Stardust

Loved my first foray into Neil Gaiman. Didn’t want it to end, even though it ended so perfectly. How has this not been made into a multi-film franchise?

One of Gaiman's weaker works. Also, Tristran, as a main character's name, is exhausting to read. I hate to say it, but the movie is better.

"Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us" love a good fairy tale.

I might have been spoiled by the fact that I have seen the movie too many times, but I feel like the plot of the movie is much more enjoyable than the book.

The book is amazing, no questions about it, yet it does not feel as entertaining as the movie.

Honestly, I read this book because I truly love the movie and now I love them both. This was exactly what I needed, an almost classic fairy tale with the right amount of whimsy and coming of age in a mystical setting. Would read again and again and again. Just a perfect book, it made me feel happy and light hearted and I’m bummed it’s done.

Ah... Stardust. Except for the original graphic novel, I have now enjoyed every version available. Stardust by Neil Gaiman was the very first book I'd read by him. I wasn't reading graphic novels at the time so he and his Sandman series was right off my radar. But Stardust was just my speed and I loved it. Then I forgot out it. It was one of the last library books I read before we moved across the state. I was so busy with moving and looking for a new job and adjusting to living in the Bay Area that Neil Gaiman didn't stick in my mind. In the time that I moved and settled and started a family, Gaiman wrote other prose books. My bookish friends were reading them and recommending them, two in particular, Good Omens and Coraline. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, Stardust was adapted to film and the pieces began to fall into place. When I was reading The Graveyard Book I heard from those same book blogger friends that Gaiman was reading his own books for the audio versions. They uniformly said I had to listen to them. I kept that in mind when this last November we had to drive down to San Diego for my brother's wedding. We wanted audio books to keep the children entertained and Stardust seemed like the perfect choice. The book comes on five discs with a sixth one containing an interview with Gaiman where he talks about the many forms of Stardust, including the film, and what it is like to record an audio book. The story itself is a gentle quest. Tristan Thorn has grown up in the village of Wall where every nine years there's an open air market held on the other side of the hole in the wall. The market though isn't what draws him across the wall, it's the quest for a fallen star to win the hand of the girl he loves. There's just one small problem, the star is a pretty and very angry young woman with a broken leg. There's also the fact that she's holding something that will determine who will be the next Lord of Stormhold. The plotting in the novel is slower in its set up, something I had forgotten, being more familiar now with the film. But listening to Gaiman read his own words and do the voices for the characters made even the slow bits delightful. Gaiman doesn't just read, he creates his characters. He does remarkably well with all the different voices. While they weren't the voices I might have imagined for them, they work. Even if you have read the book before, you should listen to the audio version.

It's times like this that I'm glad I keep records of what I've read. Although I remember enjoying the story (after refreshing my memory of the plot via Amazon), Gaiman didn't make an impression on me as an author at the time. So therefore I had forgotten having ever read this story by him. It wasn't until about 2005 that Gaiman got my attention with Anansi Boys.

This felt like the whispered story I was read just before I surrender myself to sleep when I was young. I gotta admit something: It's been a few years since I've read a Neil Gaiman book and I feel like its been a mistake. I forgotten how good his writing is. This book is delightful fairy tail for adults. It has a few naked scenes, nothing the faint of heart can't deal with, but it's glorious and if you love the movie you will probably like to revive its loveliness with this. I once tried to read the book and it seemed to have a different vibe going, so I would definitely recommend this best. And if you've yet to see the movie it's basically about a fallen star and the boy who goes to retrieve it. And in turn finds adventure and romance while becoming a man.

How do I even begin to explain the greatness that is this book? I cannot fathom the words but I must in order to persuade others like yourself (the one who's reading this, yes, you!) to read this book at once. This novel presented an atmosphere that was comfortable and at the the same time, intriguing which contributed to my thirst for more. And it gave me more. Neil Gaiman always gives more. The intricacy of the details would have drowned me if it wasn't for the organized structure and direction of the story. I mean, you could get lost in it if it was otherwise but no, the story was lain in the most capable of hands. And for that, I am thankful. Most thankful. I also love Neil Gaiman's particular style in which he introduces characters in different sub-stories and then he makes these stories, these characters diverge to make the most of the highlight of the story. I love that about his writing. I just really love his writing in general. Praise be to Neil Gaiman!

This book was exactly what I needed: interesting, fun, on the lighter side of things, and filled with vibrant characters.

This book was very hard to understand (at least for me) took me a while to get through and I didn’t like the ending that much, however if you read fantasy books more often you’d probably like this!!

wanted to like this book but for some reason it just wasn’t clicking

This is exactly what I like my fairytales to be like.

Great world building wish is typical for Neil Gaiman, but the characters and their motivations are lacking. Standard fantasy book written by a man with a male protagonist. Hard to care about the characters motivations.

