It was quite a while after watching and loving the film STARDUST that I discovered it was an adaptation, based on a book by Neil Gaiman. Quite how this fact passed me by I couldn’t say but when I discovered that the book was written by the same man who had written one of my all-time-favourite episodes of Doctor Who, the book was quickly added to my to-read pile.
In the book, Tristran Thorn tells the girl he loves that he will travel in Faerie to bring back the fallen star. Without knowing his true Faerie heritage, the young explorer sets off on an adventure that introduces him to witches, spells, talking animals and mythical beings. Of course, it also brings with it plenty of peril.
In the film, fun, adventure and romance are key, but in the book there is an entirely different focus: that of magic. Gaiman’s tale is about the wonders of the magical world beyond Wall and both the people and customs young Tristran encounters along his journey to bring the fallen star back to his love. His encounters are as enchanting as the novel itself, with many weird and wonderful creatures crossing his path. He talks a lion down from a kill, encounters a small hairy man – who might not actually be a man – and a magical forest that tries to trap him.
Stardust is a fairly short little book but it crams plenty of adventure within its pages thanks to Gaiman’s masterful prose. Though there are, of course, storylines that run throughout the book, it reads more like a collection of brilliant short stories, each new chapter bringing Tristran to a new place and a new experience.
Charlie Cox and Claire Danes played the two leads in the film with an impressive supporting cast that included Michelle Pfeiffer and Mark Strong. Robert De Niro takes on one of his most comedic roles to date for a part that has barely a few pages in the novel.
The book is absolutely magical and full of creativity and imagination. However, on this occasion the film has to top it for all the fun and joyful silliness it brings – and the entire expanded section with Captain Shakespeare and his men.
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