The Brothers Lionheart

Karl is dying. His older brother, Jonathan, comforts him with stories about the hereafter, a place he names as Nangiyala. Oddly, Jonathan dies first and Karl goes a little later. They arrive in Nangiyala, but it is a place of treachery and deceit. Jonathan and Karl have several adventures and then die again, this time headed for a new and better afterlife.

Lots of adventure and action in this 1001 story.

This book is a masterpiece!

It tells the story of two brothers who love each other immensely and how that love turns them into heroes. But also demonstrates how stories can make life bearable when nothing else can.
The book deals with very heavy topics and does it in a spectacular way.

It is essentially a children's book, but I think reading it as an adult is more meaningful somehow.

Huge impact on me as a kid, remember adopting its cosmology as my own religion because, you know, beat any of the obvious alternatives out there at the time.