Young Tristan Thorn desires the hand of Victoria Forester in marriage. Victoria Forester, however, does not. After Victoria agrees to grant Tristan's desire if he can return a fallen star, Tristan starts out on his adventure, only to discover that the star is very much alive..... and he is not the only one looking for her.

Stardust is very clever in its execution, and reads as a modern day Grimm's fairy tale. As usual, Neil Gaiman excels in mood, tone, and atmosphere. At 233 pages, Stardust is not the longest book ever written, and Gaiman does not waste time with long-winded, flowery description. Instead, deliberate wording and phrasing help to establish the backbone of the atmosphere of the various locales throughout the book, allowing the readers' minds to fill in the rest.

Stardust reads very much as a comfort book, with shades of bedtime stories mixed in with a few sprinkles of nostalgia. Compare this with the copy of The Princess Bride that I have watched dozens of times throughout my life.

At first glance, Stardust contains numerous one-dimensional characters with very little growth and skims over large portions of the story. However, at its core, Stardust is a traditional fairytale - a fairytale that prioritizes the story over the details of the story itself.

Some readers will be disappointed with this book. It's safe, it takes very few true risks, and offers very rare instances of lasting consequence. However, these are also what help to make the story so endearing.