Julu: The Julu Series, Volume 1
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Julu: The Julu Series, Volume 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 132 ratings
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There is a magical land just beyond our imaginations called Jirvania, where stories grow. Muse faeries harvest these 'pearls' and bring them to our world.

In the heart of Jirvania stands The Great Library, home of every book ever written, and a portal to other times and places where one can step into stories and experience them firsthand. Homework has never been such fun.

When young Jack Lemoine finds an opal dragon egg in Mystic, Connecticut, he soon discovers the real world is not what he thought. Dragons, unicorns, and faeries do exist. Unfortunately, so do witches, ogres, and other monsters, and they want Jack dead - yesterday. A prophecy is written in the stars that he will one day save Jirvania, but evil forces find a way to disrupt time itself, and Jirvania is annihilated seven years before Jack comes of age.

Imagination ceases to exist. Libraries crumble, art disappears, and theme parks vanish. Music dies. Our lives become empty and meaningless.

Imprisoned on Muse Mountain, Jirvania's lone survivor, Karel, receives a visitor from the stars above, urging him to change the story.

Meanwhile, back in Mystic, Jack and his friend, Mia, are thrown into a fantastical adventure when Julu, the opal dragon, hatches to protect them, taking them back in time to fix what once went wrong.The children soon learn that family, friendship, and love are the threads that bind us together, no matter who or what we are, and hope is found in the most unexpected places.

Now Jack must figure out how to help Karel change the story and save our imaginations before it's too late.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    13 hours and 16 minutes
  2. Author
    Jan Anderegg
  3. Narrator
    Jannie Meisberger
  4. Audible release date
    August 14, 2018
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Portals to Imagination
  7. ASIN
    B07G9NWKMT
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 13 hours and 16 minutes
Author Jan Anderegg
Narrator Jannie Meisberger
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date August 14, 2018
Publisher Portals to Imagination
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07G9NWKMT
Best Sellers Rank #557,011 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#6,980 in Teen & Young Adult Epic Fantasy
#12,605 in Epic Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals)
#67,272 in Epic Fantasy (Books)

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
132 global ratings
You're doing something wrong if you don't purchase this book! Lol
5 Stars
You're doing something wrong if you don't purchase this book! Lol
Everyday life can be tough for adults as well as children. This is the perfect book to escape! I have 3 kids. 2 girls and 1 boy and all 3 are fully engaged while reading this book. Definitely put video games and tv on the back burner. FINALLY an author who can pull my kids away from the world of electronics! Also a great book to spend your mommy time reading. Great reminder of what it's like to get lost in your imagination and bring it to life. She also quoted fantastic writers thru time at the beginning of each chapter which has gotten my kids curious of who they are/were. Something that even history and reading teachers struggle to keep kids attention with and by adding these to her chapters has brought some of them back to life. CANNOT wait for future books.. Great inspiration to keep reading for all ages.NOTE TO AUTHOR: Please please please keep writing!!❤️
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Top reviews from the United States

MarkD
5.0 out of 5 stars Once I got into it, I very much enjoyed it.
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2024
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I will say up front, it took a bit to actually get into the story- the forward put me off a bit, some of the choices of emotional expression seem... iffy and exaggerated, and when it starts with special children and prophesied heroes and half the people met turning out to have secret hidden origins and relations, it isn't my usual fare.

However, once one figures out what's going on as far as how and why different things are relevant, the plot is interesting and the premise solid and a bit unique. I did get the feeling it was intended for a different demographic, but still enjoyable enough if one enjoys the idea of traveling through time and magical worlds to meet and save people and correct problems to stave off a malevolent threat.

I will likely continue on in the series.
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Mark Schultz
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this story!
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2020
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I love fantasy nearly as much as science fiction and this delightful story incorporates both.
The author has created a fully developed world in a dimension nearby to ours, and we need it so badly. Jirvania is the source of all artistic inspiration in our world and its very existence is threatened.
I was completely captivated by Jan’s writing and I was reminded of one of my favorite stories, “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”.
Jan’s writing is exceptional; her scene-setting is exquisite, every bit is so easy to imagine. The dialogue flows smoothly and the action leaves little to be desired.
While this book is aimed at children, kids of all ages will love it, from nine to ninety.
I award a score of 4.9 stars to “JULU”.
2 people found this helpful
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Mike
4.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed the book
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2019
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I really enjoyed the book the vocabulary would be hard for my granddaughter who is 9 but I will encourage her to read it in a few years. Looking forward to the next book
One person found this helpful
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Juan Gomez
5.0 out of 5 stars Finding a dragon egg
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023
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This fantasy book tells the story about how Jack finds an opal dragon egg in a cave and his world turns upside down. Imagination itself is in danger of being annihilated, and Jack is the only one who can change the story and save it all.
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The Impartial Pundit
5.0 out of 5 stars A well imagined fantasy classic
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2022
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Julu by Jan Anderegg is a fantastic fantasy book that's suitable for children through adults. It incorporates time travel into the plot, both past and future. The writing is flawless and the world building well imagined. One of the best books I've read lately.
One person found this helpful
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Kathy H. Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Julu has all the earmarks of a future classic!
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2018
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This is an amazing concept for a book and I can really see it becoming a very popular series in the days to come! Jan Anderegg has a wonderful, engaging writing style and makes the scenes come alive to the reader. The action is fast paced and keeps the reader simply enthralled.The characters are great and entirely realistic which is really unusual in a fantasy. I am excited to see where this series goes, and I would recommend it to all ages and to anyone that enjoys fantasy.
2 people found this helpful
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Haime
3.0 out of 5 stars Great story!
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2023
“Julu” is a fantastical story that takes place in the magical world of Jirvania. After cousins Jack and Mia arrive home to find that their parents have been attacked and kidnapped, they do everything they can to learn more about their attackers and track their parents. But with so many obstacles in the way, finding their parents is a lot easier said than done.

