Never Judge a Book by its Movie
So let’s judge them both, separately and combined
I saw a preview for the movie Stardust on Facebook a couple of months ago and realized I had not only never seen it, but that I had purchased the book long ago and had yet to read it. Skimming through it, I thought that maybe my girls would enjoy the story as well and decided to read it with them. I would estimate that about 95% of Stardust is okay for children. Possibly more or less depending on your kids. I skipped two “mature” scenes but read through the fighting/death parts. My daughters are eight and five, but they have grown up with two older brothers who love Star Wars and the Avengers, so I thought they could handle those parts of the book.
And they did. They loved this book! I loved this book. I read aloud to my kids all the time as a Homeschool mom, so it’s a big compliment to say that Stardust has been our favorite ever read aloud. We started off just reading a few pages during morning story time, but soon my girls were begging me to read more and more, and even at bedtime. I read out loud so much that I lost my voice. (The two days I couldn’t read out loud to them were very sad indeed.) Here’s Stardust: Book vs Movie.
The Book
By, Neil Gaiman
Stardust is the story about Tristan Thorne who grew up in the town of Wall, England during the reign of Queen Victoria. The town is named for the wall at the edge that separates the human world from the Faerie world. The villagers of Wall guard the gate and make sure no one passes through except for once every nine years when the world on the other side holds a fair the human folk to enjoy.
Tristan is head over heels for Victoria Forester, and when he catches sight of a star, falling to the ground on the other side of the wall, he swears to retrieve it for Victoria to prove his love. It is then that his whole life changes completely.
When he tells his father his plans to enter the Faerie land to find the star, Dunstan Thorne reveals the truth of Tristan’s birth almost eighteen years prior, after he himself had visited the Faerie land for the fair. Nine months after the fair, and after Dunstan had married another, a baby was left at the wall bearing the Thorne name. Tristan is now more determined to go to Faerie, although his main reason remains to win Miss Forester’s affections.
In the Faerie land, others see the falling star and plot to retrieve it, but not under such innocent intentions as Tristan. A trio of witches send their queen to fetch the heart of the star for its magical powers of eternal youth. The brothers of, Stormhold, a land in the Faerie realm, chase after the star because their dying father had thrown the “power of Stormhold,” a topaz stone, at the star, causing it to fall from the sky in the first place. Whichever brother retrieves this stone becomes the next Lord. Several of the seven brothers are already dead, and their ghosts watch and discuss the remaining possible-heirs race, and fight, and kill each other in attempts to become the next Lord of Stormhold. In the meantime, the witch-queen grows old using her magic and twice has the star in her grasp but can’t hold onto it.
Who does retrieve the fallen star? Why Tristan Thorne, of course. However, Tristan assumes he will find a piece of rock, and is shocked when the star he finds is a girl. A girl with a broken leg who he magically chains and forces her to travel the long road back to Wall with him so he can present the star to his love. The two face many adventures, including befriending a unicorn (who ends up sacrificing its life for them) and hopping on board a sky ship that collects lightning. As we follow Tristan and his captured star, whose name is Yvaine, through rough travels, close calls and sarcastic conversations, we see that their feelings start to change. Tristan, who was so in love with Victoria Forester, begins to forget what about her was so appealing to him. And Yvaine at first hated Tristan. He had kidnapped her after all. But once he had unwittingly unchained her, and then saved her life, his innocence and loyalty start to rub off on her. By the time they reach the wall, each realizes they love the other.
About the ending, I will say this; the Faerie realm is full of beauty, magic and strange characters. The entire book is filled with thrilling adventure and has you practically sitting on the edge of your seat, knowing the ending will be big and exciting… but then your shoulders slump and you lean back with a sigh, because there is no dramatic climax, no battle of good versus evil. For all of the magic of the rest of the story, the end is pretty mundane. Perhaps you might read it and think that is the only way it could have ended. And I suppose it is a poetic ending, just not what I thought it should be.
And that is my one and only complaint because, I adore Neil Gaiman’s writing style in Stardust. I have only read this and one other written by him, Norse Mythology, which was great too. The way he describes the places and the characters, as well as their thoughts and back stories made me feel as if I were hearing and watching the author tell me the story in person. It was brilliant and lovely, and I didn’t want to stop reading. You can be sure that I will be reading another Neil Gaiman book soon.
The Movie
Starring Charlie Cox and Claire Danes as Tristan and Yvaine
Why, yes that is Prince Caspian who appears as Tristan’s young father at the beginning of the movie, known to others as Ben Barnes. It was an enjoyable start to the movie, although I did not like the changes in the rules about crossing through the gate. In the book, you were allowed to cross every nine years for the fair, but apparently in the movie it was forbidden at any time. Also in the movie version, there was only one guard, on duty 24/7? On the non-magical side of the wall?
Charlie Cox was a wonderful Tristan. I saw all the innocence and adventure in him as when I read the book. Claire Danes is one of my favorite actresses, possibly because I was teenager when she did “My So Called Life” (an underrated classic) but even if you didn’t grow up with her, you have to admit that Claire Danes is the perfect fallen star. She played the disdainful victim turned heartsick girl exactly how I imagined it should be done. The Stormhold ghosts created fun comic relief without overpowering the other characters, and Robert DeNiro and his band of sky pirates were enjoyable, if maybe a little distracting from the plot. I really liked Ricky Gervais’ character as he added some glue to the plot. But the real star in the secondary characters was the witch-queen. Michelle Pfieffer was villainess extraordinaire. I can imagine she had a lot of fun with her role.
The witch-queen in the movie was made even more ambitious and evil, even more glamorous and lively. She was given a bigger part in the ending, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The movie ended very different than the book, but in my opinion, it fit with the story and continued the adventure and excitement with a dramatic conclusion. And my favorite part, neither Tristan nor Yvaine could have succeeded independently, but had to cohesively fight together for their happily ever after.
I give the book 4 ¾ stars and the movie 4 ½ stars. Stardust is a treasure, a beautiful story. I wish I could read and watch it all again for the first time. But I will settle for you reading the book and watching the movie and letting me know what you think. One of my favorite things to do is discuss stories with people. I would love to discuss this with you.
Don’t forget to check out my ebook, The Footsteps of the Five; the Narratives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. It’s free with Kindle Unlimited!