In a complete departure from what I would normally read, I chose to listen to the audio cd of Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I made this choice after watching a piece about Gaiman on T.V. that highly recommended hearing him read his book. This recommendation in my opinion was right on. Neil Gaiman, in his mesmerizing British accent along with his first-hand knowledge of the personalities of the characters he himself created, easily draws his readers into his absorbing fairy tale.
The story begins decades ago in a sleepy English countryside village called Wall where the main character, Tristan Thorn, has fallen in love with the most beautiful girl he has ever seen named Victoria. Victoria will only promise to marry him if he will retrieve for her a star they have seen together falling from the night sky. In order to do this he must go to the adjacent village of Faerie which one can only get to by passing through a gap in the high stone barrier which divides Wall from Faerie. This entrance is guarded and normally no one is allowed to go through but Tristan makes it over to the other side where he experiences unimaginable adventures involving witches, unicorns, and even being transformed into a dormouse. He finds his star who turns out to be a beautiful young woman who hurt her leg in her fall from the sky. Their journey together and the mishaps they encounter make up a charming, mystical, romantic, adventurous fairy tale. I enjoyed it very much. Listening to Gaiman’s voice and his gift for reading a story, I feel, would make it a listening experience almost everyone would enjoy.
Neil Gaiman is the critically acclaimed, award winning creator of the Sandman series of graphic novels, author of the Anansi Boys, American Gods, Neverwhere, and Coraline and some bestselling children’s books. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top 10 living post-modern writers.