It revolves around Tristran Thorn’s adventures in Wall, an English village that borders the magical land of Faerie. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet. Stardust is a fantasy novel often published with illustrations by Charles Vess.

Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can-he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. I first read the novel a couple of years after it was originally published in 1997 and remember enjoying it very much. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). Book Review - 'Stardust' by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Charles Vess This review could be considered to have spoilers if you’re unfamiliar with how fairy tales play out. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story.

Neil gaiman and charles vess stardust