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May 24, 2008

Paul rated it:

Ehhh. If I would have been the editor on this book I would have cut out about, oh, 400 pages. And I would have asked if maybe, just maybe, we could work some STORY into the novel.

Really, the book is no more than a catalog of happenstance. I did THIS, and then THIS happened, and after that I went to THIS weird place where I did THIS weird thing. Multiply that by some 700 pages and you have a snorefest. Was it wildly inventive? Yes it was. Were there interesting characters? Certainly. More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Sep 14, 2007

Tom rated it:

I spent the first 300 or so pages of this book trying to figure out whether it was a children's book for very advanced children or an adult book for readers who hadn't lost their sense of play and wonder. It's whimsically illustrated, audaciously imaginative, and has a distinked [sic] fascination with body odor. But to get some of the jokes, you need to have a passing familiarity with quantum physics, string theory, and academic politics. Eventually I gave up trying to categorize it and just enj More...

1 comment like (25 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2011

Maria rated it:

Now this is just brilliant! The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear is one of the most fascinating books I've read. Walter Moers creates a vivid and imaginative universe and stays absolutely true to it to the very end. I think it might even be a bit better than The City of Dreaming Books although I don't like to admit it.

I love his way of using the book media to tell his story, and though I generally don't care much for illustrations one way or another, here they definitely enhance the More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Valerie rated it:

I picked it up because the cover art caught my attention and the title was so novel as to get me to skim through a few pages. It's a tome of a book, but really a fast read. Broken down into each of Bluebear's "lives" it's more of a collection of 13 1/2 stories than one contiguous story (though they do all tie in together, of course). It is reminiscent of a children's story book but with complex ideas so as to be interesting to the adult. But that kind of feel. A blue bear that rides on More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2007

Cindy rated it:

is a long an entertainingly illustrated book of silliness. It all starts with the Mini-Pirates and goes on from there. The silliness is charming but also so unrelenting that I had to take breaks. What do you expect from a German cartoonist who is responsible for a character called Little Asshole? (March 31, 2007)

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Bettie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2008

Gretchen rated it:

The slipcover of this book compared the writing to Douglas Adams and J.R.R. Tolkein. While I agree that the author could be considered slightly clever and the book an epic saga, both become victims of too much of an almost good thing. This book is 700 pages of repetitive, redundant and reiterative rubbish. I was tempted to stop reading about 300 pages into it but for some unknown reason gave it a chance. Now, I want those last 400 pages of my life back! The endlessness of the story grew incr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2009

Michelle rated it:

I'm pretty torn on this book. On the one hand, it's adorable. The pictures are great. It's so different. There were parts I really enjoyed beginning, middle, and end. And then there were parts I was just trying to get through beginning, middle, and end. And I don't very much like that this book and its author were compared to Tolkien, Rowling, and some others. It created an expectation within me that wasn't quite met. But again, there were some great parts of the story, fun characters. I loved t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Duesterwald-Online rated it:

Inhalt:
Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär ist der erste Roman Moers aus der Zamonienreihe.
Es wird das Leben des Protagonisten Käpt'n Blaubär geschildert, der jedoch nichts mit dem allseits bekannten Blaubär aus der Sendung mit der Maus gemeinsam hat.
Moers erzählt alle 13 1/2 Leben des Blaubärs und dem Kontinent, auf dem sich dieser befindet, Zamonien.
Er schildert in lexikonartigen Einschüben die Gegenden, Städte und Lebewesen, die sich dort befinden.

Meinung:
More...

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Mar 30, 2011

Adrian rated it:

The book really is about the 13 1/2 lives of a blue bear. Not that he dies or anything. Basically just chapters in his life. Some of the lives are short...some are long...but they're all very imaginative! You get so wrapped up in the chapters because they're descriptive and just plain fun to read about. What sucks though, is just when you get sucked into one of the chapters and attached to the characters he quickly starts a new life.

The end of the chapters, or lives, are so abrupt and More...

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Jun 09, 2010

Nick rated it:

Check out more reviews and SciFi/Fantasy fun at Lions and Men.

Did you know that bluebears have 27 lives? Do you happen to know what a bluebear is? Why not learn about one of the most famous bluebears in Walter Moers' The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. In it, Captain Bluebear recounts tales from his hectic life in a continent known as Zamonia. From his sea voyages with the Minipirates to his travels to the 2364th Dimension, the good Captain has seen it all.

