Stardust

Beautiful book, but definitely different from the film. I've watched the film Stardust countless times, so did not anticipate that it would be a whole different thing to the book, but yeah, they are worlds apart. However, I like them as separate things, and both have their own merits.Stardust is a fairytale, and whilst it may not be as adventurous as the film is, it still reads beautifully and has a wonderful array of characters. I loved Victoria in this especially, and Yvaine was great too, but my favourite part of the entire book was the ending; it was something that I did not expect at all, but it moved me.If you're going into this only knowing the film, don't expect it to be the same, but please do enjoy it for what it is, because it is a wonderful little book.

The town of Wall exists at the point where the real and imaginary worlds join. The entrance is guarded, and almost no one is allowed to pass except on one weekend when the fair comes. Tristan, the result of a liaison between a Dustan,a human and a faerie is returned to the human side in a basket where he is grows up with his father and sister. He is much taken with a girl, Victoria, and one night when they see a falling star, he pledges to bring it to her, and so he sets off through the gap in the wall to fulfil this promise.The King of Stormhold is almost dead, but he still has three sone who must fight to the death to be able to claim the kingship for themselves. As the king reaches his last moments he casts the Power of Stormhold for them to find and claim the kingdom.As Tristan sets off he gains a companion who helps him through this magical land, who he saves and who in turn gives him some artefacts to bring the star back. He makes his way to where the star fell. Where he discovers a beautiful girl with a broken leg, he slip the silver chain around her which binds them together and slowly starts his return journey to bring her home.Others have an interest in getting to the star, and his journey is not trouble free. He stops a fight between a lion and a unicorn and they ride it to make the journey quicker. At a tavern he slips his bond when getting food, and she escapes. As he pursues her the others searching for her start to close in. They are reunited at another inn, where she is in mortal danger and they escape, together once again, where they join a old woman travelling to the fair and where he can cross to keep his promise to Victoria. It concludes with a really nice twistGaiman has a way of telling a story that is rooted in the real world whilst being able to soar with the tales of the old folk, faeries and of magical creatures. It is fairly short, but it is very intense, as Gaiman does best. Can recommend for people who want a faerie story that has a little more depth.

Was so very very disappointed with this book. It could have been twice as long, three times in fact. It just doesn't quite deliver like many fantasy books I've read and leaves many questions! Some very odd sexual scenes and references; reads like a young adults book so these seem very out of place! Will be donating!

'Stardust' is a fairytale unlike anything you have ever read before because it is specifically targeted at adults!This book is stuffed full of magic and wonder. It is filled with enchantment and has an element of mystery.Neil Gaiman cleverly takes traditional fairytale characters and twists them into something original and very contempory. There are witches, a lion, a unicorn, a fallen star, three men who who hope to win the seat of power, flying ships, faeries, goblins. Stardust is completely original and a true fantasy that fills the reader's head with with beautiful imagery and vivid, breathtaking scenes.Neil Gaiman writes this book beautifully. He cleverly weaves the tale together so that everything falls into place and all the ends are nicely tied up by the end without once losing the reader's attention.The story first follows a man called Dunstan Thorn who happens to fall in love with a beautiful woman from across the Wall. She is not only a slave but a faerie. Nine months later, a baby arrives on Dunstan's doorstep and he is called Tristan.The book then follows the main character, Tristan, who believes he is in love with a girl from his village. In order to win her hand, he promises to find a fallen star and bring it back for her and so his adventure begins when he goes over the Wall.When Tristan finds the star, he discovers that it is in fact a beautiful woman called Yvaine. The Lord of Stormheld threw a gem, just before he died, and it knocked Yvaine out of the sky. Now the Lord's sons are searching for the gem in order to become the next Lord. There are also three witches desperate to capture the star so that they can cut out her heart in order to obtain their youth. Tristan therefore become the hero of the story as he strives to protect the star while at the same time holding her captive so that he can take her back to his village for the girl he thinks he loves.Stardust is a real gem. Totally entrancing and magical, it is a fairytale like no other. I have recommended this book to dozens of people.

Although I liked this book, I think I would have enjoyed it a great deal more if I hadn't seen the film beforehand. While both stories follow the same narrative trajectory, the details are nearly always different and I think I'm going to have to commit the sacrilege of saying that I actually preferred the film, which maximises the drama of the story at the expense of some of its subtleties. I was also extremely disappointed that some of my favourite characters in the film weren't in the book at all.That said, this is my fault for seeing the film first not an inherent fault of the book, and I did enjoy Stardust. Neil Gaiman's prose is wonderful to read, both highly descriptive and very appropriate to the fairy tale genre in which he is writing. I liked the fact that he makes use of lots of the traditional tropes from folk tales, such as things coming in threes, the power of names, question and answer games and the importance of not straying from the path. There is magic, adventure and whimsy, all reported with the author's tongue placed firmly in his cheek.I think that ultimately having seen the film spoiled this book for me, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a good read, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I could have done.