Read the book that inspired the classic coming-of-age film before it’s back onscreen in select theaters this September! From award-winning German author Michael Ende, The Neverending Story is a classic tale of one boy and the book that magically comes to life. When Bastian happens upon an old book called The Neverending Story, he’s swept into the magical world of Fantastica–so much that he … world of Fantastica–so much that he finds he has actually become a character in the story! And when he realizes that this mysteriously enchanted world is in great danger, he also discovers that he is the one chosen to save it. Can Bastian overcome the barrier between reality and his imagination in order to save Fantastica?
“An instantaneous leap into the magical . . . Energetic, innovative, and perceptive”—The Washington Post
“A trumpet blast for the imagination.”—Sunday Times
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One of the most unique and beautiful fantasies I’ve ever read. If you’re a fan of the classic film, I highly recommend reading this to get the full story.
Great
Fantastic (ha! ha!) book! So much detail, the pages really come to life in your mind. Forget the movie! This is a very, very long book but it is so much better than the movie, which only captures the first 100-ish pages of the book. Bastian’s adventure is the best part of the book with the most heart warming and angering ideas with a great moral! My kids LOVED this book and each gave it 5 stars (10 year old and 7 year old)
A little bit Narnia, Eragon, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland.This is a marvelous story. It is both timeless and timely! I highly recommend it
I recently ran into an old copy of this book and decided to re read… I had forgotten how amazingly magical Bastian story was. My favorite in the whole book is, of course, Atreyu!!! The amazing warrior so concentraded on blasting the stupid darkness away… Cant wait for my daughter to read it too
This is the story of a boy named Bastian. His mother has died, his father barely talks to him, and he doesn’t have many friends. One day, on his way to school, he stops in a book store and finds a book titled “The Never Ending Story”. He steals the book, runs to the attic in his school, and begins to read. He enters a world named Fantastica. Fantastica is in trouble – the Childlike Empress needs a new name, and unless she gets one, Fantastica will be swallowed up by the Nothing. A young hero, named Atrayu, goes on a quest for the empress to stop the Nothing and find someone to give the empress her new name. In the end it is Bastian that must save Fantastica but he isn’t sure how.
I have watched the movie The Neverending Story a few times. The first 180 pages or so covers that movie, so I was a little curious to see where the story was going to go once the credits rolled. I was pleased that for the most part, the movie followed the first part of the book. I know they made a second movie, but I have never seen it, and I am not sure if it picked up where the first ended.
Never the less, the book was pretty good. The story got a little lost in parts. Bastian enters Fantastica after he gives the empress her new name, and he tries to become Emperor himself. He becomes spoiled, and unruly until he turns his only friends in Fantastica away from him. He starts to forget who he was and where he came from. The more wishes he makes, the more he loses of himself. In the end, he doesn’t even remember his name. His friends come to his rescue to get him back home.
I suggest reading it. It has its moments where I rolled my eyes and thought “really?” but most books do. This is a good book for kids as well – whether to read it to them, or – if a little older – for them to read themselves. The main character is around 12 years old, so kids could relate to his trials and triumphs.
A Classic that takes the essence of the Fairy Tale, and brings it farther than anyone could have imagined
The Neverending Story
There are plenty of epic Fantasy books out there –
The Hobbit
The Princess Bride
I’d always thought The Neverending Story was just a movie – an incredible movie – and was surprised to find that it was a book.
I suspected the book was going to be good, little did I know that it was great.
Now, the movie is incredible in its own right, so like the book/movie combination of The Shape of Water, let’s just say both the book and movie of The Neverending Story are incredible in their own ways.
The movie brought us Falkor the Luckdragon, the Gmork and Atreyu –
The Neverending Story
The book allows us to go deeper into Bastian.
Bastian’s tale of reading the book is printed in red.
Atreyu’s tale is in blue.
And then they meet.
In short, whether you are a fan of the movie or not, I’d check this out
It’s a classic, and yes – I’ll put it up there with JRR Tolkien’s work, because Michael Ende brings something to the page that even Frodo wasn’t quite able to do.
It’s incredible, it’s amazing, and just as good as modern fantasies like The Shape of Water from Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Kraus.
We are Bastian! We are Atreyu! We are the Childlike Empress!
We are all citizens of Fantasia and Fantastica both!
I read this fully for the first time with my son. It’s SO much more interesting than the movies! Highly recommended. It’s the first book without pictures that my kid has wanted to keep for himself.
This book should be called The Neverending Box of Tissues You’ll Need While Reading This Story, or: This is Why I’m in Therapy.
Actually, I’m not in therapy. I cope by swilling coffee and eating my feelings.
(It’s beautiful. Read it. But buy tissues and make an appointment with a therapist first. Or stop by the supermarket first for coffee and cake–all the cake. Then get more cake. And a little bit more cake.)
My all-time favorite novel!