Krabat

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Pub Date 3 Sep 2010 | Archive Date 16 Nov 2014

Description

One of Neil Gaiman’s favourite scary stories for children.

Set within a world of sorcery and wizardry, much like an 18th Century Harry Potter, Krabat tells the story of a 14-year-old beggar boy lured to a mysterious mill by a series of frightening dreams and apparitions.

He becomes an apprentice to the master of the watermill where he joins the eleven other young journeymen who work there. Much to his surprise Krabat soon discovers that the mill is actually a school of black magic and he is expected to learn much more than just a normal miller’s trade.

Krabat studies hard and becomes the master’s star pupil, but when he falls for a local village girl the depth of the masters evil and the darker secrets of the mill begin to reveal themselves. One by one his fellow classmates perish from mysterious, unexplained accidents and Krabat realises he must use all of the dark magic skills he has learned to secure his escape.

Now a major motion picture starring David Kross (The Reader, War Horse).

One of Neil Gaiman’s favourite scary stories for children.

Set within a world of sorcery and wizardry, much like an 18th Century Harry Potter, Krabat tells the story of a 14-year-old beggar...


Advance Praise

One of Neil Gaiman’s favourite scary stories for children.
'One of my favourite books as a child.' Cornelia Funke, author of Inkheart

One of Neil Gaiman’s favourite scary stories for children.
'One of my favourite books as a child.' Cornelia Funke, author of Inkheart


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9780007395125
PRICE £1.99 (GBP)

Average rating from 37 members


Featured Reviews

Krabat by Otfried Preussler is the story of a teenage beggar-boy called Krabat, who is lured to a mysterious mill dominated by a sinister miller, known as the Master. The Master takes on Krabat not only as an apprentice miller but also as an apprentice in a secret magic brotherhood.

The story is set in Saxony in the early eighteen century and is a rite of passage story. It is told in a simple, but descriptive style that lends itself to central European folktales from which Krabat originates. This does help to create the type of resonance with a reader of any age who knows Grimms’ Fairy Tales and acts to ease them quickly into the narrative of the book.

The characters come over as three dimensional and people a reader will care about. As the constant sense of peril is never far away, the persistent undercurrent of disquiet creates an urgency to read on and see what happens.

This is not a light-hearted story of boy wizards, but something far more complex and dark. Krabat certainly has the feel of a classic, ensuring it will be handed down from one generation to another. It also is the type of book that is just right for reading as nights begin to draw in and Halloween approaches. Although, because Krabat is such an engaging tale, younger readers may find themselves wrestling for possession of it from their parents.

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A weirdly compelling, dark folktale. It's like what you would get if Hermann Hesse and Mikhail Bulgakov lived in the 1960s/70s and decided to write a children's book together. It's a little dated, not because it's set in the 17th century but because of its writing style and more importantly its unexamined separation of male and female characters (something that always irks me). Otherwise, it's rather a cool little tale about power and freedom, and an anthropologically interesting depiction of Lusatia.

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