QUICK UPDATE WITH MOI: Sorry I've been a little AWOL these past several weeks. It was the worst month of the year! Not just because the seasons have changed and I've been sneezing and getting bitten by bugs like a maniac, but because I've had soo many assignments and an exam and we're just about ready to call it the end of my tertiary studies! But now all I have left is my practicum placement unit (interning at Westerly Magazine), so I'll have plenty more time for reading and reviewing and videos and hauls et cetera!
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STARDUST by NEIL GAIMAN
I loved the movie. It was great. Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, the ghosts, they were all great.
The book is quite, quite different. A lot of plot elements and characters transferred to the film and a lot didn't.
The screenwriter did a marvellous job on the film, but that's not what we're here to talk about!
Stardust is the second book I've read by Neil Gaiman. As you know, The Graveyard Book is the first.
I liked this tale a lot - it was a wonderful fantasy adventure, but I was a tad surprised that it was not at all Middle Grade fiction in the slightest. Though I didn't do a background check, I did presume Stardust could be a bedtime story. But no, it cannot.
You can't read this book to your children. It wasn't scary, but it was rather mature, and I'm not entirely sure how fitting that is, given the nature of the story.
Not sure if I like the book or the movie better. Perhaps the book. I don't know. They're both rather enjoyable.
The characters were very different in the book. Sorry. I can't stop comparing the book to the film. But they were so different. Victoria was different, there was no Humphrey in the book, the main character's name is Tristran not Tristan, the main antagonist - the witch - was very different, and even the wall was different. Not in a bad way, just in an unexpected way.
Tristran and Yvaine didn't fall in love as quickly as they did in the movie.
Victoria was very respectable, and not a carefree brat like in the movie.
There was a little hairy man. He was nice.
The witch wasn't even nearly as antagonising as she was in the film.
Also, all the American spelling differences were something I had to point out, seeing as the story is quite distinctly set in England. I know Gaiman is English but lives in America now, and for publishing reasons blah blah blah. But I still think tiny inconsistencies detract from the reading experience. At least that one did for me. A little bit.
I want to go watch the movie again now.
Stardust was easy to read, and went by really quick. Which is a big plus. I like easy reads. Don't ever try to make me read Ulysses, it will NOT HAPPEN.
Rating: 4 stars
P.S. I know this is not a very helpful review, but if you've been here long enough, you might know that my reviews are not proper whats-its, they are merely MY THOUGHTS. Whether laconic, prosaic, verbose, random or ridiculous. I hope you don't mind too much.
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