The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende

Holy Horseshoes! Is this a good book. But before I get on to to the review I have a quick note on this edition. Now, I love these Puffin Classics, there's a story of the author, some fun facts (like did you know the original German title is Die Unendliche Geschichte) and even a quiz. I have no problem with them. But then you get a cover like this and you have to wonder if they even read the book at all. There are some key facts that they very obviously got wrong. So I'm going to go over them and get it off my chest.

Firstly, The Ivory Tower. It was described as not being like a Rapunzel style tower but instead: "as big as a whole city . . . it looked like a pointed mountain peak twisted like a snail shell. . . this great sugarloaf consisted of innumerable towers, turrets, domes roofs, oriels terraces, arches, stairways and balustrades, all marvellously fitted together." so, yeah, a tad more impressive. Now I'll go quick fire so I can get to the proper review. Atreyu has green skin, blue hair, a purple-red cloak and it is constantly mentioned how he walks barefoot. Falkor has pearly coloured scales not just plain white; he has paws not vicious talons; and he had the face of a lion or dog not some horrific beak hybrid. And, AURYN is black and white not blue and gold. Also I just wanted to say that I won't be talking about the movie adaptations for now I just want to focus on the books. So with that out of the way let's talk about the story. (Warning: SPOILERS)

There is a young boy named Bastian who has the ultimate trifecta of misfortune with recently losing his mother, having a caring but emotionally detached father and being caught up in the cruel treatment of the local school bullies. After finding sanctuary in a bookshop he finds himself drawn into a book called The NeverEnding Story. He secludes himself in the school attic to read it. He reads about the magical land of Fantastica populated by many varied and creative creatures that are slowly being consumed by a Nothing. The god/ruler of this world known as the Childlike Empress has fallen ill and there seems to be a link between this and the Nothing. For reasons known only to her she sends a 10 year old Greenskin boy called Atreyu to find a cure with the protection of AURYN. Atreyu and his horse Artax go around getting hints and pointers from all sorts of mystical and ancient beings. Creatures like Falkor the luck dragon who he saves after Artax traumatises us. He learns that the Empress needs a new name from a human child to be cured and to save Fantastica. Unable to find one he returns to admit his failure. The Childlike Empress then reveals that she knew the cure all along and that the purpose of his quest was to attract the attention of a human child that was reading it right now. After some coaxing Bastian gives her the new name of Moon Child and is transported. With the help of AURYN Bastian is given the task of rebuilding and he succeeds but unknowingly removes a memory with every wish he makes. Then, unsurprisingly considering that he is a ten year old boy just given the ability to change anything about himself and the world around him, he goes completely mad wth power. He keeps creating monsters and scenarios that allow him to be the hero of his dreams which of course causes serious collateral damage. He teams up with an evil witch queen, banishes Atreyu and storms The Ivory Tower to claim Fantastica for himself. Atreyu is forced to raise and army and The Ivory Tower burns to the ground. Atop the burning walls Bastian and Atreyu fight with swords. Atreyu hesitates and Bastian STABS HIM IN THE CHEST! The rest of the book chronicles Bastian with only a few wishes left as he searches for redemption for his actions. He eventually finds out that the only way to fix everything is to return to the human world as, supposedly, Atreyu and Falkor clean up his mess.

As I said before, this book is great and it has the story to match. It's got one of those morals that you rarely see in children's literature: It's okay to indulge in your imagination as long as you know how to snap back to reality. It's the same moral as The Cat In The Hat. The first half, following Atreyu's quest definitely achieves its purpose. It's quick, save Bastian's irregular interruptions, and you feel each of Atreyu's decisions and the desperation he feels. You are right there alongside Bastian, which the book plays to later on. There are points where it seems it only exists as an excuse for some incredibly innovative and beautiful imagery. And the scene with Artax is traumatising with Artax shouting "I want to die" over and over. Some bits do drag, like the time Atreyu spends with Engywook and Urgl the gnomes and the scene with Gmork the werewolf. But they are usually immediately followed by something fast and exciting so you you don't dwell too long. When something frustrating happens (in terms of the quest) you feel frustrated for them. You feel scared when something scary happens. It's very well put together. The second half, admittedly moves quite a bit slower as Bastian tries to get used to the power of AURYN and the power of changing the world around him. It still has its fast moments with the Temple of A Thousand Doors and it provides us with even more creative imagery. For Instance on of the first scenes in the second half involves Bastian turning the last grain of sand into an entire garden of glowing plants and luminous flowers called Perilin, The Night Forest (which I think sounds like some kind of paracetamol brand) But come day and the sun turns the different plants and trees into the sands of Goab, The Desert of Colours. And if that doesn't do it for you then I don't know what will. Oh wait, how about a MULTICOLOURED LION MADE OF FIRE! Although, I do think Ende found some trouble when trying to literally describe Nothing; which, you know, fair enough.

