Magellan’s World – Gregory Manchess Art Novel Book Review

Posted By yonghow on March 26th, 2026

After discovering the stunning art work of American illustrator Gregory Manchess through his amazing art novel Above The Timberline, which I wholeheartedly recommend ( read my review here ), I have been searching around for other books that are also illustrated by the artist. It turns out he has provided the art work for a series of books titled ‘Great Explorers’, so I picked up this book documenting the expeditions of the famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, written by Stuart Waldmen.

The book is written for young readers, but the illustrations by Manchess are of exemplary quality, as can be expected.

Publisher book synopsis – Portugal dominated the wildly lucrative spice trade, and Spain was desperate for a piece of the action. Spain had everything to gain. Portuguese officer Ferdinand Magellan had nothing to lose. His decades fighting for Portugal had left him with a crippled knee and his king’s withering scorn.

And so Magellan left Portugal to lead an expedition for his country’s bitter rival, Spain. He knew it would be an exceedingly dangerous voyage, but the reality proved much worse. Killer storms, mutinies, deadly battles, murders, deprivation and disease dogged the four-year journey. Magellan was driven to ever-greater extremes of brilliance, courage, brutality and madness as he sailed around the world.

Magellan’s World is the story of a harrowing adventure, an inspiring and flawed hero, and an epic event in the history of the world.

Magellan's World - Gregory Manchess Art Novel Book Review

Meant as light reading material for a young age group, the page count of this book is modest and runs only a mere 48 pages, but the splendid quality of Gregory Manchess’s art work cannot be overstated, and this comes recommended.

I am also planning to pick up another book in the ‘Great Explorers’ series ‘The Last River‘ illustrated by Manchess and will review it in the near future.

“Magellan’s World – Gregory Manchess Art Novel″ details :

– Dimensions – 10.25 x 0.5 x 10.25 inches
– Hardcover, 48 pages
– Full color