As always, it's been great to spend time in Neil Gaiman's imagination.

I thoroughly enjoy this, and it being an audiobook narrated by Neil Gaiman gives it extra points. It felt so cozy in spite of all the curses and the hardships, and it's something you can't think too hard on. I will definitely be reading more Gaiman audiobooks in the future.

lol @ neil gaiman becoming one of my highest read authors. when did this happen!! i think this is my ranking for now: american gods = neverwhere > ocean at the end of the lane >> stardust. this oscillated between a 3 and 3.5 for me. as always, gaiman flaunts his storytelling magic, that gritty and eccentric brand he wields so well. i’m always impressed by how fully he commits to fantasy environments; his worldbuilding and voice is resolutely distinct from book to book. but at the same time, the world of faerie just didn’t do it for me?? the folklore felt a bit like olga tokarczuk’s Primeval and Other Times, which was….not my favorite. i don’t know how else to describe the subgenre other than “sleepy-creepy” lmao. mythology!gaiman reigns supreme.

Gaiman is a master at his craft, weaving together a fascinating plot while keeping it compelling. A delight to read.

If more Fantasy writers wrote like Neil Gaiman, then I would read a LOT more Fantasy. I find the majority of Fantasy cheesy, tawdry, and unoriginal. But here is an author who avoided the giant pitfall of corny, generic drivel and tells enchanting stories that are gripping and poetic with just the right amount of snark. I finally read my first Neil Gaiman book last year last year (Neverwhere). I was pleasantly surprised by him. I was also surprised that I had already seen at least three movies based on his books. Stardust was one of those. So I picked up this book and not surprisingly was soon swept away on a thrilling adventure. I knew the basic story from watching the movie, but of course books have so much more detail. I was also pleased that this was written for adults. From the movie, I was under the impression that it was a young adult book. I love Gaiman's writing style so much. It really is the perfect blend of prose and plot. His characters are interesting and well thought-out. All of it blends together into something beautiful. Here is a quote from this book" “He stared up at the stars: and it seemed to him then that they were dancers, stately and graceful, performing a dance almost infinite in its complexity. He imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does.” And my new favorite travel quote: “Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us.” I would also recommend listening to the audio recordings of Neil Gaiman reading any of his own work. He is an marvelous narrator!!

A cute little fairytale that teaches that sometimes, kindness is the strongest magic. This was the perfect cozy fantasy book to curl up with at night. All of the characters were fun and added little hints to the mystery that were fun to put together. Not a nail biter or slog of a fantasy, something quick and simple and light hearted.

Fabulous story, I love Neil Gaiman's writing style. Just wish the book had been longer. There were several parts of the story/characters that I wish had been expanded on. At some points it read like a children's book, others an adult fantasy, and I think it would have been amazing if we'd had just a bit more of that adult fantasy level of detail/world building. Overall though, great read, definitely going to read it again in the future

tristan thorn is a fkn beta cuck

My first experience with Neil Gaiman’s work was with The Graveyard Book and later Neverwhere which fell short on the enjoyment scale for me. I decided to give Stardust a try since there was a movie adaptation of it and I was curious about the book. Sadly like Neverwhere this book wasn’t for me. First off as I read this book I watched the trailer of the movie adaptation and the film is nothing like the novel. Plot wise, the story has so much potential yet it falls short of spectacular. The pace of this book was extremely slow and I found myself wanting to drop it and move onto something else. There are so many little descriptions which take up so much of the book and I wasn’t fond of it. Also while the movie trailer showed a lot of action sequences, the book was anything but that. There was hardly any sword fighting, even the small moments where swords and magic collided were flat and boring. Most of the time I found myself thinking “But…the movie had a lot more action than this.” Also I found the story to be poorly explained, there were some parts in the book which confused me and I thought there could have been further explanations to what was occurring. Adding to the poor explanation, I didn’t see the chemistry between Tristran and Yvaine and I hate it when I don’t connect with the main characters. Character wise, like in Neverwhere I wasn’t emotionally invested in them which disappoints me. I didn’t particularly like Tristran or Yvaine. Tristran was a fool in my opinion and I didn’t find any qualities in him that I truly admired. I found him to be a weak and annoying protagonist. Yvaine (the fallen star) is equally unlikable; she is rude, haughty and always finding fault with Tristran. The secondary characters were poorly developed and there wasn’t much to like about any of them. Overall Stardust was a disappointing read. I personally don’t like to write negative reviews, especially after I enjoyed The Graveyard Book so much. I wish the story was written better because it could have gone places and sadly it didn’t quite reach it’s peak. This is just my opinion though, I know many people have enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It just wasn’t for me. My Rating: 1/5 Would I recommend it? No, especially not as a first Gaiman read