The chronicles of the world seekers

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Die Chroniken der Weltensucher is a novel cycle for children and young people by Thomas Thiemeyer that was published by Loewe Verlag from September 2009 to September 2013. The series comprises five volumes and a short story.

The main theme is the journeys and adventures of Carl Friedrich von Humboldt, a fictional son of the German natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt . The stories take place in the late 19th century and are closely based on the adventure novels by Jules Verne , Arthur Conan Doyle and HG Wells .

Volume 1: The City of Rain Eaters

Oskar Wegener is a sixteen-year-old pickpocket in Berlin in 1893. After the failed attempt to steal from the naturalist Carl Friedrich von Humboldt, he wakes up in his house and meets the dark-skinned housekeeper Eliza Molina and the researcher's pet, a kiwi named Wilma . Instead of punishment, the researcher offers him to accompany him on his travels as an assistant. Oskar accepts the offer. Accompanied by Charlotte, the researcher's niece, the group goes on a trip to Peru. In the Colca Cañon there is the forgotten people of the rain-eaters who live in a steep rock face above the clouds. The explorers set out for the mountains and experience adventures aboard airships and in the fight against the underground.

Volume 2: The Palace of Poseidon

Only a few weeks after returning from the city of rain eaters, researcher Carl Friedrich von Humboldt received a new assignment. Several ships have mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Santorini. Eyewitnesses tell of a huge sea monster that pulls the unfortunate watercraft with its octopus arms into the depths.

Humboldt, Charlotte, Eliza and Oskar leave immediately. Their journey takes them via Athens and Paris to Le Havre, where they meet the brilliant ship designer Hippolyte Rimbeault and his daughter Océanne. The two invented the world's first functioning bathysphere and made it available to adventurers. The team leaves, but the ball is sabotaged by an unknown person. It crashes and lands on the sea floor at a depth of three hundred meters. There they discover a city populated by machine beings.

Volume 3: The Glass Curse

On the summit of the Bandiagara massif in French Sudan , today's Mali , the ethnologist Richard Bellheim discovered the centuries-abandoned town of Tellem in October 1893 . It is the capital of a people who once came to this area from the Sahara and who - it is said - had astonishing astronomical knowledge.

Back in Berlin a few weeks later, Bellheim gave a lecture at the university to which Carl Friedrich von Humboldt was also invited. But Richard Bellheimer no longer knows his old college friend. Since he returned from Africa he has been forgetful and completely changed - and he seems to be eating glass. Bellheim's wife Gertrud asks Humboldt to investigate what happened to her husband in Africa. Oskar, Charlotte and Eliza make the Pachacútec, their airship, clear again in order to uncover the secret of the glass curse.

Volume 4: The Devil's Breath

Deep in the heart of the earth dwell the people of the stone, who were driven out of the world. Now 12 years after the eruption of the Krakatau volcano, in the strait between Sumatra and Java, they rise from the crevices to abduct people.

Volume 5: The Law of Chronos

Kaiser Wilhelm II and his wife are murdered and Germany threatens to plunge into civil war. Humboldt reads about it in the newspaper two days later.

A reporter visited him a few days earlier and sniffed around in his workshop. Now there is talk of a time machine that Humboldt is supposed to be building. Now everyone expects him to travel back in time to undo the assassination attempt.

But Humboldt knows the dangers, the law of Chronos: Everything that has been changed in the past is echoed in the present.

background

In an interview, Thomas Thiemeyer once said that he had long been enthusiastic about the idea of ​​writing a series of books that would take place in the late 19th century. He is fascinated by this wondrous world from over a hundred years ago, in which there was a spirit of optimism like seldom before. The world was largely unexplored and the white spots on the maps immeasurably large. People were just beginning to take to the skies and the ocean was a dark, deep nothing to them. So what could be more natural than writing stories from the perspective of a researcher?

When asked whether he was based on classic adventure stories when writing, the author replied: "Attentive readers will surely recognize one or the other similarity between my characters and existing literary models. Certain plot elements should also seem familiar. I deliberately designed it that way . I wanted to create a feeling of familiarity without copying the literary models. An Oskar Wegener may have a few characteristics of an Oliver Twist, but he also has a number of new ones. Carl Friedrich von Humboldt, on the other hand, likes a little about William von Baskerville from The Name remember the rose , although he is much more combative and controversial. I like to fall back on clichés with my characters in order to then change and break them. This way they get something fresh and memorable without irritating the reader with their complete strangeness. "

expenditure

Awards

The city of rain eaters

  • The 50 best children's books of 2009 Familie & Co
  • The best audio books 2009 Saarländischer Rundfunk & Radio Bremen
  • Book of the Month for November Youth Book Couch
  • Best Cover - Silver Medal LovelyBooks Readers Award
  • Favorite book 2009 Lies & Lausch
  • Recommended for the Friedrich Gerstäcker Prize 2009
  • The best children's books in winter 2009/10 Children's Academy Fulda

The palace of Poseidon

  • The best novels 2010 - 1st place Lies & Lausch reader award
  • The best historical novels 2010 - 6th place LovelyBooks reader award
  • Best reading for children / young people - OHRKANUS 2011

Reviews

  • "If Humboldt had had offspring, he would definitely have liked this son." Southgerman newspaper
  • "Classic adventure novel in the spirit of the 19th century between Jules Verne and Indiana Jones." Books (magazine)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Thomas Thiemeyer on zauberspiegel-online.
  2. ↑ 'The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) praises the rain eaters (December 2, 2009)' ( Memento from May 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on thiemeyer.de
  3. ↑ 'This is how the magazine "Bücher" judges the rain eaters (December 13, 2009)' ( Memento from May 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on thiemeyer.de (archive link, accessed on July 7, 2013)

Web links