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A review by eesh25
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
4.0
If there were a competition of all the ridiculous reasons to go on quests, Tristran Thorn would get at least a consolation prize.
We start the book by finding out how Tristran was born (shady shit was done to his father). He lives in the town of Wall, which, every nine years, has a market with faeries and, therefore, has a doorway to the land of faerie.
When Tristran turns seventeen, he fancies himself in love with a girl named Victoria. And one evening, as he's making all these dumb promises of things he can get her from all over the world if she'd kiss him, a star falls from the sky. Victoria mockingly says that she wants him to get her that specific star. And there starts a ridiculous journey through the unknown (to Tristran) lands of faerie to find and bring back the fallen star.
And... while I don't appreciate Tristran pestering a girl who's clearly not interested, it's a unique idea for sure. And the journey itself is a lot of fun. Though Tristran's part of the story was the least interesting to me because I just don't like Tristran. He can be selfish, stupid and kinda boring, and even imagining him as Charlie Cox (y'all should watch Daredevil) didn't help. By the way, I haven't watched the movie yet, but I plan to.
Thankfully, Tristran's not all that the book has to offer. There are several side stories, all featuring people looking for the star for various reasons, and they're all very interesting. I especially loved the ones about the seven brothers. I loved seeing the paths of these characters cross, and how seamlessly Gaiman intertwined the different stories and transitioned between them.
Then there's the star who is quite unhappy about being kidnapped by a moron, but I liked her, along with several other people we briefly met along the way.
The book is also beautifully written with prose that's simple but evokes whimsy and exudes charm. It definitely helped capture the feeling of reading a fairytale. The tone of the book is light, except for a few impaled heads. But you know, you can't really have a fairytale without murder.
Overall, this was a good read. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but that's mostly because I don't like Tristran. Other than that, I had a lot of fun with the book, and I'd recommend checking it out.
We start the book by finding out how Tristran was born (shady shit was done to his father). He lives in the town of Wall, which, every nine years, has a market with faeries and, therefore, has a doorway to the land of faerie.
When Tristran turns seventeen, he fancies himself in love with a girl named Victoria. And one evening, as he's making all these dumb promises of things he can get her from all over the world if she'd kiss him, a star falls from the sky. Victoria mockingly says that she wants him to get her that specific star. And there starts a ridiculous journey through the unknown (to Tristran) lands of faerie to find and bring back the fallen star.
And... while I don't appreciate Tristran pestering a girl who's clearly not interested, it's a unique idea for sure. And the journey itself is a lot of fun. Though Tristran's part of the story was the least interesting to me because I just don't like Tristran. He can be selfish, stupid and kinda boring, and even imagining him as Charlie Cox (y'all should watch Daredevil) didn't help. By the way, I haven't watched the movie yet, but I plan to.
Thankfully, Tristran's not all that the book has to offer. There are several side stories, all featuring people looking for the star for various reasons, and they're all very interesting. I especially loved the ones about the seven brothers. I loved seeing the paths of these characters cross, and how seamlessly Gaiman intertwined the different stories and transitioned between them.
Then there's the star who is quite unhappy about being kidnapped by a moron, but I liked her, along with several other people we briefly met along the way.
The book is also beautifully written with prose that's simple but evokes whimsy and exudes charm. It definitely helped capture the feeling of reading a fairytale. The tone of the book is light, except for a few impaled heads. But you know, you can't really have a fairytale without murder.
Overall, this was a good read. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but that's mostly because I don't like Tristran. Other than that, I had a lot of fun with the book, and I'd recommend checking it out.