She dismisses his protestations of love with a laugh, not a mean one, for she is far too good a girl ever to be mean. As it happens, they both turn to see, at the same time, together, a star falling over east of the wall. In a burst of inspiration she says to young Mr. Thorn if he were to bring her back that fallen star she will give him anything he desires of her.
Much to both their surprise he readily agrees and sets out that very moment to cross through the hole in the wall that surrounds Wall from the land to the East. At first he is turned back by the guards. But when his father hears of the events of the night he escorts his son to the wall and reminds the guards of where young Mr. Thorn had come from.
That, as they say, is when the adventures begin, but I'm afraid you'll have to read about them for yourself. Sufficient for now should be the news that there is a unicorn involved, flying boats that fish for lightning, a trio of evil witches, seven murderous brothers (thankfully only amongst family — they are quite friendly to strangers), and of course a fallen star.
I will also tell you that Mr. Gaiman has once again taken words and painted animated pictures that come to life inside your head. His magic lies in how few words he needs to communicate beauty, horror, wonder, and what's being eaten for breakfast with the clarity of a person photographing the moment. You just know that he is either working from photos he took of the trip or the extensive notes he kept while being one of the critters watching events unfold. (I believe we catch a quick glimpse of him once as a hare that scolds young Mr. Thorne for trying to kill it for supper.)
There is no other explanation for him knowing in such detail what happened to young Mr. Thorne and the fallen star on their journey through the land of faerie as they attempt to make their was back to the wall around Wall. There are the natural obstacles of the world to avoid, as well as some less than savoury characters who have designs on the fallen star that by no stretch of the imagination can be defined as honourable.
Article comments
1 - Snarkattack
Fab review! Doesn't it make you feel all wide-eyed and expectant as one once did in childhood upon hearing of such places and people?
My copy is the graphic novel version illustrated by Charles Vess and the art is just sumptuous.
I hear they are planning to make a film adaptation of this, I pray it's not true. Something's bound to get...mucked up.
2 - Katie McNeill
I was looking at this online somewhere the other day and now I'll just have to pick it up
3 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
4 - Defying Gravity since 1993
After reading the novel a million and one times i decided that Stardust is possibly the best book ever written. The film version isn't that bad either but i would have liked to have seen the film to follow the book a little better - especially the end of it. The film is too nice and childlike yet the novel is a bit more grown up (for example, Tristan dies at the end of the novel but in the film he and Yvaine live happily ever after in the sky) I think the way Neil Gaiman drew on fairytales and intergrated them into the novel was superb and the use of imagery and gentle reminders that the novel isn't as nice as it seems (like the unicorn dieing) is brilliant! Excellent read! I would recomend it to anyone!