What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

...the villain turning into a pterodactyl or pterodactyl-like creature?

I believe this one is a classic fantasy quest/adventure plot with the main character(s) travelling across different lands on a mission. I'm not sure what the ultimate goal is, however. I believe the book starts in the "real world"/modern times, but then the characters enter some sort of strange dimension where the usual laws of the universe don't apply. It might even be some sort of house that's larger on the inside, a la Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series or Jeanette Winterson's Tanglewreck, but don't quote me on that. :) I'm pretty sure it's neither of those, for the record. The main character I think is a teen boy. There's probably at least one other protagonist involved, possibly a female character who comes from the other dimension/inside the house?

Anyway, over the course of the story the characters are being pursued by a young male villain. I believe he's not the "big bad" but rather works for the main villain/evil organization/whatever. As time passes, the villain's physical condition is gradually getting worse and worse. It's clear the chase is taking its toll on him, and every time the protagonists encounter him, he's in even worse shape. I think I remember him being described as having something wrong with his eyes at one point, like they're starting to turn red or black? I believe the audience is actually supposed to feel bad for him at times.

The villain's ultimate fate is that he gets turned into a pterodactyl somehow??? Or at least a pterodactyl-like creature. I don't remember exactly how this happens. I'm pretty sure it was involuntary on the villain's part, like maybe it was a side-effect of being inside the house/other dimension? The protagonists can't tell how he feels about this, but they think he'll be able to finally find peace??? And they watch him fly away over a lake. It's a really weird scene, which I think is why it's stuck with me for so long. That, and I love me some empathetic villains. :)

I think I read this book in the mid-2000s, and I think it was a fairly new book at the time. I would have read it in 2009 at the absolute latest. I remember it being quite a hefty tome too, probably around 400-500 pages. I think the cover was very plain, mostly black with some kind of reddish/orangeish image or design in the center. And that's about all I got! Any ideas will be much appreciated. :)

I think this my be one of the Old Kingdom books. But I cant be sure.

Ooh, the cover design certainly matches my description! I'll have to place a hold through the library and see if it sounds familiar. Sabriel is supposed to be a classic too, so even if it turns out it's not the one I'm thinking of, I'm sure I'm in for a good read. Thanks for the suggestion! :)

It's an awesome book.

This could be Maddigan's Fantasia (Also called Maddigan's quest) by Margaret Mahy. I don't recognise your description of the cover, but there are a few different covers!
This book contains a lot of the elements you've mentioned, and it was published around the right time.
Two boys appear and join up with a travelling circus, they are pursued by two strange men. The main character is probably the girl called Garland, but the the elder of the two boys who show up (Timon) is also quite central. They do enter strange unreal places on their journey, (a cave infected and full of the dead, some sort of library) and the two men pursuing them are definitely not the Big Bad! I think one of them is some sort of android who begins to break down.
The real "big bad" is from the future, and [[spoiler]] has somehow infected Timon with part of himself (confusing, I know!), but Timon acts both as hero and villain, depending on whether he's in control of himself or not. As the infection spreads he changes physically - scaly and reptilian. His eyes definitely change! So this book could be the one you're after.

I also agree that Sabriel is an awesome book :)

It is definetely not Sabriel, Lirael or Abhorsen you're looking for. I have read them all, and the scene you described isn't in them.
But I agree that they're awesome! :)

@Mary: A travelling circus? A fantasy library? A hero who's partially infected by the villain???? I don't think I've ever read that one, but those elements are all right up my alley! I think I may have found a potential new favorite. :) Time to add that one to my to read list! Thank you for the suggestion!

@Martini: Aw, that's too bad. Thanks for helping me narrow down the search, though! I still think I'm going to give that series a try. Everyone here seems to agree that it's a good one. :)

And the search continues!

I did some more searching on my own, and I think it might be The Dream Merchant by Isabel Hoving? The cover looks super familiar to me, but wow... if this is the right book, I remembered nothing of the main plot, hahaha. Anyway, I've placed it on hold. I'll see if it seems familiar when it arrives at the library in a few days.

Yes, this is it! I was able to find the exact scene (after some digging... wow, this book is huge!). Turns out I was misremembering some of the details. The protagonists are actually the ones who change the villain into a pterodactyl to save his life after he was basically morphed into a pile of goo (This is one weird book hahaha). But yeah, another one to mark down as solved!

Book shelved. Just to clarify, the [s] at the end of the header means a book has been shelved. Somehow this book got the [s] without being shelved (at least in association with this thread, it had already been shelved in association with a different thread).

This was the other query for the book:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Whoops - that was me. I assumed the [s] stood for solved and wanted to update the thread. Sorry about that!

No problem.