Stop 1 · Home village
Rias
Where it all began – this is where Liam’s journey starts.
The world of the novel
Aveltuna
Home village
Rias – Where it all began
Explore the world map of Aveltuna and follow where Liam’s journey takes him. It all begins in Rias …
World map
The world map of Aveltuna
From Rias via Terim and Kest to Dorlean – keep scrolling and follow Liam’s path.
“From there, the land lay spread out before Liam like a map.”
Stop 2
Terim
Terim is a walled city of crooked houses, muddy alleys and jostling crowds, with a lavishly painted town hall presiding over its market square. Those who grow up there call it the most beautiful city far and wide, but strangers had better finish their business quickly, for the sheriff is strict and the pillories are rarely empty.
Stop 3
Kest
Kest is a rough fishing town on Lake Lian: you can smell it long before you reach the gate, and its people meet strangers with suspicion. In return, there is fresh fish every day, and Kest’s famous fish soup is known even in Dorlean.
Stop 4 · Capital
Dorlean
Dorlean, capital of the realm of men, lies on the river Livas: a stone forest of hundreds of towers, crowned by the royal palace and a vast cathedral. The king and the silver army have their seat here, and ships crowd its harbour – but not every alley shines like the palace.
The characters
Character gallery
Each character with a line from the book and a detail worth remembering – ordered by the places of the journey.
- RiasHome village
Liam
Farm boy from Rias, sixteen year-cycles old
“I want to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
He eats his eggs raw, much to his uncle’s head-shaking dismay.
Martin
Liam’s uncle
“When you were tiny, you fitted into Sara’s mixing bowl. And now I have to look up at you when I want to shout at you.”
During thunderstorms he lays Liam’s hand on his chest and counts the heartbeats between lightning and thunder with him.
Sara
Liam’s aunt
“If you don’t stop growing, Liam, you’ll make paupers of us all.”
She loves baking bread and can’t stand it when a tense mood spoils life under one roof.
Saskia
Liam’s little cousin
“What on earth will become of you?”
Just like her mother, she wants to turn Liam into a decent boy – snorting through her snub nose as she does.
Anna
Daughter of the innkeeper of Rias
“But sometimes I also help nice boys choose a barrel.”
Her cornflower-blue ribbon flutters in the breeze “like a little piece of sky”.
Georg
The old neighbour
“Boy, old as I am, my ears are still as sharp as ever.”
Reads a book by candlelight and turns it over as soon as Liam asks what’s in it.
- On the roadTravelling companion
Jack
Dwarf
“Of course I’m a dwarf,” Jack snapped. “And you? Are you a human?”
Carries a battle-axe on his back and has a curse ready for every muddy road.
- TerimWalled city
Fleck
Boy from Terim
“Welcome to Terim, the most beautiful city far and wide.”
Filthy from head to toe, yet he bows to strangers with exaggerated formality.
Professor Hobb
Scholar in Terim
“Amazed, my boy? Most people are.”
Rolls in on a contraption with two large wooden wheels that he calls a wheelchair.
- KestFishing town on Lake Lian
Barnibas
Merchant
“Hello, good people! Would you be so kind as to lend a stranger a hand?”
So thin “it seemed the next gust of wind might blow him away”.
- DorleanCapital of the realm of men
Caelus
Healer and scholar
“Aveltuna is warning us. You can feel it in every single cloud, in the air, in even the tiniest snowflake.”
He wears a pale robe with countless pockets. From his belt hang small vials that “clinked softly with every movement”.
Ajax
Captain of the silver army
“Pathetic. You couldn’t even hold your own against my bootblack.”
In the depths of winter he stands on the training ground completely bare “but for a loincloth”.
Rex
Soldier from the North
“Lucky for you: we’re training partners. And after Ajax, I’m the best here.”
Freckles on his face and red curls on his forehead. One day he wants to buy a boat with his pay and become a fisherman.
Quotes from the book
Voices from Aveltuna
“Something hostile hung in the air, and it did not escape Torq.”
Prologue I “Go on, laugh,” Jack grumbled between two bites. “You’re clearly missing out.”
Jack · Chapter 14 “For Liam it was clear: she was the most beautiful girl in all of Aveltuna and the known world.”
Chapter 3 “Shreds of cloud raced across the sky as if fleeing from an invisible danger.”
Chapter 17 “What kind of road is this? An outrage!”
Jack · Chapter 17 “He grinned into the dusk like a fool, and he didn’t care in the least whether anyone saw him.”
Chapter 5 “The wind was cooler here and carried the scent of stone and wanderlust.”
Chapter 23 “One day I’d like to see Thombrin too.” – “Don’t worry, my friend. You will.”
Liam and Jack · Chapter 18 “In the days that followed, everything repeated itself like the beat of a weary song: riding, resting, silence.”
Chapter 23 “And if I drown, they shall raise a monument to me in Dorlean.” – “A stone monument to the first dwarf to cross the lake with dignity and a full stomach.”
Jack and Liam · Chapter 19 “Hundreds of towers rose not only along the city wall but also ran through its heart like a forest of stone.”
Chapter 23 “It was as if the garden kept its own time.”
Chapter 25
Translated from the German original.
Playlist
On the road through Aveltuna
My songs for the journey from Rias to Dorlean – each one belongs to a very particular moment for me.
Listen right here
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Three Little Birds
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Rias: Liam dozes under the chestnut tree, the last rays of summer sun on his nose.
Why Don’t You Get a Job?
The Offspring
Liam comes home late, and Martin is already waiting with a lecture.
Dreams
The Cranberries
Saturday with Anna: a race to the hills outside the village.
Brown Eyed Girl
Van Morrison
Martin tells how he first saw Sara at the spring dance – and needed three year-cycles to speak to her.
Bailando
Enrique Iglesias
Evening in the village tavern of Rias: drinking, talking and dancing with abandon.
Unwritten
Natasha Bedingfield
Setting off: Liam and Jack take the road to Dorlean.
It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
R.E.M.
Terim: crowds, mud and smoke, and everyone acts as if nothing had happened.
Mr. Jones
Counting Crows
Fleck shows them around Terim, and Liam calls him “the great Fleck”.
The Middle
Jimmy Eat World
The road to Kest: mud up to the ankles and no end in sight.
Tiebreaker
The Head and the Heart
A fire in the rain, with Jack sitting on the other side of the flames.
Get Lucky
Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers
Evening in Kest: fish soup, beer and a merchant with a pipe.
Old Habits Die Hard
Mick Jagger & Dave Stewart
Jack and his pipe: some habits even a dwarf never drops.
Tick of the Clock
Chromatics (from “Drive”)
Along the Livas: day after day the same wide land, and the water is running low.
Robbers
The 1975
Dorlean by night: not every alley shines like the palace.
A Real Hero
College feat. Electric Youth (from “Drive”)
Finally, Liam’s wish: “I want to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
The story
Liam – Der Malträger von Aveltuna
“Liam bears the mark. He just doesn’t know it yet.”