Review of Julu

[AbhyarnaAman]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Julu" by Jan Anderegg.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Have you dreamt of visiting a place or an event from the storybook? What if there were portals to do that? This book creates a bridge between the creative world of stories and the world we inhabit. Julu by Jan Anderegg gives wings to its readers' imaginations. It is the first book in the series.

The story is about the land of Jirvania, the place where creativity is born. Jirvania is a beautiful kingdom on a star away from the Earth (the world beyond). Residents of Jirvania can visit various events of the world beyond through some portals. The royalty of Jirvania had to leave their beloved land and hide in the world beyond to save Jirvania, as Lulana, the dog star, suggested. Would Lulana's predictions be able to avert the destruction of Jirvania? Would the royal family ever be able to return to Jirvania?


The book vividly describes the beauty of Jirvania. My favorite part was the musical waterfall that changed color in sync with the music. The residents of Jirvania are honest, kind-hearted, and peace-loving people who work in sync with magical creatures to protect the Jirvania from any danger. Julu, the opal dragon, is worth mentioning here who saves many characters in the book in their times of ''greatest needs''. The story also depicts strong family emotions like Goren worrying for his missing wife and son. The essence of friendship is visible in the bonding between princess Lily, princess Karyn, and Goren. I liked the plot of the book. The concept of smokescreen and portals also intrigued me.

I would have enjoyed the book better if the transitions in time were less frequent. The book leaves the reader juggling various time jumps and an equally large number of characters. The character reference guide provided at the end of the book offers some relief. The timestamps at the beginning of each chapter do not help much.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The book has some grammatical errors and many confusions regarding time flow. It gets difficult to keep track of numerous names of creatures and their backstory. One of the creatures with irrelevant details was Kohaku, the white koi fish. This book has all the ingredients of a fairy tale- a beautiful place, humble people, magical creatures, an evil monster, and a savior. Adults who incline to not-so-logical fantasies might like this book. Teenagers who might comprehend the time flow and enjoy the plot around fairies should read this book. Patient young kids might also like the book if they can take up this big project. I am waiting for the second book in the series as the story doesn't end in this book.

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Julu
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[NetMassimo]

This novel could be engaging for young adults and kids if the structure of the time transisions was well constructed. Thank you for your honest review!

[khaulah]

It could be frustrating when it becomes difficult to keep track of various characters in a book. This book is not for me. Thank you for your excellent review!

[AbhyarnaAman]

It could be frustrating when it becomes difficult to keep track of various characters in a book. This book is not for me. Thank you for your excellent review!

[AbhyarnaAman]

This novel could be engaging for young adults and kids if the structure of the time transisions was well constructed. Thank you for your honest review!

well said

[Ruchi Raina]

This novel seems nice. I would like to see if the royal family would ever be able to return to Jirvania. I agree that confusing time frames tend to distract the reader from the main storyline. Thanks for the great review.

[Raluca_Mihaila]

I would love to visit Jirvania myself . Thank you for this lovely review!

[Muna Chizzy]

The land of Jirvana sounds like a place i will love to be. The story sounds interesting but the too many grammatical errors will make not to read the book. Thanks for the great review.

[Kaushiki Parihar]

It's awful that you didn't liked the book that much. However, I like fantasy of new and different worlds like Jirvana. Thanks for the wonderful review.

[Chiwelite O]

I think it can be a bit frustrating not being able to keep up with characters. Such a nice review.

[Reader-247]

I like that this book can grasp the attention if such a wide audience, sadly, I find such difficult names cumbersome. Thanks for an insightful review though.