General Information
===================
 Title:                  Count Karlstein
 Author:                 Philip Pullman
 Read By:                Full Cast
 Copyright:              2000
 Audiobook Copyright:    2006
 Genre:                  Fiction
 Publisher:              Listening Library
 Abridged:               No

Original Media Information
==========================
 Media:                  CD
 Number:                 5
 Source:                 Library
 Condition:              New

File Information
================
 Number of MP3s:         88
 Total Duration:         5:30:45
 Total MP3 Size:         152.46
 Ripped By:              JT
 Ripped With:            CDex 1.51
 Encoded With:           LAME 3.97
 Encoded At:             CBR 64 kbit/s 44100 Hz Mono
 ID3 Tags:               Set, v2.3

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Book Description
================
Recommended for ages 10 and up

Read by Jo Thurley, Jan Francis, Jonathan Keeble, Nigel Pegram, Lex 
Shrapnell, Saskia Strallen, Scarlett Strallen, and Zizzi Strallen

Amazon.com
"I might have occupied my mind usefully with Improving Thoughts, but 
the only improvement I could imagine then was a pair of wings, to enable 
me to fly to freedom. And, of course, a Head for Heights. I cleaned 
the dust from the window and peered out hopefully, but there was nothing 
but a Horrid Precipice, with jagged crags several thousands of feet 
below." Such are the woes of young Charlotte, locked in a tower room 
of her uncle's gloomy Castle Karlstein in 19th-century Switzerland. 
Escaping this predicament seems the least of her worries: in a solemn 
blood pact, her evil uncle, Count Karlstein, has promised to sacrifice 
his two orphaned nieces, Lucy and Charlotte, to Zamiel the Demon Huntsman--on 
midnight of All Souls' Eve--in return for his current riches.

First, however, the heartless Count and his "lip-licking, moist-handed, 
creeping, smarming" secretary, Herr Arturo Snivelwurst, will have to 
catch Lucy, too--and it is no small task with the headstrong, 14-year-old 
Hildi Kelmar; her 18-year-old, handsome-in-a-scowling-sort-of-way brother, 
Peter; and the intrepid English teacher Miss Augusta Davenport on the 
girls' side. As Miss Davenport herself points out, "an English gentlewoman 
can rise above any circumstances, given intelligence and a loaded pistol." 
The events in this delightful gothic farce unfold quickly in a variety 
of narrative voices, artfully building in suspense to a powerful, terrifying, 
deeply satisfying stand-off between the Count and the Demon Huntsman 
of Impenetrable Darkness himself. Subplots and loose ends are gracefully, 
happily, justly tied up in the light of day, finally allowing readers 
to exhale.

British novelist Philip Pullman, masterful storyteller and creator of 
the bestselling adventures The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, 
mesmerizes us again with his playful, suspenseful thriller Count Karlstein, 
released in the United States 16 years after its appearance in the United 
Kingdom. Readers young and old will revel in every angle, twist, and 
turn of this breathlessly paced, very funny page-turner.  Karin Snelson-

From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Britain in 1982, Pullman's light-hearted debut 
effort appears in the U.S. for the first time. A welcome diversion for 
fans impatiently awaiting the final installation of the trilogy begun 
with The Golden Compass, this novel?though lacking the more serious 
underpinnings of the author's later books?showcases the boisterous narrative 
style that fans will recognize as an established element of Pullman's 
repertoire. Set in a Swiss village in 1816, the story revolves around 
wicked Count Karlstein, his two wards?the English orphans Lucy and Charlotte?an-
d the nasty bargain Karlstein has struck with Zamiel, the Demon Huntsman, 
a supernatural being who annually haunts the local woods on All Souls' 
Eve. Pullman adds further zest to the mix with the appearance of characters 
like the orphans' former schoolteacher, the indomitable Augusta Davenport 
("I was able to console myself with the reflection that an English gentlewoman 
can rise above any circumstances, given intelligence and a loaded pistol"), 
and the actor and sometime swindler known as Doctor Cadavarezzi (aka 
Signor Brilliantini), a mountebank as charming as he is sly. Briskly 
narrated in a variety of voices, including those of Lucy (influenced 
by such contemporary gothic novels as The Mysteries of Udolpho) and 
the bumbling, hilariously self-important police sergeant Snitsch, the 
plot undergoes a series of twists and turns too complicated?not to mention 
delightfully improbable?to delineate here. In an exuberant conclusion 
worthy of the best of comic operas, the orphans find a true protector, 
the evil Count is served his just deserts and the formidable Miss Davenport 
is reunited with her long-lost love. Dashing, sparkling and wildly over-the-top 
fun.

