Rumo: & His Miraculous Adventures

Rumo: & His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers

Reading a book by Walter Moers is kind of like taking a cross-country trip to the Grand Canyon - via every scenic byway, world's largest whatever, and every other point of interest along the way. In Rumo, Moers returns to the land of Zamonia, which he first introduced in The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear.

Rumo is a wolperting, an animal that closely resembles a dog, but with small horns and a tremendous aptitude for fighting using swords, crossbows, and pretty much every other means of warfare. Rumo's adventures begin as a small abandoned puppy who is raised by dwarfs, kidnapped by giant demons, and later escapes with the help of a 14-handed shark grub.

Throughout his life, Rumo is constantly following a thread that only he can see above him. It's a silver thread and it ultimately leads him to a female wolperting named Rala. Rumo decides that the best way to get noticed by Rala is to give her a gift, a gift that requires a tremendous act of bravery to acquire. When he returns from his quest, he finds a giant hole where the city of Wolperting had previously stood. The city, along with all of its inhabitants are gone.

The book is an account of his adventures to save Rala and the entire city he now calls home. Each character Rumo meets during his journey has its own story which Moers tells. And just like the side trips to see the various sights en route to the Grand Canyon, the side stories in Rumo are half the fun of the book as a whole.

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