Der Katzenprinz and Other Zemnian Tales | Review

Critical Role has published a new collection of stories from the world of Exandria and it’s among their best work yet!

Fans of Critical Role have long begged for real-life versions of many of the show’s in-game stories. While many were delighted to hear that Tusk Love will become a real book later this summer, others were eager to read Caleb Widogast’s iconic Zemnian fairy tales, brought to life by Liam O’Brien, for themselves. To the delight of all, it was announced last November that Der Katzenprinz and Other Zemnian Tales was in fact coming and this spring it finally arrived.

The text comes straight from Liam O’Brien, one of the founders of Critical Role and the voice behind Caleb Widogast (the Zemnian wizard with a fondness for books), while the art comes from artist Charlie Borovsky. During Critical Role’s second campaign fans were first introduced to two of the tales included in this book. Der Katzenprinz (The Cat Prince) came late in the campaign and was read by Caleb to Jester (Laura Bailey’s character for that campaign) during some downtime. Die Waldhexe (The Forest Witch) was introduced during a game of “Narrative Telephone” (a mini-series created during the pandemic lockdown) and was considerably darker than Der Katzenprinz. The third story, Himmelsschloss (The Castle in the Sky), is entirely new and has never been heard anywhere before.

The stories can be summarized as follows (for those who are not familiar):

–Der Katzenprinz sees a young boy meet a mysterious cat who speaks of learning to dance.

–Die Waldhexe sees three children meet a mysterious witch deep in the woods.

–Himmelsschloss sees a young child literally blown to the doorstep of a floating castle in the clouds in an age long past.

As a devoted Critter, I pre-ordered this book straight away and was surprised to receive my copy well ahead of schedule. Having had the better part of a month to pore over it, I can safely say I love everything about this book. The gilt edges and printed cover underneath the dusk jacket ensures the book stands out on the shelf. As an added bonus, the title is written in a German typescript, fitting for a collection of Zemnian stories (it’s an inside joke in Critical Role that Zemnian is actually German).

Another detail that makes this book special is how it’s filled to bursting with pictures and illustrations. Even the few pages that don’t have outright pictures are filled with decorative designs and scrolling artwork. On one hand, this serves the very practical purpose of bringing the story to life. On the other hand, this is meant to be a book of Exandrian children’s stories so it makes sense in that regard for the book to be so heavily illustrated. These illustrations are completely gorgeous. In line with the tone of the stories which are meant to border on the scary, a number of the illustrations are somewhat unsettling, but not unnervingly so.

Of the three stories, Himmelsschloss was the one I was most curious to read, as it was the only story wholly new with no precursors. Not only is it a charming story perfectly in line with the other two entries, but I was delighted to discover the story was full of easter egg references to a past Critical Role mini-series titled Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. The story isn’t quite the same, but I will swear on anything this story took inspiration from that tragic tale.

In conclusion, Der Katzenprinz and Other Zemnian Tales is the perfect addition to Critical Role’s growing library. The stories are written such that readers of any age can enjoy them and the quality gives me hope that this is just the first installment of many of fairy tales from the land of Exandria.