From School Library Journal
In this deliciously gothic thriller there are enough demon huntsmen, 
evil guardians, and brooding castles to please even the most desensitized 
reader. The telling of the tale changes hands from beginning to end, 
but the principal narrator is Hildi Kelmer, a teenage maidservant at 
Castle Karlstein. When she hears that Count Karlstein plans to offer 
up his two young nieces to Zamiel the Demon Huntsman on All Soul's Eve 
as part of an old bargain, she must move quickly to get the two innocents 
to safety. However, getting from point A to point B in this story is 
a long, involved process, mined with almost every gothic device possible. 
Among the cast of characters are Hildi's brother Peter, who recently 
escaped from jail where he was serving a sentence for poaching; Miss 
Davenport, a formidable Englishwoman and former teacher of the orphan 
girls; goodhearted Max the Coachman, whose bad luck with sausages has 
landed him with the slick debonair outlaw Doctor Cadaverezzi; and Max's 
true lost love, the faithful but ditzy Eliza. Each of these characters 
is flawlessly drawn, and the changes in narrative voice would be obvious, 
even without the changes in typeface. However, it is the intricate plot, 
with its interconnected twists and turns and cliff-hanger chapter endings, 
that will really sell this book. The pacing is delightful, with horrific 
crescendos every few chapters, and comic relief in the others. After 
the excitement of Zamiel's visit, the literary tidying up of plot threads 
is a welcome relief. Try this for those readers not ready for Horace 
Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, but beyond the pale horror of R. L. 
Stine's "Fear Street" books.
Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA

From Booklist
Including the sort of atmospheric touches the author is known for, Pullman's 
latest is an energetic combination of melodrama, suspense, horror, and 
comedy. Multiple narrators tell the story, with 14-year-old Hildi Kelmar, 
servant in the home of despicable Count Karlstein, setting things up 
and doing most of the talking. It seems that her villainous employer 
is planning to sacrifice his young nieces to the Demon Huntsman, to 
whom he has sold his soul in exchange for his title. What Karlstein 
doesn't bargain for is plucky Lucy's intervention, or the intercession 
of his nieces' former school teacher, a con artist and his helper, and 
Lucy's older brother--a somewhat bumbling bunch. There's lots of running 
around and plenty of old-fashioned slapstick, the latter thanks mostly 
to the local constabulary, who can't seem to get anything right. There 
are also some good laughs stemming from the characterizations: the Count's 
oily, disgusting secretary has the perfect name--Mr. Snivelwurst. The 
fun gives way to some real suspense now and again, especially when the 
Huntsman comes for his due. The plot seems to stagger a bit under the 
weight of its multifaceted cast and their crisscrossing agendas, but 
Pullman manages to shore it up by the close so the characters live happily 
ever after and readers come away both satisfied and smiling. Stephanie 
Zvirin

From Kirkus Reviews
Using multiple narrators and expertly concocted cliffhangers, Pullman 
(The Subtle Knife, 1997, etc.) crafts a thrilling page-turner less violent 
than his Sally Lockhart adventures but no less breathlessly paced. Brought 
to these shores 16 years after it was first published in Britain, this 
gothic farce features young orphans, evil schemers, a gloomy Swiss castle, 
a long-lost heir, stalwart lads, capable women, a con man on the lam, 
hilariously bumbling police officers, and Zamiel: the Prince of the 
Mountains, the Demon Huntsman, ``swathed in impenetrable darkness, with 
eyes of raging fire.'' Having agreed to supply the demon with human 
prey in exchange for riches, the amoral upstart Count Karlstein and 
his slimy secretary Snivelwurst plan to lock bereaved young Lucy and 
Charlotte, believed to be the last Karlsteins in the direct line, in 
a hunting lodge on All Souls' Eve. Fortunately, 14-year-old servant 
Hildi and chunky but superbly competent English tutor Augusta Davenport 
get wind of the plot and engineer a clever reversal, but not before 
a sequence of mishaps, desperate searches, captures, and escapes, complicated 
by a tangle of subplots and capped by a gloriously frightening glimpse 
of Zamiel himself, at whose hands Count Karlstein meets a well-deserved 
doom. In the ensuing hubbub, doughty Miss Davenport is reunited with 
her lost love Antonio Rolipolio, an escape artist whose feckless assistant 
Max turns out to be none other than Castle Karlstein's real heir, kidnapped 
as a baby and thought lost. It's whirlwind plotting, manipulated into 
a pulsing tale of darkened hearts, treachery, and at long last, redemption.-

Book Description
Now in paperback, a spooky and funny middle-grade thriller from the 
author of The Golden Compass. 

Card catalog description
In the mountains of Switzerland the wicked Count Karlstein plots to 
abandon his two orphaned nieces in a hunting lodge as prey for the Demon 
Huntsman and his ghostly hounds. --This text refers to the Hardcover 
edition.

About the Author
Philip Pullman is the author of the acclaimed The Golden Compass, The 
Subtle Knife, and the forthcoming The Amber Spyglass, as well as the 
Sally Lockhart trio of Victorian mysteries.

