The Man Who Spoke Snakish (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780802124128)

A bestseller in the author's native country of Estonia, where the book is so well known that a popular board game has been created based on it, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is the imaginative and moving story of a boy who is tasked with preserving ancient traditions in the face of modernity.

Set in a fantastical version of medieval Estonia, The Man Who Spoke Snakish follows a young boy, Leemet, who lives with his hunter-gatherer family in the forest and is the last speaker of the ancient tongue of snakish, a language that allows its speakers to command all animals. But the forest is gradually emptying as more and more people leave to settle in villages, where they break their backs tilling the land to grow wheat for their "bread" (which Leemet has been told tastes horrible) and where they pray to a god very different from the spirits worshipped in the forest's sacred grove. With lothario bears who wordlessly seduce women, a giant louse with a penchant for swimming, a legendary flying frog, and a young charismatic viper named Ints, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a totally inventive novel for readers of David Mitchell, Sj n, and Terry Pratchett.

Author: Andrus Kivir臧k
ISBN-10: 0802124127
ISBN-13: 9780802124128
Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
Language: English
Published: 11/03/2015
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.40w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2015 pg. 58
Publishers Weekly 07/06/2015
Entertainment Weekly 08/14/2015 pg. 67
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2015
Booklist 10/15/2015 pg. 28
Entertainment Weekly 11/20/2015 pg. 114
Library Journal 06/15/2015