Amazon.com Review: Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton
Product Description: In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture...and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.
Very Unique ^ This book had many differences from the movie that I saw a few years ago, which allows me to appreciate both the book and the movie as two distinct works. I found the plotline of the book to be much more subdued in comparison to the movie. The love between the star and Tristan was not nearly as passionate, nor Victoria Forester quite so much of a snob. The ghosts of the Stormhold brothers were not as animated as in the movie, and Captain Johannes Alberic of the sky-ship Perdita was definitely not a flamboyant cross-dresser. While all of this may sound very critical, I still enjoyed the book for what it did offer. More explanation for the "wall" in Wall is given and Tristan's mother Una has more character development. Ditchwater Sal is given more attention, as well as more characters introduced into the story. The three witches that are after the star's heart are less representative of the "Big Bad" and more in line with the quirkiness of Faerie. Even the ending of the book differs dramatically with the movie, but I still like both endings - the movie for its drama, the book for its peacefulness.
Mixed ^ Fantasy novel, mostly notable as the first independent book-length prose by the author. Plot summary you can find elsewhere, and not planning to spend too much time reviewing this one. The whole effort struck me as competent but unexciting, a coming-of-age travel adventure with a backdrop of magic and strange creatures that didn't show anything like Gaiman's full abilities. There's nothing of the edge, raw creativity or narrative power of Gaiman's Sandman or American Gods. Instead there's a basic narrative that feels too plain, too modest, to be really worth Gaiman's time. So there's enough plot twist to keep the whole thing fairly energetic and moderately meaningful, but it's still lackluster.
Perhaps the most disappointing element was that the political intrigue surrounding the Stormhold was so stylized as to be dull, which robbed a large point of the ending of its force. On the other hand, some of the basic premises of the book are rather engaging, with the question to bring back a shooting star that is in Faerie a living being, and the town of Wall elaborates trying to ward off Faerie. This last is the most interesting element by far, and brings a touch of genuine structural excitement to the work, while it's basic the scenario imagined for the barrier between mundane and fantastical is fairly unique.
For a long point when reading this book I was trying to figure out if this was stronger or weaker than Gaiman's most recent book, the improbably Hugo-winning The Graveyard Book. I think ultimately it's a bit weaker, though they're in the same general ballpark. The Graveyard Book was better at atmosphere, of taking a core narrative and reworking it into an effective post-urban fantasy atmosphere, for all that the villain and central conflict were much lamer than in Stardust. Both books are worth it for Gaiman devotees(which, of course, I'm on record as being) and probably will be at least tolerated by those interested in traditional-style fantasy. I still hope to see more of the other Gaiman, the mindblowing one.
Interesting ^ I read this book both before and after the movie of the same name came out. Both of which I loved, as well as a few other books by this same author. Mirrormask was my favorite but not by far, all of the books I have read by this author have been simply fantastic. I encourage anyone to check out anything he is involved in. Most recently I have found this:
[...]
"I Wrote This For You is thought to be the long running teaser campaign for a movie and musical collaboration, of the same name, by Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Maynard James Keenan and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.
Operating under the pseudonym "Iain Thomas" as well as occasionally "Jon Ellis" as "The Photographer" there are numerous patterns and secret messages strewn throughout the project, based on number theory (references to Fibonacci sequence are plentiful) and the Kabala, all of which hint at the collaboration."
One of My Favorite Books... ^ A delightful read, quick and easy, while at the same time being very clever and with good plotting and characterization. I recommend it to anyone that loves fantasy, and many people who don't.
Entertaining, but not what I expected... ^ I'm one of those folks who saw the movie first.
I was quite surprised Neil Gaiman would write such a 'light' story as was presented in the movie. I'd read his 'American Gods' before because it was touted 'as good as Stephen King' or my money back.
It was as good, in my opinion, but that also meant his writing was on the dark side.
When I picked up Stardust I expected something that was more of a YA fantasy read, but it's definitely not that.
A literary-type fantasy tale geared toward the adult reader (and maybe the oldest YA readers), this story was interesting, but took some work to get through.
Normally I don't bother to criticize choice of character name, but Tristran tripped me up in my mind and aloud as I read this book...and I did read it both ways.
The characters weren't as well developed as I'd have liked, but as a cast they worked well.
Having watched the movie first definitely ruined me for this book as there were things I was waiting to see play out that never did...I was disappointed by that.
Some of the 'missing' bits made me think the book story was much weaker for it. More like a lengthy short story than a novel.
Overall, it was a decent time-passing read, but nothing that thrilled me.
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