the Invisible Theatre.

Yarnspinner strays ever deeper into the Labyrinth of Dreaming Books, which seems to wield a strange power over Bookholm's destinies. He is eventually drawn into an irresistible maelstrom of events far more sensational than any of the adventures he has previously embarked upon.

Reviews

It’s a fun read, packed with Moers’s typical wordplay, not to mention his lovingly detailed illustrations…catnip for anyone with a passion for languages

—— James Lovegrove , Financial Times

Moers fans will find everything they love: strange lifeforms, ample digressions, learned allusions, a plethora of anagrams, and the disturbing illustrations that are just as fine as they are humorous

—— Büchercheck

Yarnspinner is a popstar, the Michael Jackson of the printed word: in short, a hero

—— NDR [North German Broadcasting] Kultur

You may have to push this book away for fear you'll hurt yourself laughing, but its wisdom and humanity – no hyperbole here – are too magnetic to keep at bay for long

—— Mary Pols , People Magazine

Honest, poignant and ridiculously silly in all the best ways and I'm better for having read it. Plus, doggies!

—— Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess

One of the funniest sites on the Internet

—— salon.com

Hilarious and poignant and brilliantly illustrated. Check it out. The whole blog is inspired.”

—— Daily Dish

“Once I started reading Hyperbole and a Half, I found myself unable to stop—except to laugh uproariously.

—— boingboing.com

“Here’s a rough analogy: David Sedaris sets out to write a graphic memoir, but decides to use the MS Paint application on his computer rather than hire an artist. . . . [Brosh’s] naïve art plays brilliantly against dark comic themes.”

—— True/Slant

One of 2013’s biggest publishing successes … Quirky and captivating

—— Observer

Very funny, occasionally incredibly insightful (when [Brosh] chooses to be in that mood), and a brilliant dip-in-and-dip-out-of book

—— Stuck in a Book

Brosh's naive but surprisingly affecting illustrations have gained her blog, Hyperbole and a Half, a cult following... I defy anyone who has suffered from depression not to cry at her stark account of suffering from the illness

—— Sharon Wheeler , Times Higher Education

Hilarious… I love the intersection of things that are as dark as they can be and as funny

—— Elizabeth McCracken , Boston Globe Sunday

It’s impossible not to warm to cartoonist and blogger Allie. If she doesn’t get to you with her funny childhood anecdotes (eating an entire birthday cake) then her honest reflections on depression will

—— Grazia

Brosh fills her comics with heart, boldly tackling subjects as different as dog-ownership and depression

—— Guardian, *Top 10 Funny Comic Books*

A playful yet wise graphic novel.

—— Paul Gravett , ArtReview

The storyline is exciting and well thought out to give a wide overview of the suffrage movement. I was very pleasantly surprised.

—— Lattice , Guardian

A seamless blend of historical fact and fiction ... The illustrations are full of energy and expression.

—— Jacqui Agate , Independent

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