This is an amazing story and it’s quite a lot of fun. I did deduct one star though because I felt that the ending was a bit abrupt. So just so everyone’s aware, this is a trilogy and the first book is mostly just the backstory.
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Dan T
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, a story for all ages
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2018
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I made the mistake of starting this book before bed. Hours later I had to force myself to put it down or risk no sleep for the night. The story drags you in so quickly, Never have I wanted to be a character more in a book, than Jack. I'm only half way through, but I have no problem thoroughly recommending the book at this point. A must read, for you and your kids.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

John Bittel
5.0 out of 5 stars Clear crisp prose that captures you from its fist lines.
Reviewed in Australia on May 27, 2018
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I have read many books in my 50 years on this planet. To find a book that engages you so completely that time is fleeting and one that you become immersed in its clear crisp prose is rare. Julu is one of those books. It is a book that you will treasure for years to come and want to read again and again.
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David Powers
3.0 out of 5 stars A romp through worlds real and imagined, and a library that brings stories to life
Reviewed in Australia on September 24, 2023
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The eponymous Julu is a dragon, or whatever else she needs to appear as. She is like a guardian angel. Jirvania is a magical land, a land of imagination, where the great library offers a portal into whichever book you like. Stories, however, can be rewritten.

A boy at school tells Jack he is adopted, and he confronts his mother, who promises to tell him the truth later. But then a strange man who isn’t really a man tries to kidnap him and the girl next door, Mia — attacking their mothers. Running to his secret cave, he throws away the necklace his supposed father had given him in disgust at his parents' lies. But now the man or monster finds the cave, pretending to be his father.

When Julu hatches to rescue him and Mia, and take them back to the kingdom of Jirvania where they are cousins, and Prince and Princess, he learns for the first time about his magical and royal heritage, and something of the dangers he must face.

The book is filled with characters from many other stories, from fairy tales to novels, although sometimes they are mixed up, like Heidi coming from Sweden instead of Switzerland; and sometimes they are real people, like authors, presidents and prime ministers. Each chapter also starts with a delightful quote from a well-known author or historical figure, providing also a helpful time alert and location, usually with dates both in our world or the world beyond, as well as Jirvana’s.

The time alerts are essential as the plot jumps around in time, and character go back and forth in time and can even modify events — or monitor two timelines at once in the case of Guardian Karel, although it is very confusing for him. As well as the explicit time jumps, we also get some retrospectives (some of them quite unnecessary), which all told I found quite confusing at times.

There is no explicit swearing or profanity, although there is the rare occasion when a disguised swear word is used. Generally, the work is well edited, although there are some awkward phrases and the odd error or anomaly. Some things were just odd (like a meal that doesn’t get cooked on the sabbath, and hating the sabbath; like evil power being described as an electrical charge; like finding a crossbow and shooting three ogres before they can even move, with no accounting for the time and effort to reload and recock).

One particularly annoying thing that occurs frequently is quoted dialog from one speaker being broken randomly (without reopening the quotation mark). Conversely, several times we have quoted dialogue from two people within the same paragraph, and with nothing to signal the change of speaker.

The best part of the book is the descriptions of the world and the well-characterized magical animals. The bad guys and monsters are really nasty and quite well depicted, but I found it hard to understand their motivations in most cases, although in one case the path to corruption was believably portrayed.

Overall, the story and characters were pretty good. However, the saltatory manner of telling the story was confusing. I also found it rather heavy going in places and felt the book was overly long (particularly for the target 9–14 year-old age group). The use of language was sometimes very good and sometimes not so good, even forced. And in the end the book just stopped, without a satisfactory completion of a major arc.

So I am not inclined to look for the next book, and am awarding Julu a middle-of-the-road 3 out of 5 stars. I’m not sure that it will really appeal to 9 to 14 year-olds so much as much older readers who will appreciate all the literary and historical references of yesteryear who might get a kick out of oblique references to a character or an author.
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happy reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Imagery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 4, 2018
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I was drawn to this book by the cover, which I think is beautiful and enchanting and caught my eye.
This is a really well written story with great characters and I was glad to see there will be a book two.
The writing flows and is easy to read, description and dialogue flow together lovely.
For me the only drawback is the time jumping, back and forth and in places this lost me. But this is just me, other readers would find this intriguing and exciting.
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