The Katurran Odyssey

by David Michael Wieger

In the grand tradition of Brian Froud (Faeries), and James Gurney (Dinotopia), Terryl Whitlatch has created a masterpiece of fantasy art - a brilliantly original world that comes to life through illustrations of remarkable beauty and richness. time and place, peopled by creatures that are at once fantastical and real. book's hero is Katook, a small but courageous young lemur who, when the story opens, is suffering from cold and hunger brought on by...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743225007
• ISBN13: 9780743225007
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 3.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 11.4" x 10.4"

Customer Reviews

My response to Katurran Odyssey

A wonderful story, child-like on the surface but full of complexities. A young lemur is caste out from his home and family because he knows what he should not know. His is a quest to go home again. Along the way, he discovers that what he wasn't meant to know has sent him on a spiritual quest. He learns about the true value of friendship, the destructiveness of pride, the power of knowing yourself. My library, where I discovered this book, shelves this book in adult SciFi. I would recommend it for young adults to read on their own. I think it would make a wonderful family read-aloud, or an upper-el read-aloud. The art work is amazing! The illustrations hold so much detail that just exploring this as a picture book could lead off into many intersting discussions and learning experiences. This book touched the child in me, and nurtured me on my own spiritual journey.

Great story, artwork, and overall value.

It's a wonder that more books in this cinematic format don't exist. It combines the best aspects of a childrens book, a graphic novel, and a traditional novel all in one visually compelling layout. Over 180 pages are filled with expertly drawn animal characters that never need to turn into people to elicit empathy. The original story itself is well written and is certainly poised to become a growing universe for future development. Remember Disney's cheesey "Dinosaur"? The Katurran Odyssey is the story that Dinosaur only pretended to be. No doubt Imaginosis has visions of CGI for this new world as well. In fact, Katurran Odyssey already has it's own great soundtrack with the same title from Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning!

The most beautiful book I have ever read

I was shaking with excitement when I first put my hands upon this wonderful book. Not only am I all but obsessed with lemurs, but I also have a fascination with animals and fairy tales. If you sat down and tried to write a book perfect for me, you could not do any better then Terryl Whitlatch and David Michael Wieger. After all, how many books do you see with aye-ayes? The gorgeous illustrations, of course, have the most instant appeal. This is no thin picture book, but over 180 pages long and nearly every double page spread contains at least one delightful picture, filled with breath-taking detail. The turning of every page is a delight, and every time I study a picture there are new, exquisite details to be seen and more exotic creatures to be discovered. I just wish there was a list at the back or somewhere on the internet so that I could confirm my identifications of some of the more obscure species. The story itself is equally delightful. It has a simple, fable-like quality that I enjoy immensely and matches well with the pictures. It tells the tale of Katook, a young lemur that is exiled from his troop for discovering what he shouldn't. He then sets out on an epic journey that takes him through a wide range of habitats and meets all sorts of quirky and intriguing characters, including Quigga, a somewhat arrogant Quagga. The two become good friends, and the ending hints at more to come. This is a book I would dearly love to read aloud (had I anyone to read it to). Children today need more tales like this - a beautiful book, a charming story and some powerful and important messages about friendship and family. It also brings awareness to some of the animals we have lost, and some that we will lose if we're not careful. Everyone, young or old, that loves animals, NEEDS to own this book.

natural history fantasy for all ages

This book is an amazing fantasy, one of the best of that genre to come out in a long time. While the plot is standard fare -- young hero explores a fantastic world and matures as a result -- the setting is among the most original I've recently seen. I can't tell you what a relief it is to get away from the standard sword-and-sorcery and gritty urban fantasy settings so many modern authors seem to be stuck in. Katurran is American Museum of Natural History meets Middle-earth. All the creatures that populate it either exist today or existed at one time in earth's history. There are recently extinct critters like Quagga (a type of zebra) and Tasmanian Tigers living side-by-side with long extinct animals like terror birds (from South America) and mammoths. There are no dinosaurs, but Whitlatch proves that there are plenty of other prehistoric superstars that deserve the same attention. The illustrations are excellent and will remind some readers of Dinotopia -- the literary inspiration of Katurran -- with their attention to the fine details of architecture, costume and animal anatomy. The text doesn't quite achieve the same grandeur, but Wieger does an admirable job given what little room he had to tell an epic, sweeping story. Still, Katurran is a book meant to be looked at rather than read, and on that I give it a 5-star rating. The story is an added bonus in that it fleshes out the world. My only real disappointment is that the soundtrack to the novel is sold separately.