Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully creepy, July 19, 2002
It is a shame that this book is out of print... find a copy if you can! Although it contains very little gore or violence, it is one of the creepiest books I have ever read. It is an excellent account of the manner in which evil attracts and then enslaves the will. Krabat learns to use extraordinary power at the mill, yes, but only at the price of enslaving his being to the evil miller. The manner in which the miller dominates the wills of his workmen is truly horrifying. Since magic is ultimately about power and domination, it can only be defeated by its opposite, self-giving love. Krabat finds this salvation in the humility of a village girl.This book is the alternative to Harry Potter that I have been looking for as reading material for my kids. It is surely creepy, but not too creepy for 12 year olds and up. The Potter books treat magic and evil as something trivial that can be toyed with impunity. The Potter kids find they can defeat the most horrifying evils with a few magic tricks and a little cleverness and courage. Evil deserves more respect than that, because it is far more dangerous and powerful, working primarily through corruption of the will. Preussler is a master at depicting this process, with the miller breaking the wills of his apprentices through pointless work. Eventually, the men are so dominated that they acquiece in their own deaths, literally digging their own graves. This is a wonderful book. It leaves the reader with a lasting impression of the dangerousness and horror of evil, as well as the power and joy of agape - self-giving love.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best--and scariest--books I read as a child., February 16, 2003
I read this years ago, as a child and in Russian, and I still remember the feeling of genuine dread (and triumph) this story inspired. Even as I think of it now, I feel the hair rise on the back of my neck. The evil in the book does not chase after you--it waits for you to come to it, and invariably, you do. In that sense, the title THE SATANIC MILL is unfortunate--you expect the mill to be Satanic; in Russian translation, the book was called simply KRABAT (the main character's name), and you did not quite know what to expect. The story begins as a young boy named Krabat, somewhere around present-day Eastern parts of Germany, falls asleep wandering, and dreams of ravens crowing. Their message is for him to go to the mill some miles away, to sign up as an apprentice. Which he does, of course, and soon learns that it is no regular mill. (Nor is it quite Satanic, actually--for it is not Satan who runs it). He may stay, or he may go; if he goes, he will learn magic from the Miller himself. Of course, he stays--and becomes one of the apprentices, who turn, at their Master's command, into black ravens. All peachy so far--until the cleverest (and the kindest) of all the apprentices dies an unnatural death--but not before having made his own coffin and dug his own grave. In the (happy) end, of course, Krabat will have to choose between love and good and fairness--and magic. Between being a regular boy and a powerful Miller himself; but such a choice will not come to him easily--and he will have to fight for his life, and that of his love. My favorite characters in the book were the idiot Yuro and the Great Pumphut, who gives the Miller a run for his money. The story is very creepy (or I think it would be for a 13-14 year old; I know it was for me), poignant and beautiful.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Most Favorite Children's Book!, June 3, 2000
I first read this book when I was a kid, and have re-read it several times since. I gave it to my husband as a gift, and although usually he is not too thrilled with the books I pick, he loved this one.Krabat, the protagonist, is a young orphan who starts working as an apprentice at a mill where black magic and witchcraft are at work. The miller has made a deal with the devil, and each year one of the apprentices has to be sacrificed by the miller to keep his side of the deal. Some of Krabat's friends end up dead. Krabat, however, finds salvation through his love, a singer from the nearby village. She is able to rescue him from certain death and put an end to satan's reign, even when the miller casts an evil spell, because her love for Krabat is stronger than witchcraft. Otfried Preussler accomplished a miracle with this book: It has a captivating storyline which has the power to keep even adults fascinated, while at the same time the book sends a strong ethical and moral message about temptations and the power of love. There aren't too many children's books out there which can bridge the gap between adult readers and children. This one does. And it does it exceptionally well.
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