But staying on topic, the structure. There are twenty-six chapters throughout the whole book each one starting wth the next letter in the alphabet. It's a cute, if not pointless, footnote that continues throughout the whole story. Well pointless isn't completely fair as it does eventually tie in to a lesson Bastian learns about storytelling from a monkey . . . don't ask. I wouldn't mind it as much but sometimes it can get in the way. For example while Bastian is wandering and searching for redemption we get to the letter X. At first it seems easy, we have a character, the witch queen, whose name begins with X. It seems fine until you realise that we clearly left her and her companions behind several chapters ago. So now the pacing of the final act of the book has to come to a halt so that we can literally give a one and a half page ending to this character. It gets a laugh it's funny but on the whole not necessary.

Let's go into more about the characters and, before I go into the favourites I need to talk about the couple of side characters that pop up throughout - or more specifically why they annoy me. Don't get me wrong they're brilliant. They can be funny they can be smart they are all a ton of fun to read about. But that is exactly the problem. I love all of these characters and I want to leave them on that happy note. Michael Ende seems to want to do that but every time you think you are about to leave a character and move on he gives you some more. At first you think: Okay let's see where he's going with this. But just at he starts to lead you on he goes:

"But that is another story and shall be told another time."

It's infuriating. I guess you could see it more as a tribute to his great writing style that no matter what character you get you want to follow that character right to the . . . ENDE! I'm sorry I couldn't help myself. But seriously, even after the fifth time when you know it's coming it's still frustrating. The most infuriating of all would have to be the one for the scientific gnome Engywook. I won't say anything just know that it made me angry and made me laugh at how angry I was at the same time..

One that I cannot forgive, however, is in Chapter XXII: The Battle For The Ivory Tower. The build-up for this battle is great. It goes into great detail about each army with what forces Bastian has built up on his travels as well as the forces Atreyu was forced to raise to combat him. But you turn page and it goes:

Well if I were to describe this battle it would take too long so . . . yeah. Just know it was cool.

I may be paraphrasing slightly but that was the gist. I was so disappointed. I won't dwell as I'd be going on a bit of a tangent but I just felt like it was such a wasted opportunity. I know in Shakespeare you don't get the battles onstage but they tell you what happened. And with a book you don't have any constraints with what you tell us except your own laziness. Again, not enough to ruin the book, just a disappointment.

But onto our main character Bastian Balthazar Bux - pronounced 'books' not 'bucks' - a young boy constantly bullied by his classmates and even his teachers with no parental support to go back to. It seems like you would be able to feel sorry for this kid but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Bastian not only has trouble with the people in his life but he himself is an all around failure. Whether these two things link is never explicitly stated but it's probably a decent theory. All of this of course is not the focus but instead his interaction with the titular book. In the first half that is his only job and he does it well. You really feel like Atreyu is the perfect person to capture Bastian's interest. Throughout the opening in the attic he compares his actions to that of a Plains Indian whose culture is very similar to the Greenskins. But despite his very basic role in the first half he is actually quite unlikeable which is in itself very unique for the protagonist of a children's story or any story. Throughout the whole first half we look through his eyes so when he just becomes another character we are still just as invested and sad to see him decline into madness. There's an interesting Catch 22 scenario with AURYN. You get what you want but by the time it comes to effect you forget that you didn't have that and you take it for granted. It's a vicious cycle that Bastian got caught right in the middle of. So, yeah he becomes a bit of an arse but you feel that he had no choice. He's unlikable but that doesn't mean we hate him.

Overall I'd say this book is great, I will stand by it until my dying day. Even if you don't like the protagonist or the writing style. I still think all the creative visuals and ideas are worth the price of admission. You could probably think of five different books just based on some of these ideas. And above all, I hope that someone goes and finishes those loose ends. I'd love to see my favourite characters reach their fitting and righteous conclusion. Hell, I might go and do it myself.

Bailee would later go on to try and fulfil his idea but some die hard fans would intercept him and subsequently bludgeon him to death. But that's another story and shall be told another time.