Fantasy Annotation

 

Author: Neil Gaiman

Title: Stardust

Genre: Fantasy

Publication Date: 1997

Number of Pages: 256

Geographical Setting: Magical Land of Faerie

Time Period: 1839-1856

🏆  Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature 1999                🏆 Alex Award 2000

Summary

In a small town, surround by a high stone wall (aptly named Wall), a man named Tristran Thorn promises Victoria Forester, the woman he loves, to find the fallen star they watched fall out of the sky. Tristran sets out on a journey, past the wall, through the dangerous land of Faerie, in search of the fallen star with the hope that bringing it back will earn him the privilege of marrying the woman he loves. The journey through Faerie is filled with witches, faeries, and talking trees.

Subject Headings

Young men -- Fiction.

Quests (Expeditions) -- Fiction.

Witches -- Fiction.

Appeal

Three words that describe this novel: world-building, lyrical, well-developed characters

According to Wyatt & Saricks (2019), setting, storyline, and characterization are crucial elements of the fantasy genre. 

Setting - "Magic frames the story. Readers turn to this genre to enter a new realm, and they want the world to be detailed and fully described" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 124-125). 

Storyline - Forces of good will conquer evil; although the situation seems dire at first, the reader can expect a hopeful outcome, no matter how grievous the trials along the way. (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 126).

Characterization - "Many fantasy novels feature antiheroes, characters that change and grow over the course of a series, and former villains who reform in the face of bitter learning experiences" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 128).

Read-alikes 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (1983)

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (1984)

Beauty by Robin McKinley (1993)

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (2017)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2019)

Wyatt, N., & Saricks, J. (2019). The reader's advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.