Stardust [Graphic]

This edition of "Stardust" was the first I've read & truly loved of Gaiman's works. It touched the child in me & got me interested in the fantasy genre once more. What's more it's graced with Charles Vess's exquisite 175 illustrations -- delicate, colorful, ethereal, and full of little details and shadowy corners. He captures every shred of the magic that Gaiman's words are able to conjure, and a little bit more than that.

What is intriguing is the proposition that some time ago, mortal men & faerie creatures are involved in commerce, even though it's only every 9 years. An apt description of the Faerie Market: (There were wonders for sale, and marvels, and miracles; there were things undreamed-of and objects unimagined)
"Bottled dreams, show more a shilling a bottle!"
"Coats of night! Coats of twilight! Coats of dusk!"
"Swords of fortune! Wands of power! Rings of Eternity!"

Now, if you're mortal, would you pass up the opportunity to go & visit such a wonderful place? Never mind the caution of old, of not indulging in any faerie food & drink. I absolutely devoured the whole page spread of Vess' illustration of the Faerie Market....think of all the possibilities that could occur at such a place (reminiscent of the Floating Market as mentioned in Gaiman's "Neverwhere").

We met the slave girl in disguise who falls in love with the simple Dunstan (helped along with the gift of finding one's Heart's Desire by members of the Fellowship of the Castle). I laughed out loud at her sharp tongue, when she chastised Dunstan's imitation of a little owl's hoot as a signal of his arrival: "That is nothing like a little owl. If my ears were stopped up with twigs perhaps I'd imagine an eagle owl. But it's not a little owl." :)

One cannot help but cringe at what men would do in order to seize power to rule a kingdom, in this case, the Power of Stormhold. I thought that Primus would gain that right to rule, but ahh, be wary of those who are more cunning than you are.

The Three Ladies who are the Lilim can be traced back to old folklore; I don't know how they kept themselves sane having that mirror which reflects a warped version of their personal reality or longing (I can't decide which). In the end, I felt sorry for the oldest of the Lilim, knowing that her sisters await her return with cruel punishment:
Yvaine realized that she felt nothing but pity for the creature who had wanted her dead, so she said, "Could it be that the heart that you seek is no longer my own? I have given my heart to another."
"The boy? The one in the inn? With the unicorn?"
"Yes."
"Your boy will break it, or waste it, or lose it. They all do."
"Nonetheless, he has my heart."

When you read the book you don't realize how big a role the little hairy man plays in Tristran's life, but with Vess' illustrations, you see him popping up everywhere, slyly hidden. The two become fast friends when Tristran first entered Faerie, the former instructing him on the best way to deal with the locals & how not to give away his goal since others are also seeking the fallen star for their own purpose. I particularly liked how the hairy creature gave Tristran the candle-wax to aid him in finding the star ("Can I get there by candlelight? There and back again.")

You find yourself feeling for the characters, no matter the way they were introduced to the story. I rather felt that the unicorn deserved better, since I was appalled by the violent way its life ended. The captain of the ship Free Ship Perdita proved that ships can be airborne, on a lightning-hunting expedition & can later dock on a huge tree with other skyships. You should see Vess' illustration of this.

But the most romantic is of course the colored painting of Tristran & Yvaine realizing that they truly care for each other: (They kissed for the first time then in the cold spring rain; and neither one of them knew that it was raining). And the saddest, is the last illustration of Yvaine who stares "upward into the dark sky and watches, with sad yes, the slow dance of the infinite stars.")

Book Details:

Title Stardust: Being A Romance Within the Realms of Faerie (signed copy)
Author Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess
Reviewed By Purplycookie show less

The more I read of Gaiman, the more convinced I am that he is the logical successor to Ray Bradbury.

Both Bradbury and Gaiman have such a loving touch with their characters, that it just shines through the marks on the page to become something real, something you know and understand intuitively in your own mind.

And like Bradbury, there are times when the reader can tell when they fell a bit too much in love with certain characters or story elements and stay with them a touch too long, as Gaiman did here.

Regardless, like the Sandman series, like [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane|15783514|The Ocean at the End of the Lane|Neil show more Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1497098563l/15783514._SY75_.jpg|21500681], like [b:The Graveyard Book|2213661|The Graveyard Book|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531295292l/2213661._SY75_.jpg|2219449], and like so much of Gaiman's other work, this is simply magical, endearing, and an absolute pleasure to read.

Nobody else is doing what Gaiman does. show less

I saw the movie a few years ago, so I know the story, but it was long enough ago that I don't fully remember the story, making this reading quite fresh. My library has a copy that isn't illustrated; I'm very glad I decided to get this version instead. Funnily enough, I thought I was ordering a graphic novel and was slightly surprised when I found this. The illustrations fit the story perfectly: This is how it is meant to be read. This, after all, is a copy based on the original magazines.

