Stardust (1998 original; edició 2000)

Re-read January 2014 ( )

I liked this, but not as much as Gaiman's other works - I think the fairy-tale quality of his writing is best when it's cut with something else (see the weird modern London underworld in Neverwhere or the fantastical America in American Gods) - something in this style exposes him a little too much. ( )

For an English teacher this is painful to admit, but I liked the movie better. The book lacked good pacing and the characters were somewhat blah. I couldn't figure out why the two main characters would fall in love except that they were supposed to. The movie also added a great deal of humor that was not in the book. ( )

It's a bit hard to write this review because on the hand I adored it. But on the other hand there were aspects I didn't enjoy at all, so they sort of interrupted my reading pleasure. These were the use of modern language in specific situations, the sex scenes (I have nothing against sex scenes, but to me they didn't quite fit the story), and also some of the things that I suppose should be funny but that to me weren't in tune with the overall style. I should explain that I love high fantasy and I'm not drawn to "funny fantasy" (I have no intention to ever read Terry Pratchett, although so many people tell me I must do so). I love a realistic style in fantasy, the feeling that there could be a world just like that - which is why J.R.R. Tolkien is my most favourite writer.
Gaiman's language is too artificial for my liking, and I had a hard time getting into the story and to let myself fall into this weird world of Faerie behind the wall.

But here's the thing: Despite of these aspects that I didn't like, I really, really loved the story. There was a moment when I held my breath and thought: "This is Faerie!" - in Tolkien's sense of Faerie, the Faerie of Smith of Wootton Major, the place we all need to be healthy and to stay sane. And sure enough, on the next page it was mentioned for the first time: Behind the wall there is Faerie, and if you go there, you will not be the same when you come back. So throughout this story, Faerie weaves its wonderful web and catches you - and I think no novel ever gave me such a Tolkienesque feeling, although on the other hand the style is so far away from Tolkien.

My edition contains two afterwords and the first chapter of a novel that was Gaiman's first idea about Wall, but that hasn't been written so far. My husband's edition contains an interview with Gaiman where he mentions Tolkien (referring, no doubt, to his lecture "On Faerie Stories") and explains that according to him, fairytales are not only for children, but for adults, too. It's an interesting interview about the history of fairytales, although I wish that it would have been longer, because I am curious to know more about Gaiman's influences. In the first afterword, he also mentions Tolkien's fellow inkling C.S. Lewis - and I am absolutely sure that if Gaiman had lived a few decades earlier, he would absolutely have been an inkling, too, and I think that's the highest honor I can give to any fantasy author! ( )

Not a Fan of this, It was a slog to get through.

Its an interesting story but it missing something. I'll be honest I prefered the movie. ( )