A review by jadef00
Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realms of Faerie by Neil Gaiman

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I went into this book trying to keep my expectations low, as I knew that with how much I love the 2007 film adaptation (it's one of my favourite films of all time, actually), it would be a hard bar to top. Well....I was right. Off the bat, Charles Vess' illustrations are stunningly weird (an aesthetic that oddly works for Stardust) and complement the writing style immensely. That, sadly, is where the positives end. This is a story that I know and love and, since this is the source material that the film was based on, surely it should only expand on this amazing world and characters, therefore, making me love it even more? That's what I naively thought, despite trying to keep a low expectation. The writing on this was...just not for me. For starters,
Neil Gaiman's choice to liberally and continiously describe the look and feel of the majority of the female characters breasts gave me major ick. This misogyny wasn't surprising to me as he is a middle-aged white man married to a controversial conservative figure, however, the recent sexual assault allegations really only solidified that this man is trash. Characters that felt vibrant and fleshed out in the 2007 film adaptation came across as dull and flat on paper. Plot points, location changes and new characters were thrown in willy nilly with no regard for how this would enhance the main plot of the book. In fact, it seemed that Gaiman didn't actually even care about the main plot of the book as this insidous plot featuring an ancient coven of witches hell bent on hunting down our star, Yvaine, so that they may consume her heart for the long gone youth they so desire. The bones of these characters are great, but Gaiman's treatment of them is so appalling that this formidible and malificent entity that has been tailing ever so slightly behind Yvaine and Tristran for the entirety of their time in Faerie just....gives up and compliments Yvaine on her kind heart when she finally confronts her. Another dumbfounding aspect is Gaiman's liberal use of racial slurs and racism against the non-white characters in the book. We get that it's a book set in the 1840s-60s, but even in a world where talking trees and cat eared faerie girls exist you can't suspend reality for one moment so that your BIPOC readers, who perhaps opened this book expecting escapism and magic, don't have to hear racial slurs every 10 pages?
Not worth the read, watch the film!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings