The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear (Zamonia, #1)

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The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear (Zamonien #1)

by Walter Moers, John Brownjohn (Translator)

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 · rating details · 5,729 ratings · 593 reviews

Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first 13-1/2 lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where intelligence is an infectious disease, water flows uphill, and dangers lie in wait for him around every corner.

"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...more

Paperback, 704 pages

Published August 29th 2006 by Overlook TP (first published February 23rd 1999)

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Best German Authors

10th out of 245 books — 222 voters

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm

Best German Children Literature

20th out of 122 books — 82 voters

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May 24, 2008 Paul rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like the same thing, over and over and over again

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. What about...more

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Sep 14, 2007 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

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April Bates I too agree that it is worth a re-read. I rarely read anything twice but I am definitely keeping this one around for seconds - maybe even thirds and f...more
Apr 30, 2011 07:58pm

Annie It's rare & fortunate when a precious-GEM-of-an-odd-Duck-Writer like Walter Moers, should fall into your life. I too, was unsure exactly WHAT I'd...more
Mar 08, 2013 12:28pm

Jan 31, 2010 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, 5-stars, fantasy, owned

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 story. The c...more

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May 16, 2007 Valerie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Someone with a sense of humour, enjoyment of puns, and creative imagination

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 the back...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Adam Floridia rated it 1 of 5 stars

This may sound tautological, but I'm disappointed that I didn't like this book. Obviously, one would be disappointed after reading a 700 page book he didn't enjoy, but there's something more here. It's like this poem.

I had been to Zamonia first in City of Dreaming Books and then again in Rumo. I enjoyed its quirky characters and the playful adventures they endured. And no one has more adventures than Bluebear--13, in fact, with many, many sub-adventures. Every single one places Bluebear in the m...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

After reading "rumo" and "city of dreaming books", which I both loved ! I was so excited to read this one too. Later I realized that I was reading them in exactly the opposite order.

After reading 1/3 of the book, I just gave up.
Even now I don't remember what it was about, and I don't think I'll ever start to read this book again.

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Sep 03, 2007 Cindy rated it 2 of 5 stars

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)

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Jan 09, 2012 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: translation, germany, published-1999, autumn-2011, dip-in-now-and-again, doo-lally, pirates-smugglers-wreckers, winter-20112012, kiddlewinks, fantasy, adventure, philosophy

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

I'm doing the Kermie flail because here we have mini pirates.

MINI - PIRATES I tell yar!

blurb - Captain Bluebear is a bear with blue fur, a creature as unique as the
fantastic adventures he undergoes. Unlike cats, which have only nine
lives, bluebears have twenty-seven. This is fortunate, because our hero
is forever avoiding disaster by a paw's breadth. In this remarkable
book, Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first thirteen-and-a-half
lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where...more

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Jul 28, 2008 Gretchen rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

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 increasi...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

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

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Mar 27, 2013 Vivian Farago rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was adorable. I picked it up because I was studying for a very big exam and needed something at the end of the day that didn't require a lot of thought. Contrary to some of the other reviews, this book is absolutely and unequivocally, a children's book. For the most part I liked it. It was well written, cute, creative, and easy to read.

The only really tedious parts of the book were the lists. A lot of new scenarios were hyperbolized by these long lists of phrases or words that collecti...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Nick Bridwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

How often is it in our adult lives that we are able to be completely swept away by an epic, fantastical story?

Bluebear is the everyman's protagonist. Sure, he becomes gifted with extraordinary talents as a result of his journeys, but he's no Hercules. I love this book because Bluebear is like a literary John Goodman, waking up and wandering through life all cuddly and wise. We never really know Bluebear's quest until he's accomplished it, which is also wonderful.

The supporting characters in th...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Kurt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, absurdist, memoir

BLUEBEAR is a curious book. It is encyclopedic (in at least two ways) and only somewhat action-driven. I'll make a distinction here between "action" and "plot" because there is no plot to speak of. Told in first person, BLUEBEAR is the memoir of our titular character (who, curiously, never becomes a captain). Like many memoirs, it is more about the course of a life than it is about a quest or an incident.

The first way that Moers writes an encyclopedia is in his descriptions. I was reminded of S...more BLUEBEAR is a curious book. It is encyclopedic (in at least two ways) and only somewhat action-driven. I'll make a distinction here between "action" and "plot" because there is no plot to speak of. Told in first person, BLUEBEAR is the memoir of our titular character (who, curiously, never becomes a captain). Like many memoirs, it is more about the course of a life than it is about a quest or an incident.

