Binding: Turtleback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780606229913
ISBN: 0606229914
Label: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 2002-04
Publisher: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
Studio: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton
Product Description:
In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture...and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
What a marvelously visual novel.
Now listen, is this on par with the epic novel The Pillars of the Earth? No. But it's still very, very good.
At times I had to re-read sections to make sure I knew where certain characters were in the novel. For some reason, the placement of characters seemed a little inconsistent, but I'm nitpicking.
Gaiman is an excellent storyteller, and if you pay close attention you will be rewarded at the end of this quickly-paced novel with a great twist.
Rating: -
I plowed through this book in the course of one lazy Sunday afternoon. This is both a plus and a minus in my mind. I truly enjoy the worlds that Gaiman creates and, with this the third book of his I've read, can consider myself a fan. Stardust doesn't fail in that regard as I was happily drawn in to the sometimes silly, sometimes scary, world which our hero must inhabit in order to retrieve a fallen star for his true love.
Simply put, the biggest problem I had with this book was that I wanted more. I wanted deeper character stories and more history and a longer plot. I felt like I was only allowed to dip my toes into a cool stream when, after some initial toe dipping, what I really wanted to do was strip naked, dive in, and swim and swim and swim in said cool stream. But all you get is the toe dip, and that is to be regretted and enjoyed at the same time.
Rating:  -
Wonderfully read by the author, who easily could have been a successful audio book reader even if he did not write with such involvement. And his writing is involving, often engrossing, and his characters become friends we care for. I am stunned whenever some tragedy befalls one. As Mr. Gaiman said himself in his epilog, this tale is akin to Princess Bride, albeit more mature, and is awash with themes and plots of mythos quality.
Rating:  -
Stardust was a bit of a departure from Neil Gaiman's expected writing style. Here we have Gaiman's fairy tale; one that is meant to hold the interest of adult readers. It definitely is not one meant for "children's bedtime storytelling".
Gaiman begins in the typical fairy tale fashion (but, thankfully without the hackneyed, "Once upon a time") explaining a fantasy land that is surrounded by a large stone wall (in fact, the village is called Wall) with only one opening with 2 guards. The people of the village are only allowed to leave through the guarded opening once every 9 years. This makes attentive readers wonder if Gaiman's intention is to relate this to some real-world political situation, but the story progresses in fairy-tale fashion and brings to light the fantastic quest which the main character, Tristran Thorn (the movie version calls him Tristan), must fulfill; as all fairy-tale main characters must.
There are a few mature themes hinted at in the story such as sex, interest in a girl that takes a somewhat typical twist by the story's end, very aggressive sibling rivalry among a group of brothers (of whom only some are alive, but they're all at each other's throats, ["hmmm"...?]). And there is an evil witch. It's very interesting how Gaiman used typical fairy-tale subjects, but used his gift of storytelling to make it all original and fanciful.
Overall, Gaiman still stirs up the readers' imagination in his common method as they trek through Stardust with Tristran, but since it's a fairy tale and since Gaiman chose to use some typical themes of that genre, this story seems like it would be more alluring to young readers or to readers more easily wowed by events and techniques less imaginative than what readers encountered in the much more mature "Neverwhere", "American Gods", and "Anansi Boys".
In my other reviews on Neil Gaiman I mentioned certain things he commonly referred to in all his stories, but he didn't delineate the history of a real-world location this time, nor does he have a long treatise on the tastes and smells of foods or a meal that I can remember this time around.
Rating: -
It begins on a fateful day at the city of Wall when young Tristran Thorn tells the cold-hearted Victoria that he would get anything at all for her if she grants him one wish. When Victoria asks for the falling star that they see together that night, Tristran takes off to retrieve it without a second thought. To do so, he must cross the Wall into the land of Faerie where anything is able to happen. As he goes across Faerie in search of the star he meets new people, things, and beings that where only in bedtime stories before.
However, Tristran isn't the only one looking for the star. A witch is hunting down the star in order to carve out it's heart and heirs to the dead Lord of Stormhold are also in search of the star. Tristran must use his skills, luck, and the passing help of others in order to survive.
This book is a book filled with unlikely twists, engaging characters, and a strong plot. It is impossible to let go and you are always left wondering what would happen next. The idea of Stardust itself is new and fresh. Neil Gaiman remembers to make each page a lively one. Not one sentence is useless. Stardust is beautiful work that takes readers to a new world with unimaginable things, dangers, and magic. Neil Gaiman has also written other books including: Coraline, The Sandman, or The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish, this book would definitely be another to read.
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