Tuesday

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

When Tristran Thorn is sent on a quest to find a falling star by his ladylove Victoria Forrester, little did he know of the magical adventure that would ensue.

After falling in love with the film, and being acquainted with other Gaiman works over the past year, I had high expectations for this novel. But sadly, I must confess, I actually liked the film better - which was quite a surprise to me. Don’t take me wrong, I enjoyed this book immensely, but the film just left out some of the irrelevant characters (i.e. stepmother and sister storyline) and brought a more comedic side to some of the more obscure characters in the book (i.e. Captain Shakespeare, the dead brothers, etc.).

Mr. Gaiman’s writing style had a marvelous balance between melodic poetics and simplistic ease in his sentence structure and wordsmithery.

Stardust swept me away on a magical journey full of dark humor, love and adventure. It was a surprisingly modern and moving fairy tale about finding the missing part of ourselves hidden "behind the wall". Witches, pirates, and a love story... what more can you ask for in a fairytale. It just goes to show that fairytales are definitely not just for children.

8 comments:

Darlene said...

I had thought about reading this for a challenge but chose others instead. I would eventually like to read more of Gaiman's work though.

Jenne said...

I really enjoyed this book and I agree that the film was really well done. I think the film's ending worked better though.

Nely said...

Dar - I personally love Gaiman. This is the 4th book I've read of his and I have liked each of them in their own special way.

Jenne - I agree. The film's ending is better than the book's. That's the first time I can really say that... I wonder if Gaiman actually had to do with that.

Ana S. said...

I was actually not a fan of the film, but I love the book to bits. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though, even if it didn't quite meet your expectations. And yes, fairy tales are not just for children :)

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I think everyone else has moved on from the Stone Age without me! I haven't heard of this book/movie. I seriously need to get myself updated. Lol :]

Thanks for posting up a review. It really got me interested. I hope I can find a copy of this book soon. ^_^

(I got here from J Kaye's)

Stephanie said...

I enjoyed the movie and would like to delve into Gaiman's books, including this one. Thanks for the review!

Shelley said...

I think I liked the book better than the movie. I'm thinking it may be because I read the book first. This seems like the perfect book for spring!

Kailana said...

That's a cover for that book I have never seen before! Mine is a lot less colourful, but it works! This is one of my favourite Gaiman novels.

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