Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I don’t even know how to start to summarize this book. A young man, Tristran and the young lady he is in love with are out walking one night when they see a shooting star. She tells him that if he finds the star and brings it back to her, she will give him whatever he desires. Tristran sets out on a journey across the boundary between our world and the world of Faerie to find the star. It turns out that several other people are looking for the star too. The story is so fun and fantastical. I loved it. Even though I’ve seen the movie I was constantly surprised by the turn of events.
I did enjoy the book, but I think I liked the movie more. The ghostly brothers were hilarious in the movie and played a major role, whereas in the book they were just minor characters and not at all humorous. Also, the ending is different and there are a lot of added and expanded characters in the movie.
Overall, though it was a good book and I would give it a 7/10.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Short and sweet…except not really sweet in the traditional sense! This one was great, although I liked The Graveyard Book better.
Coraline, for those of you that don’t know, is an average little girl, a little bored with the summer holidays and looking for some excitement. She goes through a mysterious door in her apartment and finds an alternate world that almost identical to the real world but a lot more exciting (and creepy as Coraline soon finds out.) Her “other mother” who seems great at first, is actually an evil being trying to trap her forever in her “other house” and sew buttons onto her eyes!
The book was creepy, but deliciously so. I loved it! And it was a quick easy read (as children’s books usually are – duh!). I think my son (6) would love it. It might be our next read. Keeping in mind that this is a children’s book, I would give it an 8/10.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Winner of 2009 Newbery Medal
I just picked this up at the library yesterday and the cover drew me in right away. Even the title is mysterious and alluring. Anyway, I liked the reading of this story more than I actually like the plot, not that that’s a bad thing, but I found myself wishing for a little more information towards the end of the book. I think it’s partly because it’s meant for younger audiences than myself!
Before I get ahead of myself though…a summary. The book begins as three members of a family are murdered (not graphically, but maybe a little too disturbing to read to my six year old). The murderer heads to the last family members bedroom, a toddler and finds that the baby has disappeared. The murderer follows the baby’s scent to a nearby graveyard where ghosts help protect him and eventually become his family. They name him Nobody, Bod for short, and teach give him the Freedom of the Graveyard which allows him to see and visit with all of the ghosts and learn some graveyard tricks.
The rest of the story is kind of meandering as it tells the tale of Bod’s childhood, but Gaiman is such a good storyteller that the road is actually much more interesting than the destination. Of course, throughout the story, the murderer still looks for Bod and periodically appears, but it’s not until the climax that Bod must face him. Along the way he has many adventures and learns many lessons that aren’t necessarily related to the ending but they are so captivating that as the reader, I didn’t really care. This was a quick, enjoyable read with a little bit of magic and a little bit of intrigue and I loved it!
On a side note, I’ve decided I really need to come up with some kind of a rating system for the books I read because “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” just aren’t cutting it for me anymore. I think for now I’ll just give each book a rating out of 10 until I can come up with something a little more creative. So for this one, I give it an 8/10, maybe even an 8.5…
Other Reviews:
