Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Few of us now have seen the stars as folk saw them then -- our cities and towns cast too much light into the night -- but, from the village of Wall, the stars were laid out like worlds or like ideas, uncountable as the trees in a forest of the leaves on a tree.

I had heard of Neil Gaiman before reading Stardust. I had heard him touted as a great novelist and author, yet I had never read one of his books. So when I went to the library a few days ago, I decided to browse through what they had and I found this gem.

Now, I had seen the movie by the same title in late 2011. A friend of mine had said it was great, so I bought it and watched it with my family. I was the only one who enjoyed it. I love anything with a fairytale/mystical aspect and the creativity it took to create such a world as Faerie appealed to me immensely. It certainly wasn't my favorite movie, but I enjoyed it. Thus, when I was looking through the collection of Neil Gaiman books at my local library, I selected this one. If I enjoyed the movie, I figured, I would probably enjoy the book much more.

It never ceases to amaze me how much better a book can be than the movie adapted from it. I know that it is a basically universal fact that the book is always better than the movie -- with exceptions few and far between -- but for some reason I still underestimate the fact time and time again. (I'll do my best not to draw too much attention to the fact that the movie deviates so far from the original work that it is almost hard to see the similarities.)

Stardust was, quite simply put, a pleasure to read. Not only is Mr. Gaiman quite excellent when it comes to crafting an entirely unforeseen and beautiful new world, but his word-smithing capabilities are profound. There were more than a few times that I had to go back and reread certain passages purely because of the sheer beauty of his words.

That being said, something must be said for the plot. The story itself is about a boy named Tristran Thorn, an inhabitant in the fairly boring town of Wall, which lies on the edge of where our world connects with that of a magical one by the name of Faerie. In an effort to win the heart of the girl he adores, Tristran crosses the boundary that separates our world and theirs in search of a fallen star to bring back. But things in Faerie aren't always as they seem and Tristran never expected the star to be a living, breathing woman. To make matters even more complicated, he is not the only one in search of the fallen star and their intentions may not prove so noble as his own.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

Everything I ever thought about myself -- who I am, what I am -- was a lie. Or sort of. You have no idea how astonishingly liberating that feels.