Walter Moers More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 12, 2010

Paula rated it:

‘Life is too precious to be left to chance’ ~ Deus X. Machina

And so begins the amazing the story of Captain Bluebear and his many adventures during his 13/2 lives.

‘The 13/2 lives of Captain Bluebear’ has been compared to various books but I feel that the book can hold its ground in one of most original tales I have read, the twists, the characters, everything in the book was just a delight to read, from the mini pirates at the beginning to the ultimate ending (which I wil More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2010

Michele rated it:

I read Walter Moers' Zamonia books "backwards," so, by the time I got to this, his first book, I already had an emotional connection to the place. For that reason, and because I love Moers' creative writing style, I enjoyed this book a lot. Unlike a lot of other authors for adults, Moers isn't scared to write about imaginative worlds and creatures, and doesn't care if they don't exactly make sense. Because of this, his works bring back the same giddy excitement that I used to get wh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2010

Chris rated it:

Humor is a very personal matter. What some people find funny, others find stupid. I've always tended to enjoy British humor more than American, outside of Mel Brooks. I prefer Blackadder over Mr. Bean. I love Little Britain, but don't really find Webb and Mitchell (or is it Mitchell and Webb?) to be as fulfilling. They seem to try too hard.

I enjoyed this book. I do see, however, how it will not be to everyone's tastes.

There is much in Bluebear that is amusing and wo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2011

Julie rated it:

I really hate not finishing books, but this one was just not doing anything for me. Considering it's 700 pages, I didn't think it was worth it to keep reading, since the storyline seemed to be the same thing throughout the rest of the book.

It's a very cute, imaginative read. It reminded me a LOT of "The Phantom Tollbooth," which is one of my most favorite books. It's also very "Alice in Wonderland"-esque, which is another of my favorite books. So, I'm sort of surp More...

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Nov 20, 2010

Yupa rated it:

Ma... e la trama?

Settecento pagine piene di fantasia quasi senza freni.
Invenzioni di creature, personaggi, ambienti, invenzioni e idee come se piovesse: piacevoli, simpatiche, divertenti, mirabolanti, astruse, agili, libere, dirompenti, destabilizzanti.
Settecento pagine che volano via come il vento, da leggersi in pochi giorni.
Peccato che manchi una cosa: la trama.
Settecento pagine ridotte quasi unicamente a una sequela delle suddette invenzioni, incollate l'una di seguito all'altra; More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Catherine added it

Just finished reading this arvo it was fabulous!

I was gutted to find out (or more I am gutted at my ignorance) to find out that this is part of a series and I read Rumo first!!!

Through my research have also found out that Walter Moers has hardly any photos, it is very hard to track down one to see what he looks like, he usually uses other people's pics? So curious as to what he looks like don't ask me why.

I'm an almost primary school teacher (one year to go) and the kids were very curious as More...

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May 16, 2011

Lee rated it:

This book may be short on plot but it makes up for it for the most part with wonderfully descriptive prose and all manner of imaginative creations. It's essentially a combination of Baron Münchhausen and Hitchhiker's Guide, and how one reacts to the unrelenting silliness will essentially decide whether one likes the book or not. Certainly it gets a little formulaic: the titular character meanders across half of Moers' fictional continent of Zamonia, finds himself in seemingly unavoidable dange More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 28, 2010

M and G rated it:

This is an enormous book my elder son just sent me because "I share his sense of humour". I love the short chapterlets and so far so good. I picked it up immediately thinking I must have won it on Goodreads, because "no one in his right mind would post such a heavyweight". Oh, well perhaps my son shares more than humour with me! ;-)

This has taken me an absolute age to wade through. I enjoyed the beginning and then the adventures / lives started to get a bit repeti More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Esther rated it:

This is not a normal book. If you want a normal book, this one is not for you. Moers is the King of Craziness. I imagine it (the ideas for his books) happening like this - Papa Moers has a child with insomnia, and the only way he can get this kid to fall asleep is to make up stories - long stories, stories that dredge every inch of his imagination (the most prodigious imagination ever)...

