This is a very satisfying book... the author has interwoven the story of a 19th century arctic expedition with the modern-day mystery of a man obsessed with the "terrors of ice and darkness." The descriptions of the vast and desolate arctic landscapes are lyrical and moving; after an hour of reading, you may feel so pulled into this world of darkness and ice it is difficult to return ! A must read for any arctic history buff...

The Kirkus review does not do this book justice. It is quite good, especially for fans of historically accurate novels.

This is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever read. Ransmayr received the highest european literature price for the "Last World" together with Salman Rushdie in 1992. Fiction and reality come together. The borders between the past and the present do not count any more in his world. To imagine how Ovids life at the Black Sea must have been, to read this beautiful dark and poetic language, to come into the world of roman and greek mythologie, that is the wonder that Ransmayr did with his story. He is a wonderful storyteller but as the book was forbidden to be published in Romania before 1989, it shows that there is more "between" the lines. All his other books are very recommandable too.

The setting of this book is in a small village in a country like Austria. The victorious countries after a big war don't want to rebuild this country, but totally destroy it. In post WWII times an american General had those plans for real, in the book it is described, what could have happened. The village is strapped from anything what could be described as modern infrastructure. The railway is being closed, there are no factories anymore and the people are not allowed to have contact to other parts of the former country. Bering, the main character is interested in birds and iron machinery. Therefore he becomes the driver of Ambras, the survivor of the KZ close to the little village. He is the only one who is allowed to own a car, because he is some kind of a mayor of the village. The story is compelling, but not the important thing about this book. The best about the book is the language, which stands in the tradition of Musil, Zweig or Lenz but also brings up new, interesting and fitting phrases. The way he describes scenes like the every year returning "show" of playing KZ to remind the inhabitants of the village of the dreadful past is phantastic. Literature does'nt have to be boring, Ransmayer is proof for it.

("Hi. I'm writing from Austria, and I hope my English will be not too bad!")

Indeed, Ch. Ransmayer ist one of the best writers in German-language in the time after 1945!
He is also one of the most important writers 1945. Because there are not so many who write what the Austrians had done to the Jews. It must be said: The Austrian Nazi were the "better" Nazis. For example: Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, ...
But too less of us will declare what our land had done in the second world war.
So the "dog king" (Morbus Kitahara, orig.) is a necessary document of Austrian history!!!
(Austria is not Germany)

I thought this book was great. I could not put it down after the third chapter. The book tells you how people lived and how they where treaded during the war and after the war ended. I would recomednd this book for any one who it a advance reader and likes a little adventure

yes, i agree. one of the weaknesses of this book is the development of its characters. but maybe that is the point here: the novel focuses on people that cannot escape from their parents' past, the situation it depicts is completely static.still i think ransmayr deals better than anyone before him with the holocaust by taking a more or less objective point of view. the horrible scenes of the torture of an allegedly former SS-soldier are unforgettable. and maybe that's the message of the book: violence whenever it happens cannot be undone und remains in our memories. yet the major strengths of this book are its language and inventiveness. having read morbus kitahara (original title)in german, i think ransmayr's name can be added to the greatest authors in the second part of the 20th century. at the moment there isn't really anybody who surpasses the beauty of ransmayr's language.

This is a really excellent book! I love it for the first reading, and I love it more at the second! Everyone who wants to think about the mankind, the history, the politics or the arts must read it.

The borders of the past and the present do not count any more. Fiction and reality take place in same time. To read this poetic and beautiful but dark lines, to imagine how Ovids exile at the Black Sea passed by, to get to know the old and strange stories of roman and greek mythologie, ... It is not at all amazing that Ransmayr got the highest european literature price for the Last World in 1992. How actual his story is shows the example of Romania of 1989 where the publication of the Last World was forbidden.

This novel has a very Eastern European flavor, with attitudes about power and empire that recall another Austrian, Robert Musil. Ransmayr's writing is beautiful and he has an excellent voice. I found it to be difficult, but very rewarding in the end.