The first way that Moers writes an encyclopedia is in his descriptions. I was reminded of Stieg Larsson's catalog-like descriptions of a visit to Ikea (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) or of stylized older manuscripts (I want to say 17th century, but I don't have a title to compare and I'm not sure why my memory is going that direction). When Bluebear describes his first rescuers, the Mini-Pirates, he offers paragraphs about their lifestyle. Then there are the paragraphs about their behavior. And more about their fears. The same pattern repeats with every new situation in which Bluebear finds himself.

I didn't realize until beginning to write this review that the author has set at least 6 novels on his fantastical continent of Zamonia. In a way, this books feels like he is doing all of his worldbuilding at once - and the several negative reviews I've seen have certainly reacted in that way. I think I would call it an act of Aggressive Whimsy. Zamonia is curious and ridiculous and delightful AND unending. It is a whimsy that bashes you over the head with itself, always new, always remarkable, and thoroughly relentless. I read this story before bed every night and that was a good place for it. Episodic. Not much to worry about in the way of plot points. Nothing convoluted. Very extravagant.

The second way that Moers encyclopedizes is by having a talking encyclopedia buried inside Bluebear's head, chiming in periodically to explain to Bluebear (and to us) in a timely fashion about the latest obstacles in his path. In other words, it is a bit like the novel itself, fun-house-sized and inverted into the text.

I liked this book quite a bit but I can see how it's not going to appeal to many people. It shares a certain quality with Gideon Defoe's Pirate books in that it looks and is supposed to look like a book for a younger age-set, but in fact may not be age-appropriate for that seeming target group. (less)

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Dec 10, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-joy-of-reading-aloud-to-the-kid

Massive book that is sold - in the UK at least - as an adult book. Who knows why? I read it aloud to my nine-year old and he loved it so much that he read it to himself, twice - all 700 pages of it. I bought it for my nephew, same age, and he went out and got something else by the same author, so he must have liked it too.

There is only one Blue bear on all of the legendary continent of Zamonia. This book charts his adventures as he discovers who and what he is. His first life is with the minipir...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Emily Craven rated it 3 of 5 stars

FIRST POSTED AT REVIEW MUSEUM: http://reviewmuseum.blogspot.com.au/2...

Author Bio:
Walter Moers, (born in Germany) is one of the best-known and commercially most successful German comic creators and authors. Moers has been publishing since 1984. He first became known with cartoon-like comics that were marked by an ironic view of the world and a conscious violation of political correctness. Many of his works first appeared in the satirical magazine Titanic. In addition to these comics clearly inte...more FIRST POSTED AT REVIEW MUSEUM: http://reviewmuseum.blogspot.com.au/2...

Author Bio:
Walter Moers, (born in Germany) is one of the best-known and commercially most successful German comic creators and authors. Moers has been publishing since 1984. He first became known with cartoon-like comics that were marked by an ironic view of the world and a conscious violation of political correctness. Many of his works first appeared in the satirical magazine Titanic. In addition to these comics clearly intended for an adult audience, Moers also writes stories and books that he has been publishing since 1985. In 1988, his first "Käpt'n Blaubär" story was published, a character that has since been popular on TV, in books, and on audio cassettes. Recently, Moers also became famous for his novels, especially the Zamonia series. Biography source: Wikipedia.

The Break Down:
Captain Bluebear, as the name suggests, is a bear with blue fur and this book chronicles his first thirteen and a half lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia. Bluebears’, according to German author and illustrator Moers, have 27 lives. Which is fortunate for this bear because he’s not the smartest tool in the shed. The plot is set in the fictional continent of Zamonia on Earth before the ‘great descent’ in which Zamonia and several other continents sink beneath the waves. An orphan floating in a nutshell on the Sea, the azure-furred Bluebear is rescued by Minipirates, tiny nautical geniuses, who raise him. However, once he gets too large, they abandon him to live out twelve and a half lifetimes of adventure populated by many an eccentric character. Among them, are hobgoblins, argumentative waves known as the ‘Babbling Billows’, dinosaurs who perform daring ‘last-minute’ rescues, Professor Nightingale who transfers his intelligence via an infectious bacteria, and the creatures who inhabit Atlantis. Magnificent sugarstorms, captured mirages, tornadoes inhabited by old men, the inside of a giant’s head and "dimensional hiatuses" propel the independent and overly trusting Bluebear from one corner of Zamonia to the other. It has been noted on many occasions to being similar to Douglas Adam’s ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’, except with more cartoons.

The Verdict:
I am very torn about this absurd book. It’s a complete mix bag and has some absolutely marvellous characters, situations and zany ideas. But it took me weeks to finish, and I’m a fast reader. The reason it took me so long was because the author insists on informing you of every single minute aspect of his fantasy world. This would stop me in my tracks and having me flipping forward to see how much of it I could skip. A good book should never be so full of detail you want to rip out those pages and use them for origami.

For example, when we first arrive in Atlantis we are told of every species that exists in the city, which takes 16 excruciating pages, and only three or four actually turn up in the story. He then explains every aspect of the city from transport to architecture and none of it has any bearing on the story at all. The author proceeded at one point to detail the specific colours a species comes in which resulted in two pages of him listing every colour he could get his hands on. Bluebear even has an encyclopaedia in his brain which gets whipped out every- single- time-he comes across a new species, concept or ‘natural’ event which is about once every ten pages (not the best way to integrate information into a book, no finesse, and very dull). This results in some of the bear’s lives being utterly boring and others being fast paced and amusing. Frankly, an editor should have gone through a dozen red pens to cut this mammoth of a tomb to a third of its size. That would have made it a ripper of a read. At the very least make the extraneous stuff an appendix rather than inhibiting the pace.

The difference between Hitchhiker’s and Captain Bluebear is Hitchhiker’s is concise and only introduces you to the elements of the fantasy world that relate to the story or the humour. The overall feeling I get from Captain Bluebear is the author created a detailed fantasy world, and he wanted some place to show people how awesomely complex it was. Parts of the book made me smile, but I can’t remember laughing out loud. In saying that, there are some gems to be found if you’re willing to dig and the illustrations are excellent (and provide some relief from the overly detailed text!). But damn, this author has imagination in spades!

Side Note:
If you’re a person who loves to know every minute detail of the fantasy world you’re reading about, then this book is for you. If you find detail a bore, but you can’t bring yourself to skip pages and only read half a book, then find the strongest stimulant you’ve got because it’s going to be a long haul.

Star Rating:
*** Three Verbose Bluebears(less)

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Jul 28, 2012 Adam Callaway rated it 4 of 5 stars

The most masterful piece of absurdist fantasy I have ever read.
This seven-hundred plus page tome is thirteen and a half interconnected stories of the adventures of Bluebear. He is born in a walnut shell on the ocean and is rescued by Minipirates, three-foot tall buccaneers who are afraid of the dark. Alas, Bluebear gets too big for the ship and is put out to sea. There, he is taught to speak by a pair of waves, gets fattened up by a gourmet island that wants to eat him, gets swept up in an infi...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

I feel like a committee of writers was gathered together to study my literary likes and dislikes and write a book designed especially for me. And just like everything designed by committee it's just not quite right.

Credit where credit is due, Walter Moers seems to have both an unlimited imagination (i lost track of how many characters he invented, how many locations, how many bits of fictitious philosophy, etc) and an unlimited energy for recording it (this book topped out at 702 pages). However...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Duesterwald-Online rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor-comics-mangas

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:
Ich hatte große Erwartungen an das...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Adrian rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 most of th...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 was an unknown author to...more 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 was an unknown author to me when I stumbled upon this brightly colored biography of the big blue bear. A wise philosopher once advised against judging a book by its cover, but in this case, the cover really grabbed my eye. A quick scan through the contents, and I picked the book up without knowing much about it at all. Happily, I was not disappointed. This novel, written in first person, outlines the life of the last bluebear in existence. The title, however, is perhaps a misnomer - Captain Bluebear only has one life, but he spends it doing thirteen and one half very different things. Each life takes place in its own chapter.

The story itself is beautifully told, and makes the reader feel as though they are sitting in a bar with Bluebear, listening to his tall tales. The narrative is quite comprehensive in its own right - Bluebear experiences love, loss, fierce battles, and faithful friends. The world in which Bluebear lives is richly detailed, and Moers goes to great lengths to include heaps of information about his surroundings. To this end, he includes encyclopedia articles detailing a particular element of the world whenever something new is discovered. These are often humerous, and very informational. A quick flip through the book will also reveal many illustrations which help render the colorful world of Zamonia in the mind of the reader.

The most amazing thing about Captain Bluebear is the incredibly vast variety of adventures that Bluebear embarks upon. One chapter may find him fleeing from a giant evil witch spider (who knew spiders could be witches?) while in the next, he may find himself in the ear canal of a gigantic beast. Throughout the story, humor and jokes abound. Moers always keeps the narrative upbeat, and you never feel as though he is dragging his feet.

The one criticism that I have of the story has to do with the way in which it is layed out. Do not expect a coherent flowing throughout the various chapters in Captain Bluebear. At times, Moers uses the craziest plot developments to move Bluebear from one life to the next, and it does not alway mesh as cleanly as it could. Also, with only a few execptions, there is little crossover of characters from one life to the next (other than the Captain, of course). While this may prove annoying to the reader at first, it is best to think of Captain Bluebear as a compilation of stories from his life, rather than a complete narrative. Towards the middle of the book, I simply gave up my notions of how stories usually flowed, and and just went along for the ride. This is when I began enjoying the book the most.

Moers is an excellent story teller, and if you enjoy fantasy and fairy tales, you will fall in love with Bluebear and his wacky (yes, wacky) adventures.

4 out of 5!(less)

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May 12, 2010 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars

‘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 will not give it away).

The...more

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Mar 09, 2010 kopiikat rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 while reading a...more

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Jul 31, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit-germany-austria, fantasy-humor

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 wonderful. The story is very epi...more 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 wonderful. The story is very episodic, but there is a sense of wonder and whimsy.

Bluebear goes on a journey of discovery, and each life (or half life) is a chapter. In many ways, each chapter is a self contained story.

Bluebear is set adrift as a cub and picked up by the Minipirates. After that his adventure include a deadly flower, working for a literary plot device, a being with seven brains, and young lady who rather resembles a hair ball.

It is easy to see a reflection of current events in the book. The Mogg chapter is the Middle East comment, for instance, and it is well done. There is a nod to political debates as well as to academics and physics. There is most likely many other German political references that I did not get as well as string theory which went over my head (but I'm short). These reference are numerous and very well down. Moers even touches on current pet trends.

Sometimes, it must be admitted, Moers over does things. Some sequence would work better if they were a little shorter. They're funny, but it is like that skit that goes on for just a tad too long.

While there is not a over arching plot (such as a the rescue of a princess or the destruction of a ring), Bluebear's adventures mirror life. His sojurn in the tunnels, his coming out of the dark are like the much talked about quarter life or mid life crisis. His time with ides is how we are feel about ourselves when we think. Bluebear's experiences may be whimiscal and strange, but they are reflective of what all must go though as we live.(less)

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Nov 25, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 surprised I didn't like it. I think...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Yupa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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; invenzioni...more

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May 14, 2011 Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

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 danger,...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Gill rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: other-places, other-times, other

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 repetitive. Somehow undiluted imaginat...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Jessica Andersen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: quirky

Captain Bluebear was a long book. And it felt long. That isn't to say it wasn't entertaining. Merely, longwinded. I will be reading another of Walter Moers books. I am curious if the rambling of this one was because it was a world building first book, and perhaps his others that take place in the same world will not have to go into as much detail. Or, perhaps the fact that this one was supposed to be the autobiography of Bluebear, who seems to be long-winded as just a part of his character, made...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Esther rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

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 city, or meet...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Kaie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, children

True masterpiece!
“Life is too precious to be left to chance”

(Preview from Goodreads)"Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first 13-1/2 lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where intelligence is an infectious disease, water flows uphill, and dangers lie in wait for him around every corner.

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

...more

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Open Books Chicago: The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear, by Walter Moers	1	17	Jun 30, 2012 09:25am
What shelf does this book belong on?	29	89	Jun 07, 2012 10:23am
encrypted duel?	4	27	Apr 01, 2012 10:27am

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About Walter Moers

Walter Moers was born in 1957 and is a writer, cartoonist, painter and sculptor. He has refused to be photographed ever since his comic strips The Little Asshole and Adolf were published, the latter leading him to be declared persona non grata by the political right in Germany. Walter Moers lives in Hamburg.

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Books by Walter Moers

The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonia, #4)

Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures (Zamonia, #3)

Ensel und Krete. Ein Märchen aus Zamonien (Zamonien, #2)

Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher (Zamonien, #6)

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Trivia About Las 13 vidas y me...

3 trivia questions
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Quotes from The 13½ Lives of Capta...

“Wednesdays were the best thing about Atlantis. The middle of the week was a traditional holiday there. Everyone stopped work and celebrated the fact that half the week was over.” — 47 people liked it

“Life is too precious to be left to chance” — 18 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear Goodreads rating: 4.15 (5729 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62032.The_13_Lives_of_Captain_Bluebear?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364777502l/62032.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62032.The_13_Lives_of_Captain_Bluebear?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers[/url]

The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear (Zamonien #1)

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