It was my second time to read The Neverending Story; and like the best of books it suggested itself, grabbing my attention as I stared hopefully at the bookshelves. I was duly prepared for Fantastica, a land populated by stories and under threat from the 'nothing'. At its best this book is sublime - a real treat for the imagination and fantastically written; it even tops Momo, another Michael Ende favourite, in places. In other places, however - about half-way through, when Bastian Balthazar Bux began to create his own world, it slumped a little, reading like a book with fillers. But I won't knock it for long about that; I thoroughly enjoyed it, flew through it and would happily have read more.
