"A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest," says the narrator of Walter Moers's epic adventure. "What about the Minipirates? What about the Hobgoblins, the Spiderwitch, the Babbling Billows, the Troglotroll, the Mountain Maggot . . . Mine is a tale of mortal danger and eternal love, of hair's breadth, last-minute escapes."

Welcome to the fantastic world of Zamonia, populated by all manner of extraordinary characters.

"Equal parts J. K. Rowling, Douglas Adams, and Shel Silverstein." --Washington Post