Book Review: Stardust

[Arianna Stonewater]

Title of the book: Stardust
Authors: Neil Gäiman
Genres: Fantasy

Short summary of the story: A young boy goes on a journey to find a shooting star to win a kiss and possibly a girl's hand in marriage, but he's not the only one looking for it! He fights against witches while a subplot of princes fighting to gain the throne connects to the boy's story in an interesting way!

Good points: Lots of drama and intertwined plots! This is written in the old style fantasy, like pre-Tolkien era with beautiful prose. If you like The Princess Bride, you will love this book. There's witches and ghosts, fairy-folk and love!

Bad points: It takes a bit of the book to get into the action, and a lot of the plot is similar to other movies; boy does ridiculous quest to win girl, other people are on same quest for different reasons, boy learns lessons along the way.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Oh. Stardust! Oddly enough, I've read this book. Now I want to read it again.

I'd written a Good Reads review, giving it 4 out of 5 stars

Not one of my favorite Gaiman books, but I think that that's because I saw the movie which was based on it first, and sort of wish that the story had gone the same way as the movie! (That doesn't happen often with me. I generally prefer the books.) I upped the score from 3 to 4 when I realized that the story is strong on it's own ... even if it doesn't include the 'same' adventures with the flying ship.

I've read it again, since, and also seen the movie since my first review. I think now I'd give it a 4 but because I'd be going down a bit from 4.1 instead of up from 3. Of the people on Goodreads from HOL who read it and gave stars, most of the stars were 4 or 5 with one 3.

When the Butterfly read it, and made her review, I commented -

I had seen the movie first, and really LOVED it. The book is so much different in so many parts that the first time I read it I was astonished that I didn't like it very much at all. After all, Neil Gaiman, right? Then I read it again, a long time later and somehow I was caught up in the story as written and realized it too is a fine and good read.

Thanks, Arianna. I think this is a fine book to add to my re-read stack. It's too bad we cannot use it for a Monthly Book Discussion. It had been recommended, but when we looked at it, some of the content is inappropriate for HOL.

[Arianna Stonewater]

Thanks, Arianna. I think this is a fine book to add to my re-read stack. It's too bad we cannot use it for a Monthly Book Discussion. It had been recommended, but when we looked at it, some of the content is inappropriate for HOL.

That's actually why I read it for my summer reading! I figured it wouldn't get picked, but I was reminded about it and decided to read it! Once my younger sister finishes reading it we'll watch the movie so we can talk about the differences and such