Stardust

This is ever bit a fairytale. But somehow just a little bit edgier and contrasted than even the Brothers Grimm stories I have read. No, not the general happily ever after ones- the tales about journeying for years on impossible quests and risking (losing) life or limb on the way.

I was surprised that the beginning was there to set purpose and tone, I fully expected Dunston to be the main character. However, we are given his illegitimate son. Don't give me a look like I spoiled something for you, its obvious from the first 30 pages of the book. I hardly call that a spoiler.

Around two hundred pages this figures heavily into the plot and is rather hard to miss. But with the way some events come around, you wonder if Tristan will manage to live that long. He finds his star relatively early, but loses her. On top of that, three brothers want her for the possession of her topaz that will determine who is the successor to the throne of Stormhold. Worse, three witches want her pure heart so they can be young again. Everything comes together in slightly unexpected ways that are so fated not even the moon knows what will become of her daughter star.

I enjoyed every minute of this book, but I regret to say that the minutes totaled up to a little over three hours. Neil has definitely earned another read to me. Stardust is the first book of his I have read, I suppose I will pick up Good Omens or something of the kind. Hopefully it will be longer than 350 pages.

The story was complete and whole but I wouldn't have bought such a small hardcover book myself. Softcover more likely. Just on the principal of how much they charge for hardcover being ridiculous. Each page announcing the chapter is a large page filling graphic with fleur de lis and expansive script. So in reality the book with slightly smaller font would be 300 pages.