The Alchemaster's Apprentice
Walter Moers
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Cross-over-suitable teens and adults
Rating: 5/5
One cannot help but love the demented imagination of German author, Walter Moers. This book is a delicious delight. It is the story of Echo - the last Crat in Malaisea (the city where everyone is ill). What is a Crat? Well, it's a lot like a cat except that he can talk and has two livers. Echo's kind mistress has died and he is now alone in the world - and slowly starving and freezing to death. When the fearful Alchemaster, Ghoolian, discovers him, he has not the strength to run away but instead the two make a deal. Ghoolian requires the Crat's fat for his dastardly plans of immortality - and as an extra month of life and a hearty diet is favourable to the slow, cold death he is currently experiencing, Echo agrees. Now as a guest for the Alchemaster, Echo is treated lavishly and fed man delectable treats - all described in mouth-watering (and occasionally eye-watering) detail. But never fear: at no time does this book drag on or get boring! Some of the meals cause surprising insights and slowly Echo hatches a plan for his ongoing survival. Meanwhile, he has much to learn from the Alchemaster, for the more learned the creature, the more improved its fat will be. He makes some surprising allies and meets some strange beasties and all in all, this is a whimsical, fantastical tale of the highest order.
If you enjoy books that are quirky and weird, with random passages of philosophy and science, crazy characters and demented plots - Moers might well be the author for you.
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