Reading at Dawn - Book Review Blog

This is a book I got from the library and is one of the rare instances where I watched the movie first. The reason I watched it first is more because I was watching over my little 5 and 7 year old cousins and it was their favorite movie at the time. Had to fast forward at a part near the end cause it scared them but other than that, they wanted to watch that movie over and over and over again. It's a good movie too so I decided to check out the book.

About the book: Hopelessly crossed in love, a boy of half-fairy parentage leaves his mundane Victorian-English village on a quest for a fallen star in the magical realm. The star proves to be an attractive woman with a hot temper, who plunges with our hero into adventures featuring witches, the lion and the unicorn, plotting elf-lords, ships that sail the sky, magical transformations, curses whose effects rebound, binding conditions with hidden loopholes and all the rest.


[STARDUST] BY Gaiman, Neil (Author) Harper Teen (publisher) Paperback

Verdict: It was a good book. Though I will admit that it's one of the few times where I liked the movie a little more than the actual book. I can see what they did, what they emphasized different or changed to a degree and they made some really good calls when making that movie. I read the story on my lunch breaks at work so took me a while. At first I wasn't sure on the book as the chapter one reminded me of a prologue and then had to get to know a different focus character in the next one. But I got through it in part because I knew to certain degrees what would happen having seen the movie. It's definitely different than some of his other works. Not quite at the level of American Gods but still a well written story. While I didn't think it was the greatest story (compared to movie) but I did notice how well Gaiman writes. He is just good.

There are several different viewpoints. A good portion of it is from the boy character's view, the one trying to find the star to please a girl he likes. But we also get into the star's pov along with witches, brothers fighting for a crown, boy's father and something else I can't remember at this point as I finished reading the book over a month ago. Setting is sort of a typical fantasy but has its own characteristics and the creatures/characters have their own spin, which makes the story fun to read.

I won't spoil the end but I will say that the end is a part that didn't work the most for me in comparison to the movie. Though the characters came to life a little more in the movie but it's different seeing them than reading about so that's understandable. However, the end of the movie and the end of the book is different. The book ends on a less dramatic note so it's almost anti-climatic feeling. I liked the end of the movie better.

However, I do recommend this book to others because it's well written and overall a good read.
Like Fantasy? Have read other books by Neil Gaiman? Haven't read any of his books? Either way, check it out. It's a good library option (or own for those that want to do so). Also, check out the movie.