The story is a fairy tale in every sense of the phrase. It contains fairies and fighting and true love (and the youthful ideal of love) and witches and mysterious strangers and darkness and the light and potty humor and wistful humor and sly humor and show more intrigue and lies and assassins and fate and magic and all-around fun. Gaiman makes writing look easy, deceptively so. I read this and thought, I could do this. Though I know that's not true. It takes true talent to make word dance and play as he does, and I have never possessed such a talent. The most I can do is make word give an occasional twirl or hop. Nothing much exciting.

I have yet to rewash the film, but I know that Robert De Niro's character was altered a bit and his name changed. Nothing that ruins the story though. I see on IMDb that Neil Gaiman did not write the screenplay, yet the alteration to De Niro's character feels like something Gaiman might have done himself and likely enjoyed in the movie.

I finished the book a few weeks ago during a snowstorm and it left me feeling content in the way that all good books do. The story had a satisfying ending and kept me spellbound as I was snowbound. And really, what more can anyone ask of a book? show less

Young Tristran Thorn (who's birth is maybe not as...aboveboard...as Victorian society would like) is desperately in love with Victoria Forester. He screws up his courage one night to ask her to kiss him or marry him or just--something! He is met with laughter. In desperation, he offers to slay dragons and bring back treasures for her, each adventure more outlandish than the last. Finally, as they see a shooting star, he offers to bring back the fallen star for her.

She accepts.

And so Tristran goes over the Wall for which his village is named and into Fairyland.

Tristran is woefully unprepared for what he finds there, but he's an adaptable boy. Maybe suspiciously adaptable? He finds the star and sets off with her toward home and Victoria. show more That's right--her. In fairyland, the stars are beautiful young women. Tristran's particular star is named Yvaine, and she is unwilling to help him on his quest for true love. Other, more sinister, people are looking for her as well, and many an adventure and near-miss follow.

I have loved this book since I first read it when it was a new book at my local library. I had to have my own copy, and this has to be at least the third or fourth time I've re-read it.

I love the adventure and the unexpected romance, the ghosts of Stormhold, the desperate witch, the humor, the quirky inhabitants of Fairy, and the way that wishes granted rarely turn out as we expect. Tristran grows so much as a character. He goes from a shallow boy whose head is turned by a beautiful face, to a man who places others' happiness before his own. He follows Gaiman's own [b:Instructions|7023148|Instructions|Neil Gaiman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301656636s/7023148.jpg|7269944] about offering aid or accepting help as the situation dictates and finds that things usually turn out for the best that way.

Part of me wishes that Gaiman would go back and fill in some of Tristran's adventures that are only hinted at in the epilogue. Who can resist a story that is summed up with, "Have been unavoidably detained by the world." Intriguing, right? I want to know where he's been in the world and what he's seen. But the rest of me thinks that this book is just perfect the way it is and I don't want it to become a story that is ruined by later installments.

This was my first time reading the Charles Vess edition. Oh my goodness. It is gorgeous. I personally wouldn't really call it a graphic novel. That, to me, implies panels and dialog bubbles. This was more of an illustrated novel. I adore Vess's artwork. His detailed paintings are a delight to pore over. I was fortunate to meet him at an artist signing when his collection, [b:Drawing Down the Moon|741951|Drawing Down the Moon The Art of Charles Vess |Charles Vess|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277039786s/741951.jpg|728116], was published. He was very nice and I loved hearing him talk about his work. He talked a little about this book, and pointed out some details that I might have rushed over in my eagerness to read the story. Since I knew to look out for the details, I took my time and enjoyed each illustration as its own piece of art. (Hint: look for Gaiman himself in the first fairy market scene. You can take it from there.)

I love this story, and Vess' illustrations just increased my love for it. I highly recommend it. show less

This was very "Gaiman". Weak (physically) main character who doesn't realize he has a destiny, cool colorful characters, iconic mythical creatures and a little romance thrown in for good measure.

I liked this but having seen the movie it seemed like a lot of great stuff from the movie was missing from the book, which is obviously the opposite of what usually happens. I'm not sure if the novel, the one without pictures, is different than this edition, maybe that has more "content"?

Either way, if you're a Gaiman fan, you'll like this, and if you're not it's a perfectly reasonable place to start.

Disappointed. This was my first Gaiman novel. I have not seen the film based on this book and only decided to read 'Stardust' based on Gaiman's reputation and the many positive reviews received. Alas, this story did nothing for me. In my opinion it was simplistic, cliched and the characters two-dimensional. Supposedly an 'adult' fairy tale but I failed to find anything challenging or thought provoking (unlike, say, Philip Pullman's novels for children). Throwing in some sex and violence to a predictable tale that otherwise recycles standard motifs does not, in my view, make for a satisfying read. I was very glad to reach the end - mercifully it is a short read.

Having read the novel and watched the film versions of this story many times I was not surprised at all by the multiple plot twists, but I still found the graphic novel to be quite charming. Gaiman's prose is typically elegant (if slightly more terse than the novel due to space constraints) and is complemented well by Vess' illustrations. Together the two make up one wonderful story that could really only be improved by an overall lengthening; we all want more of Tristran's and Yvaine's adventures after all!