November Book: Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

[FicusFan]

Ok so has anyone else read this book ?

It was not a book that I would have read other than for a group choice. I had looked at it but it seemed too traditional and I am not a fan of NG's writing.

I usually find his writing to have a dullness that makes him a chore to read. With this book oddly I had the opposite reaction. The tone was bright and squeaky and seemed almost cartoonish. In fact the book seemed to be YA in disguise ( it wasn't marked that way on the spine of the book I have). The type was also something like 14 point - to stretch it out to make 333 pages.

I thought the characters were very simple and rather shallow and I pretty much knew what was going to happen before it did. Though the star was a bit of a surprise, but I knew there would be the 'other woman' out there who was his real true love.

I liked the travels in Faerie and the things that lived there, and the whole idea of how it connected to the real world. Though I thought that since NG set up the 9 year cycle of fairs that since there was a fair when Tristan left, and when he returned he would have been gone 9 years. Though he seemed to have missed a few seasons, nobody said anything about 9 years.

I thought the whole 'Lord of Stormhold' thread dovetailed too perfectly, but I liked the murderous brothers and their shades. I also thought the killer witch was too easily defeated and wasn't much of a threat.

It was an ok read, but since it didn't grab me it took me much longer to read than it should have. I kept putting it down.

[Nimea]

Yep, I read it.

I like Neil Gaiman - even though I enjoy his books for children way more than his general fiction (Neverwhere did not really blow me away but I liked American Gods).

This book is more like my Neverwhere experience. The writing did not blow me away, did not get me really connected to the story and/or characters but I did recognize the humor.
Then again, while I was somehow dissappointed by Neverwhere, Stardust had the feeling of a fairy tale from the beginning which made the whole style fitting.

There were elements - just as FicusFan mentioned - that I did like. Like all the fairy magic and trickery or the Stormhold brothers.
Those things together with the fun and the fact that it's a rather quick read makes it a nice book. But on closer inspection nothing I would recommend.

But FicusFan - I read it about two weeks ago, so my memory can fool me but I thought there was no fair when Tristan left, only when he returned. Which by the way would work out quite correctly: he was eight when a fair took place and when he set off he was 17 - only weeks before the next fair . . .

[FicusFan]

No you are right Nimea, and I just finished the book I guess the fairs are some of what stood out for me.

[Rob B]

Life is busy right now, so I'm only halfway through it, but I like it quite a bit so far.

I like his explorations of the Faerie world here and he is putting a good amount of story into sparse wording, a good thing in my book.

I can't help but compare this book to Dunsany's Elfland's Daughter, tone is much the same, similar story.

[Phedre]

I've read Stardust a couple of weeks ago. Can't even remember if I read it in Dutch or in English (in Dutch apparently, I checked my library-history).

I loved Coraline and expected a lot from this book. It's always dangerous to expect the same from a completely different book, even if it is by the same author. I was a little dissappointed by 'Ster' (Dutch titel of Stardust). It was a fun read, but nowhere in the book it becomes great. I would rate it a 7 probably. I liked some of the stuff in the book, like the 7 sons and the despair of the witch who is trying to steal the heart of the star to be young again, but instead is getting older and older, because of the amount of magic she is using. Her ruthless behaviour is fun. I too thought of the book as a YA-book.

I still 'believe' in Gaiman though..:-)

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by FicusFan

I thought the characters were very simple and rather shallow and I pretty much knew what was going to happen before it did. Though the star was a bit of a surprise, but I knew there would be the 'other woman' out there who was his real true love.

Gaiman gets a decent amount of criticism for his characters, in this story, I felt the journey and the setting(s) were of more importance than the characters

Originally Posted by FicusFan

I liked the travels in Faerie and the things that lived there, and the whole idea of how it connected to the real world. Though I thought that since NG set up the 9 year cycle of fairs that since there was a fair when Tristan left, and when he returned he would have been gone 9 years. Though he seemed to have missed a few seasons, nobody said anything about 9 years.

I didn't get that he was gone 9 years, either, but by the logic he set forth in the early part of the book, it makes some sense.

I liked how he ended it and the epilogue as well. Not his best work, but still very very good, IMHO.

[FicusFan]

Originally Posted by Fitz

I didn't get that he was gone 9 years, either, but by the logic he set forth in the early part of the book, it makes some sense.

