Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

He imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does.

Tristan Thorn dreams of little else other than winning the affections of the beautiful Victoria Forester. And when, one evening, they spot a shooting star hurtling through the night sky, he makes the ultimate romantic gesture and promises to bring it to her in exchange for a kiss. His quest takes him out of the village of Wall where he has lived all his life, and into the land of Faerie where he finds a whole lot more than he'd bargained for! But Tristan is not the only one in pursuit of the star; hot on his heels rides a witch on the hunt for everlasting life and a prince determined to rule the kingdom. Will Tristan succeed in bringing home his prize? Or will his aims change along the way?

In my review of A Game of Thrones I expressed my relief that, despite having watched and loved the series, the book turned out to be everything I'd hoped for and more! So with Stardust being one of my absolute favourite films, I went into this book confident that it too could surpass all expectations. Unfortunately, in this case, I was left disappointed. Basically, I wanted a fairytale. And I didn't get one. For once in my life I wanted cute, I wanted sweet, I wanted romance, I wanted the knight in shining armour, I wanted everything that the film had led me to believe I would get, and I got none of it! The tone was flippant without being particularly humorous and I found the writing downright lazy in parts. Several events occurred because 'they just did', realisations seemed to dawn on people without any need for evidence, and the ending sadly just flopped. Maybe I'm more of a traditionalist than I had previously thought and wanted to be left with that warm fuzzy feeling that, in all fairness, Neil Gaiman never promised to deliver. Overall, Stardust was entertaining and certainly had its moments, but if you're expecting a fun-filled adventure with a happy-ever-after akin to the film then you might be sorely disappointed.

RATING: ★★★☆☆

Lou x