Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Blurb:
Go and catch a falling star . . .
Tristran Thorn promises to bring back a fallen star for his beloved, the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester—and crosses the wall that divides his English country town from another, more dangerous world of lords and witches, all of them in search of the star. Rich with adventure and magic, Stardust is one of master storyteller Neil Gaiman’s most beloved tales.
My thoughts:
Stardust tells the story of a rural English village known as Wall, with a large stone wall separating it from a Faerie land beyond. Here, a young boy named Tristran Thorn falls in love with a beautiful, arrogant girl named Victoria. Tristran spills his feelings to her, and she promises him that if he retrieves a fallen star and brings it back to her, she will marry him. Tristran embarks on a journey to locate the star–through the stone wall and into the Faerie realm. Crossing through this barrier has been illicit throughout time. Little does Tristran know, the falling star is treasured by many, and he is not the only one searching for it.
Whimsical charm, fantastical characters, beautiful prose, magical adventure–this fairy tale written by Neil Gaiman has all the makings of what pulls me into a story. At times I was spellbound. The prose is lovely and reminded me of The Last Unicorn. With that said, it was borderline too descriptive for me at times, and it veered off occasionally, but the story held my interest until the end.
What made this an even more enjoyable experience was reading the physical book with the audio performed by Neil Gaiman himself. He does such a terrific job with all the different voices of these characters that he’s created. I highly recommend the audio along with the physical book. My goal now is to find the illustrated edition of this book for our collection.
The only issue I had with Stardust was the secondary characters. My brain stuck with Tristran because he is the main character and the only character that gets significant development. What intrigued me with Tristran is that he is an ordinary boy and quite naïve, but something beautiful happens with his character, which truly grabbed me. Fortunately, this happened because I could not connect with any of the other characters in this story. A minor niggle was a time forward early on, but it is necessary to show Tristran’s history to indicate his origin.
Stardust is an adult fairy tale that contains adult content, including one or two graphic sexual scenes. There are also scenes of violence and death. They are short-lived, but the prose may also be a little advanced for younger readers.
Overall, I found this fairytale exceptional, and despite a few minor niggles, I enjoyed it immensely. Neil Gaiman’s wild imagination with his inventive stories never ceases to amaze me. I am excited to move on with more of his books.
4****
Find this book on Amazon and Goodreads:
- Publisher : William Morrow; Reissue edition (September 27, 2016)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 006256434X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062564344
I hope you enjoyed reading my review of Stardust. Have you read this book or other books by Neil Gaiman? Feel free to leave your comments below in the comment section.
❤ Mischenko
This sounds wonderful. I must read it ❤️. And I like the idea of the physical book with the audio is appealing to me. Great review!
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My kids always listen to audio with the physical books and it seems to make the books more enjoyable, especially when you get a narrator like Neil Gaiman who’s theatrical as he is. So, I went ahead and tried it myself, and it was wonderful. Thanks, Tessa! Hope you enjoy this one. 🧡
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This sounds amazing. I like the concept of Wall separating magical world. I have heard from many audiobook listeners that author did fantastic job in narrating all of his stories.
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I enjoyed it, Yesha. Yes, he does amazing on his audios. We’re listening to The Graveyard Book along with the physical book. It’s a full cast of other narrators. So far, so good. 😉
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I must add some Neil Gaiman books to my list, perhaps the audio for this one. Lovely review 💛
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Thank you, Cathy. ❤ Hope you enjoy it.
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This sounds like something I’d enjoy. I don’t event have a problem with sections being overly descriptive (I rather like that). The first time I saw this book on your blog, I thought it sounded familiar, and now I know why. There was a movie based on the book. I saw it but only remember a bit of it. And as they say, the book is always better, so I guess I’ll have to find out 🙂
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Yes! Bookstooge had mentioned it. I hope to watch it this weekend. I’m not exactly sure how close the movie is with the book, but it looks like it has great ratings. The overly descriptive parts in the book that I didn’t appreciate were those that were quite gross. His writing overall is lovely though. Thanks, Mae! ❤️
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Okay…well, gross is another matter, LOL!
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Great review! I really liked Neverwhere, Coraline, and American Gods, so would love to read this one. Sounds like listening to Neil Gaiman narrating the book was a fantastic experience.
I didn’t expect any adult content, thank you for your warning!
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I’m reading Neverwhere soon, so I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it. He does an amazing job on the audios. Thank you! 😉
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That is too bad about the sex scenes. That’ll keep it off my tbr. Good to be reminded anyway.
Enjoy the movie 🙂
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They were short-lived at least in addition to being written well. The death of a certain animal bothered me more than that. I’m planning on watching the movie this weekend, so I’ll let you know what I think. I’m excited to see how it compares to the book. 👍 Thanks, and have a good weekend.
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I watched the movie long ago, but didn’t know it was based on a book. Forgot about this tale until now. Thanks for the reminder.
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I hope you enjoy the book if you read it! We’ll be watching the movie this weekend. Thanks! 😉
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Sounds thrilling! I’m wondering now if Tristan wins out in the end.
Nice review Jen!
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The ending was somewhat unsuspected for me, but it was satisfying. Thanks!
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I loved the movie and want to read the book- it’s on my list!
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I hope you enjoy it! 😉
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I loved the movie and have been wanting to read the book for a while. I’m also afraid the book will ruin the movie…hehehe. Your review makes me want to pick up the book. Great review!
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I’m glad you loved the movie. The consensus seems to be that the movie was better, but I still haven’t seen it. The story was meh at times, but I still liked it. It won’t be for everyone though. You’ll have to let me know your thoughts if you end up reading it. Thank you!
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