No I screwed up, and Nimea was right. The story opened with the fair when he was little. He became a teenager and left for his journey (no fair at the time) and then came back when there was a fair - but he wasn't gone all the time in between them (9 years). I just conflated the opening events, which is my bad, but also a comment on how unmemorable to me the book is.

Besides his tone, and his characters, his writing to me also seems to be short little episodes within a larger work, perhaps because of his comics background. So it seems jerky and often unconnected, though to be fair this work had larger episodes than the other book of his (American Gods) that I have read.

[Soon Lee]

I liked it. A lot.

There is also a graphic novel version which is essentially the same text but with illustrations by Charles Vess which is gorgeous. It's by DC Comics; (July 1, 1999), # ISBN: 156389470X and well worth seeking out.

Others have remarked about the similarities to Lord Dunsany. Gaiman has mentioned elsewhere that Dunsany is one of his many influences. The story itself reads much like a traditional fairytale which is no bad thing. Apart from one instance of swearing, STARDUST doesn't contain offensive language. I thought that like all great YA tales, and STARDUST is YA, it can be read and enjoyed by both young and old.

STARDUST is up there with Gaiman's best work. This is Gaiman's take on the traditional fairytale, and for my money, he nails it.

[Priestvyrce]

Yes, I think that Gaimen nails the fairytale aspects of the genre, but....I felt that there was more of a novel than we got. What I mean, I felt that I was only reading an outline to the total story. There were parts that I wished that Gaimen embellishjed on, like the floating ships their adventures and maybe more about the Mountain King and his ilk. Still, it is a lovely novel with some very picturesque(sp?) images.

[Eventine]

I read this book about 2 months ago, but it still sits pretty squarely in my mind.
I thought it was a predictable yet charming story. It was pretty obvious what was going to happen, but Gaiman managed to convey a lightness and charm that still made it a fun journey.
I can see this as the sort of book someone would sit and read to their kids.

On the whole graphic novel thing, I have a strong feeling that Gaiman originally did it as a graphic novel and then wrote this novelisation. That would explain the length, and maybe Fic's perceived difference to his normal novel writing.

I'm a big fan of Gaiman's lately and have been slowly but steadily gobbling up everything he has to offer, and was not dissapointed by this book at all.

[Soon Lee]

The illustrated version was indeed released first.

As for Priestvyrce's comment, I'd much rather a writer left something to the imagination e.g. Stardust than spoonfeed every excruciating detail to the reader e.g. WoT.

I rather liked that events beyond the story were alluded to, as they gave the story setting a feel of depth and complexity.

[Fola]

I'm a big Gaiman fan - I have yet to read anything of his that I didn't enjoy and admire. Stardust definitely isn't for kids, the sexual content is too graphic and the story is a bit dark (OK for a teenage readership.) Don't be fooled by the short length of the book.

It is fairly lightweight compared with, say, American Gods, which I consider his best novel. I think he probably intended Stardust as a fable or fairy tale, and therefore didn't present deep, complex characters, since those are not usually a feature of that kind of story.

I think Neil always writes well, even in his not-quite-so-good books. In terms of style and ideas he's never less than original.

Fola (Juliet Marillier)

[Eventine]

That's interesting - I seem to remember the sex as beign more alluded to than anything.

I might go back and read over that bit...

[starry-eyed]

When I read Stardust I was reminded of how the original Brothers Grimm fairytales were much more sensual and violent than their modern day versions. Gaiman's novel brings back that older tradition of fairytales where happily ever after isn't always in the cards. For my part, I quite enjoyed the novel. I did not read the illustrated version, but hope to check it out sometime, as I think that would provide a more complete experience.

[Jae]

Stardust was actually the first fantasy book I ever read (or, I should say, finished). My husband has read fantasy since he was young, and finally after we had been married for a few years he convinced me to read this one as he spoke so highly of Gaiman. I really enjoyed it. It has been a few years since I read it so the specifics are a little fuzzy. And perhaps being the first first fantasy book I read it sits on a pedestal, having had nothing else compare it to yet in my mind. Am I remembering it wrong, or is its tone much lighter than Gaiman's other books? Not that its tone is exactly light-hearted, but compared to his other books at least.... Reading this thread has made me want to go back and read it over again, even with the so-so comments.

Jae