The newest winner of the John Newbery Medal is incredible and very deserving of its award. Neil Gaiman somehow manages to meld murder, and death into a fantastic children’s book. This book grabs you from its first sentence,

“There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife.”

The tale of how Nobody Owens grows up in a graveyard is simply wonderful.

I saw the movie and loved it, and while i am usually of the opinion that books are better than movies can ever be, find myself in this instance to prefer the movie.

While the book is darker, more adult and has a less violent ending, Neil Gaiman’s prose leaves something to be desired. And no words on a page can compare with Robert DeNiro dancing about in a corset and skirts with a heart on his cheek.

There are too many major plot elements that are identical from book to movie that reading the book was boring and anticlimatic. Although i liked the nonviolent solution from the book, i liked the movie’s actual ending better.

Just go see the movie, it’s one of the best movies that i have seen in ages.

Well I’ve had Stardust sitting on my shelf for some period of time, and I thought that I should give it a read before the movie comes out. After reading it I must say I’m a bit disappointed in myself for having waited so long. Anywho the book is by Neil Gaiman, who if you don’t know was the writer of the Sandman graphic novels. Mr. Gaiman won short story awards for those fantastic comics, until the people who give out awards decided that it was unseemly for a mere comic book writer to be winning them over and over again. Thankfully Gaiman then proceed to start writing short stories and novels just to keep winning the awards, or something like that, which is fortunate since every book he writes is amazing.

As to Stardust itself, the novel focuses on the quest of one Tristran Thorn. Thorn promises to bring his love the star that they both saw fall from the sky. However, living in the village of Wall, he must pass into the realm of Faerie to complete his quest. As his journey continues he discovers that stars are not so much metal as in our world as they are fantastically beautiful young women.

The novel is well written, the plot engaging, and the setting magical. While, I am unable to give this book 5 stars if only because I enjoy some of his other books more, you can not do much better than this when it comes to books, and thus I gladly recommend this to anyone looking for a good read.