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jkpiowa's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I loved the movie as a kid, so I wanted to read the source material and eh... I prefer the movie.
I get that this was from the 70s, but only referring to Bastian as fat, pale, and weak over and over? And the "greenskins" that hunt the purple buffalo and are referred to as "savage"? Come on now.
I might have enjoyed this more as a kid, but still, as an adult I've read much better middle grade stories.
I get that this was from the 70s, but only referring to Bastian as fat, pale, and weak over and over? And the "greenskins" that hunt the purple buffalo and are referred to as "savage"? Come on now.
I might have enjoyed this more as a kid, but still, as an adult I've read much better middle grade stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Animal death
Moderate: Fatphobia, Violence, and Bullying
Minor: Death of parent and Racism
alex_wordweaver's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's the answer to our Neverending Stooooorrryyyyy~ I have so many things to discuss with my friend who loaned me the book now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, and Death
Minor: Cancer
ladylothlorien's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have mixed thoughts on this book because the writing style was a little weird to me. Things happened very quickly and there was a lot of “telling not showing” happening. It’s possible part of that is because it’s geared towards children, particularly boys. But I think it’s also because there are two halves to the book: the first half is familiar if you’ve seen the movie; it’s how Bastian comes to Fantastica and saves the Childlike Empress. The second half is Bastian’s adventures in Fantastica (I.e., Bastian learns the life lessons Fantastica has to teach him). It got a little tedious to watch him essentially throw a long tantrum but there were very sweet stories towards the end. So overall I have to give it four stars for a good story about a neglected boy who learns to love and shows his grief stricken father how to love again.
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Animal death, Suicide, and Bullying
If you’ve seen the film you know about the animal death. It is in some ways more devastating in the book; I cried like a childidlereader's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent
emtees's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book is almost impossible to talk about. On the one hand, it’s a kid’s book about a fantastical world, a girl in need of saving, and a child from the real world who is given a chance at adventure. On the other, it is so full of ideas, themes and the irrepressible imagination of the author that it is difficult to narrow anything about it down to a few sentences.
I only read this book recently, though I’d seen the movie a lot as a kid. The book is a very different thing from the movie. I love the movie, but it is a much more straightforward and optimistic fantasy than the book. The book is split into two parts, roughly. The first, which anyone who has seen the movie will recognize, is about Atreyu, a young hunter who is sent on a quest to save the life of the Childlike Empress, ruler of Fantastica, accompanied in imagination only (or so it seems) by Bastian, a boy from the real world who is following Atreyu’s adventures in a book called The Neverending Story. Bullied and lonely since the death of his mother, Bastian is happy to escape from the misery of his life into the story, falling deeper and deeper into it as Atreyu faces increasing hardships and proves himself brave and true. Atreyu is a great fantasy character on his own, but he is clearly a character in a way Bastian, with his very mundane flaws and weaknesses, is not. In the second half of the story, it is Bastian himself who gets to enter the world of Fantastica and have an adventure of his own, where he discovers that unlimited freedom and imagination come with a price.
Fantastica is a classic fantasy world, or more accurately, it is every classic fantasy world. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Fantastica is imagination itself, and so Michael Ende has no limits to what he can do there. Fantastica is full of iconic beings and places: Falkor, the loyal and eternally optimistic Luck Dragon; the Childlike Empress, who views all her people, good and evil, with the same neutral eye; Grogammon the Many-Colored Death, the lion with the tragic fate; Xayide the sorceress and Yor the Blind Miner who digs for images from men’s dreams and the Swamps of Sadness and so many more. The second half of the book in particular feels like a hallucinogenic trip through every wild idea Ende ever had. It’s disorienting in the best way.
