Stardust - Outside of a Dog

Hardcover, 304 pages

English language

Published May 11, 2012 by William Morrow.

ISBN:: 9780062200396

(1 review)

E-book extra: Neil Gaiman's "Writing and the Imagination."In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture ... and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.

41 editions

Aneel reviewed Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Review of "Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

(Reread.) I reread this to compare Gaiman's depiction of Faerie to Dunsany's depiction of Elfland. Gaiman's prose is very little like Dunsany's. It's much more matter of fact than Dunsany's lilt, and rightly so, as the realm he's describing is much less otherworldly than Elfland. There are plenty of nods to Dunsany though. I was amused to see a pair of foxes running alongside the unicorn in one of the paintings (unmentioned in the text). Gaimain's story is much more involved than Dunsany's. Where Dunsany spends long, flowing paragraphs setting a tone, Gaiman can rely on the beautiful illustrations by Vess. This frees up the text to present a much more intricate plot, with many more threads.