Stardust - Softcover

Gaiman, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061142026 ISBN 13: 9780061142024

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 2006

Synopsis

Catch a fallen star . . .

Tristran thorn promised to bring back a fallen star. So he sets out on a journey to fulfill the request of his beloved, the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester--and stumbles into the enchanted realm that lies beyond the wall of his English country town. Rich with adventure and magic, Stardust is one of master storyteller Neil Gaiman's most beloved tales, and the inspiration for the hit movie.

About this title

Review:

The versatile Neil Gaiman is best known for scripting upmarket graphic novels, most famously the lengthy Sandman cycle. Stardust was a joint project with artist Charles Vess, a short novel of fairyland enriched by at least one sumptuous painting on every page. This edition contains only the (slightly rewritten) text, alas. Gaiman's story looks back to days before commercial genre fantasy, to Lord Dunsany's and Hope Mirrlees's visions of Faerie as a misty country which is at the same time temptingly close and "over the hills and far away". The simple tale is new but has a twice-told familiarity, crafted like a mosaic from many traditional elements. Hopelessly crossed in love, a boy of half-fairy parentage leaves his mundane Victorian-English village on a quest for a fallen star in the magical realm. The star proves to be an attractive woman with a hot temper, who plunges with our hero into adventures featuring witches, the lion and the unicorn, plotting elf-lords, ships that sail the sky, magical transformations, curses whose effects rebound, binding conditions with hidden loopholes and all the rest. Stardust is by turns knowing, poetic, comic and grisly and exudes considerable charm. If only we had those full-colour Vess paintings too. --David Langford

Review:

"Sparkling, fresh, and charming. Superb."--Booklist

"[A] tale about love, danger, friendship, magic, and adventure . . . a short novel that delivers big-time satisfaction."--Detroit Free Press

"The multitalented author of The Sandman graphic novels and last year's Neverwhere charms again, with a deftly written fantasy adventure tale set in Victorian England and enriched by familiar folk materials."--Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"[A] beautiful book, and most of all, perfect for all ages."--Desicritics.org on STARDUST

"A wonderful novel . . . A pleasure to read."--Denver Post

"Thrilling . . . Stardust reads like a mix between L. Frank Baum, the Brothers Grimm, and a Tim Burton movie script."--Dallas Morning News

"Eminently readable---a charming piece of work."--Washington Post Book World

"A charming comic romance."--Dayton Daily News

"Marvelous adventures . . . magical and fun."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Delightful...a strange yet wonderful story."--Grand Rapids Press

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0061142026
• ISBN 13: 9780061142024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250