Along the way, though, it was the themes and the wild proliferation of ideas that kept me invested. The book ponders questions like the line between stories and lies, between the freedom of imagination and the danger of forgetting the real world, between dreams that give life meaning and fantasies that distract from it. It both celebrates the life of storytellers and people of great imagination and questions the responsibilities they have, looks at stories as both the sources of hope and joy and of manipulation and danger. There’s an interesting moral complexity to Bastian’s journey, especially when set (deliberately) alongside the straightforward heroism of Atreyu’s. Bastian is given everything he ever wanted, and the power to make the world - and, more dangerously, himself - whatever he wants to be, but the price is one more than just he pays.
It almost feels silly to rate this book when I feel like I need to read it again and again to see all that’s there. I’ll definitely be doing that.
I only read this book recently, though I’d seen the movie a lot as a kid. The book is a very different thing from the movie. I love the movie, but it is a much more straightforward and optimistic fantasy than the book. The book is split into two parts, roughly. The first, which anyone who has seen the movie will recognize, is about Atreyu, a young hunter who is sent on a quest to save the life of the Childlike Empress, ruler of Fantastica, accompanied in imagination only (or so it seems) by Bastian, a boy from the real world who is following Atreyu’s adventures in a book called The Neverending Story. Bullied and lonely since the death of his mother, Bastian is happy to escape from the misery of his life into the story, falling deeper and deeper into it as Atreyu faces increasing hardships and proves himself brave and true. Atreyu is a great fantasy character on his own, but he is clearly a character in a way Bastian, with his very mundane flaws and weaknesses, is not. In the second half of the story, it is Bastian himself who gets to enter the world of Fantastica and have an adventure of his own, where he discovers that unlimited freedom and imagination come with a price.
Fantastica is a classic fantasy world, or more accurately, it is every classic fantasy world. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Fantastica is imagination itself, and so Michael Ende has no limits to what he can do there. Fantastica is full of iconic beings and places: Falkor, the loyal and eternally optimistic Luck Dragon; the Childlike Empress, who views all her people, good and evil, with the same neutral eye; Grogammon the Many-Colored Death, the lion with the tragic fate; Xayide the sorceress and Yor the Blind Miner who digs for images from men’s dreams and the Swamps of Sadness and so many more. The second half of the book in particular feels like a hallucinogenic trip through every wild idea Ende ever had. It’s disorienting in the best way.
Along the way, though, it was the themes and the wild proliferation of ideas that kept me invested. The book ponders questions like the line between stories and lies, between the freedom of imagination and the danger of forgetting the real world, between dreams that give life meaning and fantasies that distract from it. It both celebrates the life of storytellers and people of great imagination and questions the responsibilities they have, looks at stories as both the sources of hope and joy and of manipulation and danger. There’s an interesting moral complexity to Bastian’s journey, especially when set (deliberately) alongside the straightforward heroism of Atreyu’s. Bastian is given everything he ever wanted, and the power to make the world - and, more dangerously, himself - whatever he wants to be, but the price is one more than just he pays.
It almost feels silly to rate this book when I feel like I need to read it again and again to see all that’s there. I’ll definitely be doing that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
The main character’s loss of his mother is a major aspect of his character.hedsek's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Mijn favoriet als kind, en het is daadwerkelijk nog steeds goed om als volwassene te lezen! De worldbuilding is echt amazing, de plaatsen en karakters zijn zo creatief en beeldend geschreven. Een paar hoofdstukken kon ik me nog heel goed herinneren omdat ik nog precies wist hoe alles eruit zag en nu ik het boek opnieuw geledezen heb snap ik ook weer goed waarom het me zo bijgebleven is. Ik zie veel reviews waarin mensen zeggen dat ze de tweede helft niet leuk vinden omdat de hoofdpersoon daar iemand anders is, maar ik vind het juist goed werken om een flawed main character te hebben in dit verhaal. Sowieso is de ontwikkeling van de hoofdpersoon belangrijk, maar daarnaast werkt het ook gewoon heel goed met de mechanics van de wereld. Terecht een klassieker wat mij betreft!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Bullying
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