Title Stardust Series --- Author Neil Gaiman Illustrator Charles Vess Publisher HarperCollins - 2008 / Vertigo - 2019 First Printing 1998 Category Fairy Tale Warnings None Main Characters Tristan Thorn, Yvaine Main Elements Faeries

Catch a fallen star...

Tristan 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.

Neil Gaiman is an amazing writer, so far I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, whether it be the dark American Gods or the humourous Good Omens. I had high expectations for Stardust, I'd seen the movie and loved it, and knew to expect a fairy tale with a twist, and that was exactly what I got. I mean, you know you are reading a fairy tale for adults when the first words out of a fallen star's mouth is "Ow...fuck...ow".

It's a fairy tale that likes to poke a little fun at fairy tales. You have three evil witches that need the star so they can eat her heart to keep their youth. You have a dying king with seven sons, not all of which are a still alive and seeing as not enough of them are actually dead, a new challenge needed to be created to decide who got to rule the kingdom next. You have little hairy men that talk in hairy voices. Birds that aren't birds on a silver chain. Magic and whimsey abounds. And then there's Wall, a perfectly normal town in the English countryside surrounded by a wall, except in that wall there is a gap, a gap no one is allowed to go through except once every nine years when humans and faerie can mix at a fair to exchange their wares.

This is a tale of a young man going on an adventure to prove to the love of his life that he is worthy of her. It is also a tale of finding your heart's desire. Of unicorns and talking trees and flying pirate ships collecting lightning. A wonderous world of magic and imagination.

Now there are of course differences between the book and the movie, but fortunately it had been a long time since I'd seen the movie so I could at times shrug off the change as my misremembering something...though I definitely didn't invent the cross-dressing pirate! The pirate ship had a very small role in the novel. But that's why I try to read the books first, so I know I have the "right" version in my head, and accept that movies always tweak things, sometimes for a very good reason, other...well who knows.

Now I had also picked up from the library a version of the book illustrated by Charles Vess, thinking it was a graphic novel version, but in fact it was an illustrated novel, and very likely how it was originally published as Gaiman and Vess worked on the whole thing together. The illustrations are gorgeous, magical, and beautiful, full of delightful creatures in the background dancing on tree brances or leaning against a rooftop. Perfect for a tale of Faerie. If you don't already own the book, I'd recommend getting the version of it.