Friday, May 29, 2020

"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

This book was not what I was expecting.  I was expecting more of an urban fantasy sort of thing, with someone from the modern world stepping into one filled with magic, or vice versa.  I don't even know why I thought that's what this was.  But anyway, it's not.

It's actually about people living in a little town on the other side of the wall from a gap between the "real world" and faerieland.  And about two boys, one the father of the other, who go through that gap and change their lives forever.  It's also about a fallen star who breaks her leg when she lands, brothers battling for a throne, and an evil crone who reminded me a lot of Mother Gothel from Tangled (2010). 

I have to say this is not my favorite Neil Gaiman book so far.  I didn't like it as well as The Ocean at the End of the Lane or Fortunately, the Milk, and I definitely didn't love it like I love The Graveyard Book.  But it was a diverting read, and I polished it off in a single day.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: R for two semi-explicit love scenes, quite a bit of bad language, some fairly gory bits of violence, and various mentions of bodily functions.

This is my 18th book read for #TheUnreadShelfProject2020.

8 comments:

  1. I never finished reading this. Way too much animal violence. But I found the movie more palatable and *extremely* entertaining.

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    1. Charity, yeah, the part with the unicorn was really disturbing. From what I've heard, people either like the book or the movie, but not both.

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    2. Yup. That's when I quit reading and said, "Nope. Not for me."

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    3. Charity, yeah, that part was pretty gruesome.

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  2. I saw part of this movie once and it took me years to figure out what it was. Huh, I didn't know that Neil Gaiman wrote the book!

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    1. MC, from what I hear, people either like the movie OR the book, but not both. So if you liked what you saw of the movie, you might want to stick with it.

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  3. I had mixed feelings about this one too.

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    1. Skye, yeah, it's kind of patchy. One of his earliest books, though, so I don't fault him too much for it not being solid, I guess.

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