Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess' Stardust

by Neil Gaiman

Charles Vess (Illustrator)

Winner of the American Library Award, Mythopoeic Award and World Fantasy Award for Best Artist!

It is here in Wall that young Tristran Thorn loses his heart to the town beauty--a woman who is as cold and distant as the star she and Tristran see fall from the sky on a crisp October evening. To gain the hand of his beloved, Tristran rashly vows to fetch the fallen star and embarks upon a lover's quest that will carry him over the ancient wall and into a world beyond his wildest imagingings...

NEIL GAIMAN AND CHARLES VESS'S STARDUST features the New York Times best-selling author (THE SANDMAN) and one of the industry's best illustrators at the height of their creative powers.

• ISBN10: 1401211909
• ISBN13: 9781401211905
• Publish Date: 1 June 2007 (first published 26 November 1998)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Vertigo
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 213
• Language: English

Reviews

[chymerra]

https://readwithme2018.com/2018/07/19/throwback-thursday/

[Amanda]

3.5

[nitzan_schwarz]

I don't really know what I think about this book, to be honest...
Review to come.

[ladygrey]

I don't know that I can offer a fair review of [b:Stardust|16793|Stardust|Neil Gaiman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328433738s/16793.jpg|3166179]. Because while a lot of people see the wonder of it, I thought it was lovely but somewhat placid.

I think it suffers twice over. Once for having seen the movie first; which is exciting and beautiful and fun. And secondly for not being particularly beautiful; which is an awful thing to say about a fairy tale sort of story. [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] does a phenomenal job of seeing the world of fairie and how lovely and strange it is, where a glass flower can be traded for the color of your hair, but he evokes it in rather a straight forward sort of way. His writing style worked great for [b:The Graveyard Book|2213661|The Graveyard Book|Neil Gaiman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1303859949s/2213661.jpg|2219449] but this needed something more magical. I'm not sure if it's a boon or a detriment that the movie captured that sense of magic and gave it life, but I think it's important to read the book before watching the movie.

And now I have a better understanding of how incredibly well this book was adapted to movie form. It may be the second best adaptation I've ever seen.

[empressbrooke]

I read Neil Gaiman's blog and have his books sitting on my bookshelf, so I figured it was about time I read them. I started with Stardust, since it's the shortest and I was eager to finish it before the movie came out. It's a simple story; a short fairy tale for adults about a young man who goes to fetch a falling star for the girl he's in love with. It's reminiscent of other magical journey tales, such as The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story, and it's just as classic.

I didn't realize it until I read Neverwhere afterwards, but Gaiman has a very distinctive voice, and this is what makes his books so damn enjoyable. It flows so well, and it's musical without being flowery or poetic. Stardust is less predictable than I initially thought it was going to be, although Gaiman does foreshadow very effectively.