A must read! - Rated 
I felt compelled to add to this book's praise due to the hours of pleasure it gave me as I was reading it and beyond. Other reviews will be more in-depth as it would take me ages to list all of the reasons why I love The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear so I'll leave it at this: BUY THIS BOOK!!
Fantastic start and end, bit slow in the middle - Rated 
I started off reading this as it was recommended by a friend.
At the beginning I thought I'd possibly stumbled across one of the best books I'd ever read, however it did start to drag a bit part way through.
It's a light and entertaining read, very creative, but just that little bit too long and drawn out in some parts.
Probably worth it for the first 4 or 5 lives/chapters though.
Overdosed on Whimsy - Rated 
This is, as many other have said, a highly imaginative book. It is also entirely suitable for a family audience. But I'm sorry, unless there's something I'm missing completely, it's not for adults or even older children.
It's like Dahl without the edge, Carroll without the wordplay, Milne without the wit. It has no narrative drive, and minimal character depth. Bluebear himself has no motivation, simply drifting from one vignette to the next. It's a bunch of whimsical ideas in search of a common theme.
Nonsense can be a wonderful tool, but it needs to be internally consistent, to have a warped but compelling pseudo-logic. Moers doesn't have the discipline to carry that off, so nothing is off-limits: if you have an infinitely intelligent character, no problem is insurmountable; if you have a character who can magically save you from any perilous situation, there is no danger. That means there is no tension, and without tension there is no need to read to the end.
This book is a meringue: light (intellectually but certainly not physically), fluffy, over-sweet and ultimately unsatisfying.
Enjoyable and imaginative - a kids book for adults! - Rated 
This book is a whole lot of fun; Walter Moers has a great imagination, and Bluebear has a series of very impressive adventures across the ancient kingdom of Zamonia.
However, there are moments when things get to seem a little cliched and much as Bluebear has fabulous adventures you can't help feeling his character is one-dimensional with little depth but perhaps I am looking too hard!
More fun than a barrel of monkeys - Rated 
I dithered with purchasing this book, and I'm not sure why. It's crazy (imaginative), off-the-wall (funny), and completly random (gripping). Writing from the perspective of Captain Bluebear, Walter Moers recaps on the first "13 1/2 Lives" of Captain Bluebear and his adventures across Zamonia (and other places).
Its a fantastical bizarre of imaginary creatures and mystical places (we're not talking Tolkien here! Walter Moers has more imagination than that...), lovingly illustrated and brought to life through the eyes of an unlikely adventurer.
If you're looking for something just a little different - or not - then this book comes highly recommended (not just by me, other people liked it too!) My only peeve is the "size" (not thickness! Actual height and width dimensions) of the book. However, at over 500 pages, with illustrations, I forgive Walter Moers for disrupting the otherwise serene landscape of my bookshelf with this mole hill.
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