Apr

Stardust

Posted by: Fence in Books

Author: Neil Gaiman
ISBN: 9780061142024 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ;Film’s site ; BlogCritics ; Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire.
And while that is, as beginnings go, not entirely novel (for every tale about every young man there ever was or will could start in a similar manner) there was much about this young man and what happened to him that was unusual although even he never knew the whole of it.

When Tristran Thorn heads off into Faerie to find a star he has no idea of what is about to happen. All he cares is that the beautiful Victoria has promised that she will grant whatever he wishes if he brings the star that she saw fall.

This is very much in the style of a fairy tale, so you can expect a hero and a damsel in distress, not to mention some wicked characters along the way. But that is a positive, not a negative remark, and while some of the elements of the book are to be expected it isn’t in any way predictable or boring. Tristram is a wonderful hero, if slightly dense at times, and I particularly enjoyed the character of Yvaine.

The language used is wonderful, makes the story easy to read as well as being hugely entertaining and enjoyable. It’s just a pity that my edition didn’t have the illustrations of other versions.

Tags: 8 Stars, 823.914, adventure, awwww, faerie, Neil Gaiman, romance, sff, Stardust

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 comments so far

Carl V. (Check me out!)

So glad you enjoyed it. Great, concise review. As I have before, I highly recommend both the illustrated version and the audio version with Neil Gaiman reading the tale…they are both well worth the price.

Rate this:

2.5

April 10th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

Fence (Check me out!)

We’ll see Carl, we’ll see

Rate this:

2.5

April 11th, 2007 at 9:58 am

chris (Check me out!)

So glad you enjoyed it! There’s actually a brand new illustrated version with illustrations once again by Charles Vess coming out in May. I’m very excited about that one. Gaiman’s one of my favorite authors.

Rate this:

2.5

April 11th, 2007 at 11:15 pm

Kailana (Check me out!)

I really enjoyed this book too. I read it last year and it was my first Gaiman. No, wait, Good Omens was my first Gaiman. Nevermind! Still a great read. I am looking forward to seeing the movie.

Rate this:

2.5

April 13th, 2007 at 3:12 pm

Fence (Check me out!)

Chris, I’ll have to keep my eye out for that one. Gaiman is one of my favourite authors too.

Kailana, Good Omens is one of my favourite books. Love Pratchett too so the combination is fantastic.

Rate this:

2.5

April 15th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Quixotic (Check me out!)