If you want to know who lives inside the eye of a tornado, or what its like to live in a mirage cit More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2011

Cecily rated it:

This book was epic. The cover says "Equal parts J.K. Rowling, Douglas Adams, and Shel Silverstein." There were definite parts I could relate to Hitchhiker's Guide, but this quote set me up for disappointment. The places Bluebear travels to are marvelous and fantastical. Many of the people/creatures he meets are fascinating. The real trouble I had with the book was Bluebear himself. The book has hardly any dialogue, and dialogue is where I get a feel for characters. I didn't know very m More...

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Aug 13, 2010

Katrina rated it:

A fantastical adventure of Bluebear who explores the Zamonian world and takes us through his very different 13.5 lives.

I have to admit, I wasn't completely convinced about this book until his third and fourth lives which from then on in, had me hooked.

There's a lot of description in this book as there are many weird and wonderful creatures and destinations to be described, which I usually don't like as I either don't take it all in, or if it's not related to the story I More...

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Sep 20, 2010

Allyson rated it:

Where to begin? How could one not love a story that involves, minipirates, carnivorous islands, waves that babble to one another, eternal tornadoes, and duels which require the participants to tell the most fantastic lies their imaginations can conjure? I absolutely LOVED this story. Bluebear’s life (or 13.5 lives) is filled with so much action, comedy, and suspense that it’s impossible to be bored. I almost wish Bluebear had divulged the events of his other 13.5 lives, but that would have made More...

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Jun 20, 2011

Kristen rated it:

I finally finished this gigantic novel! Donald made me. This book is epically epic in so many ways. It's what The Odyssey would be like if Odysseus were a blue bear who lived on a fictional continent of earth (and traveled in other dimensions as well), and if Homer had a writing style that everyone in the family could enjoy. I highly recommend this masterpiece to parents of young children. The story moves along at a gentle pace with plenty of scary but not horrifying action, so you can read a li More...

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Jun 26, 2007

Jon rated it:

Wow. This book was basically The Hitchhiker's Guide meets Where the Sidewalk Ends. It's exceptionally different and is a great book to escape reality in. There are many different stories full of memorable scenes and characters (Minipirates?).

Definitely recommended.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2009

Jessica rated it:

An excellent book! Recounts 13.5 of the 27 lives of Captain Bluebear. Living in the country of Zamonia, he cannot claim to have a life of boring leisure! Captain Bluebear lived with Minipirates, cried for Hobgoblins, was taught how to speak by the Babbling Billows, lived on Gourmet Island, Navigated for a Reptilian Rescuer, was educated by a seven-brained Nocturnomath, is almost eaten by a Spiderwitch, falls through a dimensional hiatus, captured a mirage city, lives in a Tornado, treks throu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 05, 2010

Jacobmartin rated it:

I finished this about two days ago and I just feel in a heap trying to figure out what I'll read next. This is a massive epic, and if you can't finish Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe I don't expect you to be able to finish this one - this book takes more commitment than a relationship with Rick Astley - he's never gonna give you up, and neither should you on this book.

It's about a Bluebear who is a Foundling on the high seas, and the many adventures he has. It's like Hitchhiker's Guide cr More...

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Feb 07, 2010

Hannah rated it:

Absurd and Amazing

You had me at mini-pirates.
Although the first half of the book was at times a struggle, I cannot imagine a more inventive struggle. Walter Moers manages to create cohesiveness out of randomness much like Douglas Adams did previously with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I wasn't even tempted to question why a tornado was aging or a group of miniature pirates adopted a blue bear. It all made sense in the world Moers has painted (literally with his own illu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2010

Emily rated it:

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
Genre: fantasy
This translated from its original German. The best way I can think to describe it is Harry Potter meets Dr. Seuss and Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There are many illustrations from the author and it is a adventure of a bear who has 27 lives (this book is just about the first half of them) and how he is a rather ordinary bear but is sucked into a very adventurous life in his fantastical world complete with mini pirate More...

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Nov 06, 2011

Jacob rated it:

I started this book because many of my friends had recommended it, telling me how great it was. It also had many good reviews, and was in the adult section of the library. I was not disappointed in reading it, but I was very surprised, and the book left me thinking. Captain blue bear begins in shear craziness; the protagonist, Bluebear, is found “afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell” (11). The story goes on to tell how “Minipirates” pick him up from the middle of a gigant More...

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