Stardust: Book or Movie?

Stardust: Book or Movie

**SPOILERS**

I first saw the movie Stardust years ago. It was introduced to it by my then husband. I absolutely loved the movie to the point I named my son Tristan after the main character of the movie Tristan Thorn. After finally watching the behind the scenes featurettes I discovered it was based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. I was then determined to one day reading the book and that would lead us to this review.

I finally got to reading the work and I would say it was like a dark fairy tale. it was well written but I was a little thrown off. In the movie his name was Tristan but in the book Neil added an R for Tristran. I suppose it's the same name regardless but it made me need to double check. Even though this novel was pretty good, I would have to admit I enjoyed the movie much better. It was one of those books where you're all "They should have put that part in the book!" or "Why didn't they add that scene to the movie?" constantly. They both did have their fair amount of charm.

**Spoiler Alert**

In the movie they made Captian Shakespeare, who was given another name in the book, was played by the great Robert DiNero who pulls off a hilarious performance and there's a scene that will very well make it impossible to look at him the same way again. however in the novel, he had a much smaller influence in the book. There was quite a good cast of Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Henry Cavill who you wouldn't even recognize in his role of Humphrey as well as guest appearances by Ben Barnes, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everette, and Ricky Gervais.

The Novel was of a teenage age level but I think anyone who loves adventure, fantasy, and slight romance would enjoy this book. Neil is a very talented author who pulls you into his mind's world for a great ride through time and space to another universe throughout the worlds he's created. It's a rather small novel of 248 pages for a quick read but it's a rather intriguing and dark brilliant piece of work. It just isn't as captivating as the storyline and visual stimulation as the movie. As most novels to books, it shares a similar story while changing up many of the ongoing details. Both are definitely worth checking out if fantasy and adventure are your forte.