Book excerpt: Zamonia’s greatest writer investigates a mystery in a shadowy book metropolis in this epic adventure by the author of The Alchemaster’s Apprentice. It has been more than two hundred years since Bookholm was destroyed by a devastating fire, as told in Moers’s The City of Dreaming Books. Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, hailed as Zamonia’s greatest writer, is on vacation in Lindworm Castle when a disturbing message reaches him, and he must return to Bookholm to investigate a mystery. The magnificently rebuilt city has once again become a metropolis of storytelling and the book trade. Mythenmetz encounters old friends and new denizens of the city—and the shadowy “Invisible Theater.” Astonishingly inventive, amusing, and engrossing, this is a captivating story from the wild imagination of Walter Moers. Praise for The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books “What matters are his engaging descriptions, zany scenarios and the weird critters that inhabit Zamonia, some of whom bear an uncanny resemblance to Barney the dinosaur . . . A beguiling, bookish entertainment that ends on a cliffhanger promising—well, the prospect of many sequels to come.” —Kirkus Reviews “Moers's Munchhausen-esque yarn is enhanced by his equally wild illustrations. . . . Fans will enjoy journeying through Optimus's battle with darkness.” —Publishers Weekly