Review - Stardust
Apr. 18th, 2009 03:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanI just finished rereading Stardust, this time in the illustrated edition. The art is all by Charles Vess, and it's gorgeous. He has his own style, but the art is all accessible and pretty. I particularly liked the illustration of Tristan and Yvaine kissing, on page 202, and the design of Lady Una. I like the way he's portrayed all of the characters, really. It brings them to life in a lovely way, and the art is arranged nicely -- not distracting from the story, but adding to it.
I've always loved the book, and the movie is the movie I watch when I need comfort, so rereading was a happy occasion. I forgot how different the book and the movie are -- the movie is definitely an adaptation. Not that it's a bad thing: the way things happen in the book simply wouldn't translate to the screen.
The best things about Stardust, the book, are the tone in general and Yvaine's voice. The tone is kind of dryly humorous, gently mocking the fairytales it comes from and improves on, with fun conversations and great lines. Yvaine herself is awesome, with her grumpy sharpness and her angry obligation and her not-at-all-saccharine love. Compared to the movie, the realisation scenes are maybe a bit dry, and I wish there had been more with the boat in the sky, as in the movie, but all in all, I do love the book so much, and I think it's one of my comfort-books the same as the movie is my comfort-movie.
Perhaps my favourite part of all is the note Tristan and Yvaine leave, though: "Unexpectedly detained by the world."
I've always loved the book, and the movie is the movie I watch when I need comfort, so rereading was a happy occasion. I forgot how different the book and the movie are -- the movie is definitely an adaptation. Not that it's a bad thing: the way things happen in the book simply wouldn't translate to the screen.
The best things about Stardust, the book, are the tone in general and Yvaine's voice. The tone is kind of dryly humorous, gently mocking the fairytales it comes from and improves on, with fun conversations and great lines. Yvaine herself is awesome, with her grumpy sharpness and her angry obligation and her not-at-all-saccharine love. Compared to the movie, the realisation scenes are maybe a bit dry, and I wish there had been more with the boat in the sky, as in the movie, but all in all, I do love the book so much, and I think it's one of my comfort-books the same as the movie is my comfort-movie.
Perhaps my favourite part of all is the note Tristan and Yvaine leave, though: "Unexpectedly detained by the world."
