Stardust

I stayed up really late last night finishing this book and so I'm really tired while writing this review. It is a short read, approximately 4-5 hours; and it definitely is not for children.

I've been trying to pick up some Neil Gaiman books lately and see if I do or don't like his writing. His style and flow is a bit choppy for me (just different, not bad) and so it was a bit hard to get the cadence of this book until after the first chapter... but then, I was unfortunately hooked.

It was a good tale - I see why some people compare it to a contemporary Princess Bride, although it is missing much of the witty banter that makes Princess such a beloved tale. It isn't the fairy tale story of love and trials which makes the book interesting. But whatever.

Neil Gaiman is one of those authors who likes to throw characters into "checklist" stories: tales where the protagonist has many adventures which are (mostly) unrelated to the story arc of trying to do something (whatever the plot requires). This can be very entertaining, as Gaiman has a wild imagination for devices he can throw at his characters, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have the middle of the book say "and they had many adventures and many meetings and many..." Why is there a great big fat ETC in the middle of this story?

Maybe I'm just really tired, but I liked the book. But don't let your kids read it.