I read this in the mid-80's, after the movie and song came out, and again this year for a book challenge. I remember not feeling very connected to it then and I can see why now: there is a piling-on of characters, peoples, and adventures in Fantastica that seems over-done. This may be in part because every chapter begins with a different letter of the alphabet, and Ende has to keep the story moving.

While the first half of the book is Bastien's adventures getting the book, reading the book, and Atreyu's journey, the second half, starting with the letter "M," goes into Bastien's decisions and wishes and his darker side. The idea that a children's book would start by taking the child into the realm of Fantastica, save the Childlike Empress, encounter different beings and lands, then delve into what happens when one makes selfish decisions is a good one.

Probably a book that should be a bed-time read for a young person, pre-Tween years, conveying the wonder of Fantastica and lots of creatures with the teaching of what happens when we wish for bad things and act out of selfishness. ( )

A lonely boy named Bastian finds a strange book that draws him into the beautiful but doomed world of Fantastica, a place that can only be saved by a human giving its ruler, the Childlike Empress, a new name. The Neverending Story hit many of my least-favorites all at once. The journey, it was long, it was wide, it was about an inch deep. I am too old for this book, because I don’t deal well with skimming, and skimming is all this book does. I found it incredibly superficial -- but I wish I had an eight year old to read it to.
( )

Well the first half of the book is really great. Adventure! Daring! It is a fantastic ride. The second half of the book is super boring. I get that it's supposed to be an inner journey, a complement to the first half's outer journey, but what a snoozefest. ( )

¡Brillante! ( )

The Neverending Story, what can I say, well, first off, I couldn't help but compare the book to the movie in my head, even though I haven't seen the movie in god knows how many years, and this is the first time I've read the book. Needless to say it didn't work out to well, and anyway what movie and book are really the same? Anyway, my impressions of the book version of TNS... one of the main things that bothered me throughout, I guess the second half of the book is that I really, really, didn't like Bastian at all. I understand he was a human in Fantastica and all he was losing himself and his memory and all that jazz, but he didn't keep any shred of likeableness (if that's a word). I don't know if that is what Mr. Ende was going for, why should we like Bastian if he doesn't even like himself, but it just gnawed at me throughout. He is supposed to be the hero of the book (or is that Atreyu?), shouldn't we like him?
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed reading TNS, it brought back a lot of childhood memories, which are always enjoyed, even if they were of the movie and not the book. Oh well, my lasting thought after reading TNS now is...
I can't wait to watch the movie again, lol! ( )