Monday, February 9, 2015

Carole Reviews: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Author: Neil Gaiman
Title: Stardust 
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, & YA
Pages: ebook
First Published: 1998
Where I Got It: My shelf (Borrowed from library)

In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, there is a town that has stood on a jut of granite for six hundred years. And immediately to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here in the town of Wall, Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve that star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran through the only gap in the wall, across the meadow, and into the most unforgettable adventure of his life.

I've honestly never heard of this book until it was picked for the Book Club. I was a little weary about reading this, but it certainly was an adventure and I nice add to our book list for the book club. I can't wait to discuss it. 

Ooooooooooooooooo! Victoria you dumb, dumb, witch. Poor Tristran...instead of being honest saying she didn't "love" him like he did her, she sends him out on a simple little errand to go to the magic land and get the falling star and then MAYBE she'll kiss him and if he is lucky she might consider marriage. >________< Gah. 

So yes, the beginning was rough for me for that reason and that is was slow and there were a lot of character introductions. There are a lot of people who want that damn star! Things got better when Tristran did manage to find the star - which made the book much more interesting. It was a twist and I liked it. I can't say what happens when he finds the star, but it was good. 

I loved the including of fairytales and fables! It was a nice! Especially the lion vs the unicorn for the crown. That was my favorite little bit - the unicorn was my favorite!

The only thing I did not like at all in this book was the random parts with lots of violence and/or non YA words/scenes. I'm mostly referring to the death of a character (that I liked - of course) that was brutally murdered. Okay...I think what bugged me was that it was an animal. I felt that these scenes took away the "fantastical" feel of the book. It just stuck out like a red thumb and it wasn't needed.

Overall, this was a fun adventure. I honestly would have never picked up this book on my own, so I am grateful for the book club introducing this to me. There were a few scenes I didn't like because 1) it took away the "fantastical" feel of the book and 2) it bugged me. The beginning was slow, but it got a lot better. I would highly recommend this to those that like fantasy-type books. Out of five stars, I stamp this with 3 stars (it was going to be 3.5 - so a rounded 4 - but the animal murder took away a .5).  

Favorite Character(s): Tristran (even tho he was blinded by the love he had for Victoria), the star (sassy!), and Trsitran's mom
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Victoria and the witch (>_____>) 

4 comments:

  1. Weird, cuz I didn't think any part of it was slow. I was overwhelmed by the new characters in the beginning but it mellowed out. And while I also wasn't a fan of the brutal scenes, I don't know that I'd say it took away from the fantastical feel, cuz it's not uncommon for witches to use parts of animals in spells and such.

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  2. It's not actually a YA novel, it's an adult novel. I love everything about this book, especially the complexity of the interwoven stories. Did you watch the movie? How did it compare?

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  3. Carole I also wanna know how you felt about book v. movie! :)

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  4. Victoria they say its labeles under YA. I liked them both. Ill post my review assp.

    Reece ill post it! I thought it was pretty good. :) Almost better but they had a scene or two they cut out that I thought really needed to be added.

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