A Magical, Epic Read
Stardust
By: Neil Gaiman
Read: 2/1/18 - 2/4/18
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Prompt: Library
A book with song lyrics in the title
From Goodreads:
Life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall - named after the imposing stone barrier which separates the town from a grassy meadow. Here, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and for the coveted prize of her hand, Tristran vows to retrieve a fallen star and deliver it to his beloved. It is an oath that sends him over the ancient wall and into a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining
My Thoughts:
Stardust fulfilled a library prompt as well as the “A book with song lyrics in the title” prompt. Stardust has been in my TBR list for a while. So I Googled “Stardust song lyric.” Did you know a song titled Stardust was first recorded in 1927? And it has been redone 8 times, most recently in 2002 by Michael Buble. Hooray!
I love fantasy epic quest stories! And this one was heavy in all the best fantasy themes: ragtag bunch of misfits, 7 brothers, and an evil witch-queen. It reminded me of a Mercedes Lackey book. Also similar was the dry humor: “There is a proverbial saying chiefly concerned with warning against too closely calculating the numerical value of unhatched chicks.” I can see why this book won so many awards from the legendary Neil Gaiman: Locus Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel (1999), Geffen Award (2000), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (1999), ALA Alex Award (2000).
I just wish there were more details from the sky ship adventure and subsequent adventures that were only briefly mentioned. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I wanted more! I did get concerned when there’s a “happy ending” wrapping up but the book is only 75% done. Fortunately, I realized that there was an excerpt from “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane” at the end. *whew* I was worried!
Even though this was a library book, Stardust is now on my list of books I need to own! I'll definitely be re-reading this one! What book did you have to buy after reading it once?