There are numerous similarities, but the major ones that come to mind right now include:
The title.
The Neverending Story.
The Longest Journey. They couldn't call it neverending, so they called it really long instead, and a journey rather than story (it is a quest game).
The twin worlds of Fantasia/Arcadia and harsh reality or science (called Stark in
TLJ). What's happening to them and why. The big nothing or chaos (this really nails it for me) eating up the world of imagination.
The troubled father-child relationship. Dragons. The stories-within-stories theme.
It's the whole premise, not just the twin-worlds setting. But I'm okay with anyone disagreeing with me on this, so I won't press the point further. I would have no problem with any of this except that
TLJ seems to have nothing to add on the subject.
Taking a brilliant concept (and this applies to the topic in general) in order to develop it that much further would be perfectly fine (standing on the shoulders of giants as they say), but just taking the concept and doing less with it than the original, well, strikes me as pointless.
It's as if Mr Tørnquist wanted to tell a story that had already been told and couldn't escape the original's orbit. (In case there is any doubt, I enjoy many aspects of
TLJ.)
Simo Sakari Aaltonen
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www.adventurecompanion.com
