Stardust
Stardust
By Neil Gaiman
It’s still a great book…just that the movie
has more…climaxes.
In the sleepy English countryside
at the dawn of the Victorian era, life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny
town of Wall. Young Tristan Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria
Forester, but Victoria is cold and distant as the star she and Tristan see fall
from the sky one evening. For the prize of Victoria's hand, Tristan vows to
retrieve the star for his beloved. It is an oath that sends the lovelorn swain
over the town's ancient wall and into a world that is dangerous and strange
beyong imagining ...
I loved fairytales as a boy. I love
them as much now.
The first introduction by Neil
Gaiman, and as he said…Stardust was written in no other way then how a
fairytale written. The narration and the words reminds me so much of those
fairytales, but more. (But secretly…I won’t say Stardust is a fit reading for a
child. There are…certain scenes that shouldn’t be read by children.) 
Nevertheless,
it is definitely a great read for any young adult or adult to remind themselves
of fairytales. The world setting seems nothing different from ours, but more. There
are fairies and unknown kingdom on earth…which apparently lies in Queen
Victoria’s era. (I wonder…can we still find those places?) The book plots don’t
really have a lot of climaxes that makes you thrill…but the wording is fascinating.
The words are specific, unique, and exquisite. I enjoy reading it as a
fairytale for adult. Now, I’d like to compare the movie and the book, so it
will contain a lot of spoilers, skip if you do not wish to spoil yourselves.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
The book started with Dustan, Tristan’s
father, about his encounter with a slave of a witch-woman. The book gives a
really great details on this part, and how Dustan’s emotion change…his moony
stare and all the other unnatural behavior. Then, Tristan was born. Unlike the
movie, Dustan marriage a village woman, so here Tristan in the book, still has
a mother and a sister. He didn’t know that until the end of the book…although I
believe most of the village of wall knows that. Nevertheless, after his
reckless oath to Victoria, Tristian set off his journey to find the star. In
the movie, while Tristian was given the Babylon’s candle by his father…which
happened to be given by his mother, in the book, like all fairytale
protagonist, Tristian got the candle from a strange old man. They accompany
each other for a little short journey, and the man gave him the candle in
return for Tristian’s kindness.
And of course, with the Babylon’s candle,
Tristian found the fallen star…blablabla…the book goes exactly as how the movie
goes. (Which only means the main plot…I’ll take of the sub-plot later.) Tristian
and Yvaine’s journey goes as what I’ve already seen, then, after the part they
travel to the cloud. Their arrival at the lightening-gather ship doesn’t go as
the movie does. In the movie, the captain played a good show on their arrival
and a lot of other things, which can be considered one of my favorite parts in
the movie. However, in the book, it goes smoothly and nothing special. Just
that they treated the couple kindly and send them on the journey safety. Even though
in the book, it is written as Tristian’s favorite time…nothing details realy
happens there. So…it’s quite a disappointment to me. After that, they encounter
the witch-woman, who turned Tristan to a mouse. That part didn’t goes a lot
different from the movie. But how Tristan met his true mother and became the
Lord of Stormhold and defeat the witch are extremely different. In the book,
Lady Una was set free because of the lost of the moon’s daughter, so she was free
of the bargain. Very fairytale like. And she found Tristan and Yvaine to demand
their return to Stormhold. Not as gentle as we see in the movie…but, I like
this Lady Una as much as the one in the movie. You can see she’s the natural
leader. Last, how Tristian defeated the witch. Oh come on…he didn’t defeat him
at all.
In the movie, when the witch
finally found Yvaine, she can no longer heard her heartbeats. Why? Because
Yvaine has already fallen in love it Tristian and her heart no longer belongs
to her anymore. So…there is nothing the witch can do besides returning to her
sisters. It’s quite a peaceful ending…I like this alternative as well, really. But
there is something I’m not satisfied with the ending…how can Yvaine remains a
lone as the ruler!!!!! She’ so lonely without her stars family and Tristan. It’s
not a fairytale ending I’m looking for. But…on a second thought…a lot of
fairytales didn’t end as how we expected. Fine…
Now, here comes the sub-plot. The future
ruler of Stormhold, three brothers finding the stone of Stormhold. This part…to
be honest, seem to be a little bit useless in the book. Because, besides the
part that Primus and Tristan came across, nothing else thrilling really happened.
So…I don’t know how to speak about this part. But how Septimus died was
extremely different from the movie. And…quite sad that nothing happened to him
beside that, since he appeared to be one of the most brutal sons among all. So…that’s
all for the comparison between movie and book! I enjoy the both of them…but…what
did you think?
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