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I finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman today, sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. We re-watched the movie a few months ago. It’s wonderful. I wasn’t sure about it at first; the more famous people a movie has, the more I wonder about the quality of the story.

The author describes Stardust as a faerie tale for adults (a la The Princess Bride), and that’s exactly right. I came to that story the same way I did Stardust, by seeing the movie first. In both of these cases, unlike The Jane Austen Book Club, the book is a fuller telling of the tale.

The book is more violent, and sexier, than the movie. The role of the skyship captain is a minor one in the book, and the some events were changed for the film. But both are lovely versions of this faerie tale.

Bonus: The audio version is read by the author. He notes that he likes to listen to stories read by the people that wrote them, because then you know how they were supposed to sound.

Tagged: book review, Neil Gaiman, Stardust

§ One Response to “Stardust”

• wayofturtlechan.wordpress.com/ says:

  May 1, 2009 at 4:43 pm

  Hi there! Thanks for your thoughts on “Stardust.” I’ve seen the movie, as well, but I have yet to read the book. And it’s interesting about what Neil Gaiman says about the audio version; I’ll have to keep that in mind when I publish my books.

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