Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I give this book a 4.
I don’t feel it necessary to describe this book for three reasons. 1. You can see the description at the top of the book’s page, 2. It’s been turned into a movie and you should have at least heard of it by now, and 3. I don’t know how I would put this into my own words and not write a short essay.
I want to start off by making a confession. I’m going through a phase of reading books that I’ve already seen the film versions of to do comparisons and so far this is the first one where I think I liked the movie better. Now, if you all are ready to hunt me down and kill me, please hold off and hear me out.
The fact of the matter is I do like this story very much. It’s a really good story with excellent writing, originality and creativity, and detailed and realistic world-building. That’s why I’m giving it a 4. There’s no denying that this book is a wonderful story.
The problem that I’m currently faced with it a rare one indeed. Usually, the film versions of movies always seem to be lacking that complete sense of magic that the book usually overflows with. However when I read this book and then thought about the movie I’d already seen, the magic of the movie overpowered the book.
I realize that I’m probably a great minority in this matter, but there were parts of the movie’s story that I simply liked better, but I’m not going to talk about those. I will talk about what I really enjoyed from this book.
I like the little story of how Tristan’s parents met. That wasn’t in the movie.
I like that the Unicorn had a much more involved role and actually had a bit of a personality.
I like that Tristan wasn’t some outcast from his village and was quite well-adjusted.
There are other things I could mention, but then I’d have to put a spoiler alert on this review and I don’t want to.
This is but one of many Gaiman stories you can immerse yourself in and enjoy whether you agree with my assessment here or not. This is an adult read, though I can see teens enjoying it. I wouldn’t recommend it for children. If you like adventure and fantasy, you’ll like this book.
This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
6 replies on “Review: Stardust”
I saw the movie before reading the book and I think I liked it better as well. Considering the content of some of the book, I was surprised to find out it’s considered a young adult book.
Unfortunately, while I thought it was decent, it wasn’t enough to compel me to read more of Gaiman’s work.
Yeah, after I read this I became curious and read a bunch of samples of his work. I thinked them all, but haven’t managed to actually read any of them all the way through yet. I will at some point.
I have complicated feelings about Neil Gaiman. I love some of his work but by no means all. The Graveyard Book is next up in my TBR stack. My daughter loved it so I’m keeping an open mind.
I believe that was a pretty good sample, but just because something starts off good doesn’t meant it’ll end that way. Hope you like it.
Niel Gaiman is a fascinating writer and whether he’s writing comics or novels he finds a way to make the most bizarre concepts relatable. Never for kid’s but everyone else can enjoy it. Insightful review Toi!
Thanks for that. I do agree that he’s not for kids but it’s amazing what’s considered appropriate for teens/young adults.