Review – Neil Gaiman, Stardust

Yet another inadvertent recommendation from Idiot/Savant, I chewed through this book in a couple of evenings. Mostly because it is highly captivating.

In Stardust Gaiman takes the traditional hero story and presents it in such a novel way it’s hard not to be entranced by the characters, the setting, and the style.

The story centres on Tristan Thorn, who sets out one evening to recover a fallen star, and thereby win the heart of his one true love. Sound cheesy? Well… What Gaiman does is twist the usual poor-boy made good stodge of all-too many fantasy stories and present it with incredible charm.

There are no real surprises in the plot while you’re reading it, but once the story in it’s entirety has been laid out it’s obvious that you’d just read every Tad Williams book ever. But good.

From the crossing over to the Faerie world, to the winning of the heart of his true love, Thorn’s story is fantastic, economical, and incredible. A highly recommended little read.

Oh, and apparently it’s soon to be released as a movie.

Brian L. Belen Says:

2 August, 2007 at 7:37 pm

Have you read any of Gaiman’s other novels? Personally I was never too enamored with Stardust (though I liked it), and feel that Neverwhere was a better novel.

I also have a soft spot for Good Omens, but that’s probably another matter entirely.

Che Tibby Says:

2 August, 2007 at 10:15 pm

no, i haven’t read any others. thinking seriously about it now though.

i’ll put neverwhere on the list after snow crash, and foundation!

Idiot/Savant Says:

3 August, 2007 at 1:27 am

I strongly recommend American Gods. I’m working through the sequel (Anansi Boys) ATM, and its very good – initialy like a wierd romantic comedy (except the protagonist’s father was a god), but apparently gets quite dark and twisted about halfway through.

llew Says:

3 August, 2007 at 8:09 am

I recommend a short story collection of his called Smoke & Mirrors. A nice one about an old lady (in modern days) who accidently buys the Holy Grail from a 2nd hand store, and Sir Galahad comes calling.

Another about a guy who encounters a troll under a bridge, and more, including a pet cat that protects a family each night from the devil.

Creepy & funny as hell too.

Alan Says:

3 August, 2007 at 8:25 am

I can second American Gods.

Mind you, reading through all of his Sandman is well worth it too – you can get them from the Wellington Public Library too.

Perrin Says:

3 August, 2007 at 8:55 am

I definitely also recommend all his other books.

Another book not mentioned above is his latest short story collection, Fragile Things. One of the stories from there, How To Talk To Girls At Parties, won the Hugo award for best short story last year and is available online for free in text/audio format.

I have the Absolute Sandman sitting at home waiting for me to have time to read it.

Because of the Stardust movie (and two others coming out soon), Neil Gaiman is being propelled from cult/geek icon to more mainstream recognition in a very short space of time.

3 August, 2007 at 10:03 am

llew: A nice one about an old lady (in modern days) who accidently buys the Holy Grail from a 2nd hand store, and Sir Galahad comes calling.

I remember Neil reading that one out at a con I went to once. Very funny.

lyndon Says:

7 August, 2007 at 11:48 am

Choosing between Stardust and Neverwhere I had the opposite reaction to Brian.

Stardust (and I still can’t get over the bit where he sticks his hand in the fire) is pretty much an epic fairy tale, very much my thing.

Good Omens is indeed well worth it.

Incidentally, in these situations I always seem to leave a link to “I Cthulhu,” a long-lost story by Neil Gaiman

Craig Ranapia Says:

7 August, 2007 at 11:57 am

Good luck lifting the damn thing… I’m afraid I’m probably going to give Beowulf a miss – Roger Avery’s previous work has all the appeal of a caustic soda enema and Brangelina CGI’d into a tailed goddess doesn’t really float my boat – but Stardust looks indecently charming, and Henry (‘Nightmare Before Christmas’) Selick’s take on Coraline should be deliciously twisted. It’s a shame Mirrormask wasn’t more of a commercial success, but it’s worth tracking down.

In the end, Neil Gaiman is indecently talented but I suspect he’s always going to suffer from having everything he does compared to the utterly sublime Sandman – and that’s a very, very high bar to clear.