Gaiman, Neil - Stardust - "Relaxed" Buddy Read - Read the book & watch the movie - Start January 25 2014

[Kristie]

I almost forgot the 'watch the movie' part! I need to get a hold of that one.

Update: Hooray for library videos! I'll have it in a few days. :)

[Eni]

Just finished the book. I wasn't in a reading mood :( so i took forever to grab it again. Anyway, it's so different from the movie! Half-way through it only has a few similarities. And there's characters that don't even show up in the movie.

I LOVED the captain and his crew in the movie. They were awesome!

Regarding the book, i didn't really like the ending. Don't get me wrong, Tristran's and Yvaine's ending was perfect for the dark mood of the book. However, the whole witch-finale thing was a bit anti-climatic. I mean... all that murdering and chaos and search for the star and then it ends up with "oh you gave your heart away? That's ok. I'm going back to my sisters. And I'm going to tell you you are a kind person, and i had a change of heart". No... she's a very very very VERY old witch, and she's evil. No way in hell it should end up like that :|

And btw.. since i saw the movie first (a couple of years back), I kept picturing the characters as the actors as I was reading =x

[Kristie]

Eni wrote: "Just finished the book. I wasn't in a reading mood :( so i took forever to grab it again. Anyway, it's so different from the movie! Half-way through it only has a few similarities. And there's char..."

I thought the scene with the witch at the end was very anti-climatic also. I expected some kind of battle or something.

[Eni]

Also the fact that they fall in love with each other.. you barely notice that.

[Kristie]

I finally watched the movie again after reading the book and I enjoyed the movie so much more this time. It was great to have that little bit of extra background that you gain from reading the book prior to watching the movie.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

That's great - love it when that happens!

[Nicole]

I seem to have missed this one in January but have a feeling I'll be wrapping around and reading it now that I've found a story from the Stardust universe in Suzanna Clarkes writing.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Neat :)

[Rebekah]

I have never read Neil Gaiman before but he seems like someone everybody loves, so I was excited. I read this very quickly. I found it absolutely charming and delightful! I had a big grin on my face the entire time I read it. Parts were really funny, but mainly it was just a great story. I will definitely read more Gaiman.

I tend to be very hit-and-miss when it comes to fantasy. Most of the stuff that is really popular I do not like (i.e.Game of Thrones) and I find fantasy to often be misogynistic or at least male-dominated (tolkien). Loved HP though. I think Gaiman was playing off those misogynistic fairy tale tropes though and then upending them by the end of the tale.

There were some beautiful memorable lines in here. I think my favorite was the one where the only people who go to Faerie are minstrels, lovers, and the mad.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

This is a very easy read.

Gaiman's books can be quite different, so if you like this kind of style I think Neverwhere and Ocean at the End of the Lane would also be good choices to try.

Have you watched the Stardust movie?

[Rebekah]

I have not seen the movie, but I think I will definitely try to hunt it down! It sounds like reading the comments that the movie/book are quite different.

I definitely want to read more Gaiman, so thanks for those recommendations!

I think Neverwhere is a Tower Team buddy read, so maybe I will jump on board with that one.

[Rebekah]

The movie is available on Netflix & Amazon Prime! Yay, so I will watch and get back

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Nice! :D

[CassieV]

This was my first Neil Gaiman, I was impressed, though there were parts I didn't think worked as well as others. I'll wait for Jen to float through before posting full thougths, though :).

[Jen]

Hi Cassie!

I'm glad I read this. I don't read very many books like this one. At first, I wasn't a huge fan. The start seemed a little slow. When I realized that (view spoiler)[ the introduction to the charcters and sex and such was just to introduce the origins of the main character (hide spoiler)] I felt better.

Overall, I would descibe this book as a fantastical journey. I loved all the different creatures that we encountered along the way. On one hand, I thought it gave us a great insight into the world, but it also seemed a little rushed. There were a lot of characters to keep track of.