The Carpet Makers, Andreas Eschbach
Review from August 12th, 2012

This book has to get five stars from me because it’s the first book in quite a while that I would’ve stayed up late into the night to finish, even if I was exhausted. From the first chapter, it weaves a compelling mystery and builds a whole new world. The writing itself is beautiful; the translation is excellent, with no sense of a gap between me and the text, which I often do get with translations. I think I’m going to have to parcel it up and send it on a round of my friends to read.

I’m not actually saying it’s flawless. The structure, however, keeps it strong: each chapter is a self-contained story, which adds a link in the chain to eventually get to the heart of the mystery. But once I got there, after all that build-up, it felt unsatisfying — but that didn’t take away from the power and mystery of the rest of the book. And the epilogue was another strong link in the chain, a perfect way to finish the story.

Usually, I’m interested in characters, in any given book. That’s not the case here, and I didn’t even feel a lack because of it. It’s a totally bewildering, bewitching book.

Rating: 5/5