Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Stardust

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Stardust by Neil Gaiman

6 reviews

soggycedar's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

"I no longer have a name. I am a slave, and the name I had was taken from me. I will answer to 'hey, you!' or to 'girl!'or to 'foolish slattern!' or to many another imprecation.
Dunstan noticed how the silken fabric of her robe pressed itself against her body; he was aware of elegant curves, and of her violet eyes upon him, and he swallowed."

Very inappropriate reaction to learning that someone is enslaved.

"His hand felt her small breasts through the silk of her dress, touched the hard nubs of her nipples. She clung to him, hard, as if she were drowning, fumbling with his shirt, with his britches.
She was so small; he was scared he would hurt her and break her... had he known her name he would have called it aloud. ...He squeezed her small hand in his."

Focus is entirely on the fact that she is tiny and frail and a stranger to him.

That doesn't even include the entire premise of the book: a different man enslaving a different tiny woman, who then falls in love with him based on nothing more than his bad treatment of her, and her forced proximity to him.

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Review:

Stardust is the second Neil Gaiman book I have read; I read Smoke and Mirrors a while ago, and I thought it was all right. I picked up Stardust after hearing it compared to The Phantom Tollbooth, which I love. After reading it, I feel the same way about Stardust as I do Smoke and Mirrors—it’s decent. Where many fantasy writers would turn the straightforward quest/fairytale narrative of Stardust and turn it into an epic high fantasy series with several books, complex character development, overly long side quests, and audacious worldbuilding, Gaiman sticks to the important facts and events. Stardust is only 250 pages long, which is a double-edged sword. Its short length combined with Gaiman’s limpid, witty, and occasionally profound prose makes it very readable and entertaining. There are several imaginative and fun moments. It reads somewhat like a children’s fairytale, and probably could be a middle-grade book if it didn’t contain some gratuitous (albeit not graphic) sex scenes and some descriptive violence. However, the characters lack depth, and the plot events occur because Gaiman wants them to, not because they make sense. In general, Stardust feels like it’s missing something important. Additionally, a lot of the narrative is pretty problematic if you stop to think about it, which you might not because the story demands very little thought.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Stardust if . . .

· You want a quick, entertaining read to get you out of a slump

· You like traditional fairy tales

You might not like Stardust if . . .

· You want to read a story with any sort of depth

· You are sensitive to casual misogyny and racism in storytelling

Content Warnings