Stardust was the March pick for the 2019 Reading Challenge Group on Goodreads. I listened to the audio book on Scribd, narrated by Neil Gaiman.

“A philosopher once asked, “Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?” Pointless, really…”Do the stars gaze back?” Now, that’s a question.”

About The Book

“Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. But beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.”

My Review

Dunstan Thorn visits the faerie market to find a gift for his girlfriend, Daisy. He buys a crystal snowdrop from Lady Una, a cat-eared faerie, who is a slave to the witch named Madame Semele. Dunstan and Lady Una end up sleeping together, and she becomes pregnant. Nine months later baby Tristran is left at the wall for Dunstan. Tristran grows up thinking his stepmom, Daisy, is his biological mother.

Eighteen years later, the dying King of Stormhold throws the Power of Stormhold into the sky, knocking a star causing it to fall. The King’s sons leave to find the Power of Stormhold so they can become the next King. The fallen star is a young woman named Yvaine. The Lilim, three powerful witches, learn of the star and are seeking her so they can devour Yvaine’s heart which will make the witches young again. After seeing a star fall to the ground, Tristran leaves his village through a gap in the surrounding wall, can retrieve the star as a gift for his crush, Victoria.

“You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn’t true. I know a lot about love. I’ve seen it, centuries and centuries of it, and it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All those wars. Pain, lies, hate… It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But when I see the way that mankind loves… You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing, …(spoiler removed)… I never imagined I’d know it for myself. My heart… It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it’s trying to escape because it doesn’t belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I’d wish for nothing in exchange – no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.”

In the movie the “r” in Tristran’s name is removed and he doesn’t have a stepmom. He also doesn’t encounter the carnivorous wood, but there are new characters such as Captain Shakespeare and Lamia. The ending is different.

The writing style is fantastic, and the audio book is top-notch. The characters and plot are engaging and unique. With themes of freedom, transformation, courage, youth, family, and love, Stardust, is a whimsical, romantic, adventure with many twists and interesting characters such as talking trees, faeries, a lion, and a unicorn.

• Setting: 4/5
• Plot Development: 4/5
• Characters: 5/5
• Quality of Writing: 5/5
• Ending: 5/5
• Overall: 4.6 Rounded to 5 stars on Goodreads 🙂

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About The Author

Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, and now lives in the United States near Minneapolis. As a child he discovered his love of books, reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-described “feral child who was raised in libraries,” Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading: “I wouldn’t be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that librarians actually want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary loans.”
http://www.neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Biography

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/

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