Book Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. I'm not a big purchaser of books, unlike most of the big readers I know (for some, walking into a bookshop is like me walking into a beadshop). However, I decided that I ought to own Stardust. So, I bought it Monday and finished it this morning. Very fun. Now the hard part is comparing the movie and book. In many ways, they're very different.
By way of for-instance: The movie has a lot more action and a totally different climax and ending. The tones of the two are also different as the book has more classical fairy tale and the movie has more adventure. The strange thing is, even though they're the same story, I have a hard time thinking of them as such, though I like both quite a bit. Well, since I've already talked about the movie, here's the scoop on the book:
Stardust has a strong Victorian feel and a wide cast of human or not human characters, like the odd hairy "man." The journey Tristran takes is months, rather than days, long and I like the book's timeline better. Unfortunately, the interlude with the sky-sailors is much briefer and the captain is a much less colorful character. Magic is much more pronounced and the ending is a lot more fun (no cheese here). Though I'm not a huge fan of the illustration style, it grew on me as I went along.
If I could have the best of both worlds, I'd add the movie and book together. However, since I cannot, I can enjoy the best parts of each on their own. Well worth a read (or a purchase).
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