Dans le livre des rêves

by Mikkel Birkegaard

Danemark, 1846. Dans l'enceinte d'un Copenhague répressif, le jeune Arthur enquête sur la mort de son père, un censeur de livres retrouvé noyé quelques années plus tôt. Sous la protection de Mortimer Welles, bibliophile aux airs de Sherlock Holmes, il remonte la trace d'une bibliothèque secrète où seraient conservés tous les ouvrages interdits par le ministère du Livre. Mais si cette dernière cache peut-être la clé du mystère, il est dit que seul le rêve d'innocents retenus prisonniers en dévoilera l'accès...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Books About Books, Detective

550 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Mikkel Birkegaard is a Danish author of fantasy fiction. He lives in Copenhagen.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75/5
When young Arthur is rescued from prison by this tall and mysterious british accented man, he can't believe his luck. After his father's strange death when he was a kid, his family slowly sunk to poverty and, himself, to thievery.
Working for Mortimer is a new chance at life. Mortimer is some kind of librarian/bookish detective that investigates strange disappearances of artists in the city of Copenhagen -- where they both live. It's the mid-eighteenth century and the government of Denmark heavily censors books that are not deemed appropriate by the regime. There is this rumour, though, of some secret library, that contains all the books that the state would not want to be read.

I feel like my summary is a little all over the place, but oh well.
I had a good time reading this book, which is perfect for traveling. It reads fast as there are multiple mysteries to solve. Its part mystery novel, part historial and part well, fantasy (but that is kind of a spoiler to say so, so shhh).
I absolutely loved the atmosphere of the book; old libraries, secret societies, dark and muddy streets, i mean YeS, give'em all to me ! My main complaint is that some of the events are slightly too convenient and easily solved. I also felt like the ending was somewhat meh: the guilty person was not exactly a "reveal" and the whole thing just fell kind of flat for me. It didn't wow me. But it was nice while it lasted.

[Birgitte Bach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lige så spændende og fantastisk god, som da jeg læste den for to år siden. Meget anbefalelsesværdig!

[terrystad dit Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un livre que l’on lit en voulant constamment connaître la suite, au fur et à mesure.

Un style à la Sherlock Holmes ou Le nom de la rose d’Umberto Eco, mais avec le lexique en moins: plus pauvre à cet égard.

J’aurais aimé que l’auteur fasse un peu plus d’investigation pour les thèmes qu’il aborde: littérature, restauration de livres, alchimie, que sais-je encore! Il manque cette chose qui fait en sorte qu’on sorte justement du simplement connu…

« On dit que les écrivains peuvent atteindre un état où leur texte s’écoule d’eux, presque sans qu’ils s’en aperçoivent. Le monde qui les entoure disparaît et ils sont aspirés par leur histoire. Ils ne voient même pas le temps passer »

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that I don't like this novel. I do, but it is way too long and it is difficult to get invested in the characters as they are all kind of meh. The plot is okay, but not quite new and fairly easy to figure out. But again, I liked it and if it had been half as long I would have liked it better.

[mag.escales_littéraires · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le 4ème de couverture semblait alléchant mais je ne suis pas allée au-delà d'une centaine de pages. C'est tellement lent et tellement rempli de descriptions que je me suis ennuyée. J'ai préféré arrêter plutôt que de continuer une lecture qui m'aurait fait perdre du temps pour un autre roman.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t finish, other than the setting, not that interesting

[Arianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

È stato il primo libro che mi ha regalato mia sorella e tuttora dopo quasi 10 anni rimane nella mia top 3 dei libri consigliati

[Anne-Mette Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

God bog, godt fortalt. Indimellem lidt lang i spyttet. Lidt for forudsigelig.

[Birthe Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bog, som jeg syntes gik meget hurtigt til sidst. Et sjovt tankeeksperiment omkring bøger.

[Fefi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tempo fa,ho letto di questo scrittore I libri di Luca e non mi era piaciuto per niente, ma ho voluto dargli un'altra possibilità,attirata dalla trama e sono contenta di averlo fatto.
Nella prima parte del libro ci troviamo a caccia di indizi per trovare questa Biblioteca e,l'ultimo, mi ha stupita; nella seconda parte la Biblioteca e i suoi segreti si rivelano, a poco, sotto forma di un thriller che mi ha anche un po' ricordato il libro di Cooper,la biblioteca dei morti, ma qui c'è tutto un altro scopo.
Il ritmo non è noioso e la lettura è scorrevole; non sarà una storia eccezionale e nuova, ma è gradevole.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, den var ok. Synes personligt at den godt kunne have haft 200 sider mere, sådan for at få noget fylde mod slutningen. Slutningen kom bare lige pludselig, og det hele føltes bare meget rushed. Kunne også bruge nogle flere beskrivelser af 1800 tallets Københavns stræder og andet gøgl.
Fin nok historie, men ikke en must-read bog. Underholdte mig fint under Roskilde festival.

[Dru C. Alba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immagino che tutti i lettori, almeno una volta nella vita, abbiano desiderato qualcosa come la Biblioteca. Io sicuramente sí, e mi gira la testa all'idea di tutto quello che vi potrebbe essere contenuto. Ma la conoscenza é un'arma a doppio taglio, ed esige un prezzo molto alto.

[Karin Pedersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spændende bog. København 1846 med enevælde og et bogministerium. Dan Brownsk jagt på et bibliotek og dets bibliotekarer.