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In the sleepy English countryside at the dawn of the Victorian Era, life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall--a secluded hamlet so named for an imposing stone barrier that surrounds a fertile grassland. Armed sentries guard the sole gap in the bulwark to keep the inquisitive... read more

Summary edit see section history

This was made into a movie last summer and while the movie is actually quite excellent, the book is even better. It is simply a beautiful story about a boy who sets out to find a fallen star to win a woman’s heart and, in the process of his incredible (and magical) journey, he grows up and... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

This was made into a movie last summer and while the movie is actually quite excellent, the book is even better. It is simply a beautiful story about a boy who sets out to find a fallen star to win a woman’s heart and, in the process of his incredible (and magical) journey, he grows up and discovers who he really is.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Dunstan Thorne: Who goes to seek his heart's desire. Tristran Thorne's father
  • Tristran Thorne: Main character. Promises to retrieve a fallen star for Victoria Forester and travels into Faerie.
  • Yvaine: The star that fell from the sky.
  • Victoria Forester: A beautiful young woman who lives in Wall. Tristran believes he is in love with her. He promises to get for her a star they watched fall from the sky into Faerie.
  • The 81st Lord of Stormhold: The ruler of Stormhold.
  • Lord Septimus: The seventh son of Lord Stormhold. Succeeds in eliminating several of his older brothers and eventually the sole surviving son of Lord Stromhold.
  • Lady Una: First-born and only daughter of the eighty-first Lord of Stormhold. For most of the story she is a slave to Madame Semele who keeps her in the form of a colorful bird. She is the exotic young woman--"her eyes were deep violet, while her ears were the ears of a cat, perhaps, gently curved, and dusted with fine, dark, fur. She was quite beautiful"--selling glass flowers in a booth at the once-every-nine-year market in the field on the Faerie side of Wall.
  • Madame Semele/Ditchwater Sal: Owns a stall for the faerie market, she sells flowers made of glass. Lady Una's owner.
  • The Lilim: Witches. Daughter of Lilith.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Every lover is in his heart a madman, and in his heart a minstrel”
    Tristan
  • “For these things have their rules. All things have rules.”
    Lady Una
  • “It had occasionally been remarked upon that it is as easy to overlook something large and obvious as it is to overlook something small and niggling, and that the large things one overlooks can often cause problems.”
    Narrator
  • “I should warn you that if you leave these lands for... over there... then you will be, as I understand it, transformed into what you would be in that world: a cold, dead thing, sky-fallen.”
    Lady Una
  • “The burning golden heart of a star at peace is so much finer than the flickering heart of a little frightened star. But even the heart of a star who is afraid and scared is better by far than no heart at all.”
    The witch-queen
  • “There is a proverbial saying chiefly concerned with warning against too closely calculating the numerical value of unhatched chicks.”
    Quintus
  • “Adventures are all very well in their place, he thought, but there's a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.”
    Tristran
  • “He could no longer reconcile his old idea of giving the star to Victoria Forester with his current notion that the star was not a thing to be passed from hand to hand, but a true person in all respects and no kind of thing at all.”
    Narrator
  • “If you touch me," said the star, "lay but a finger on me, you will regret it forevermore." "If ever you get to be my age," said the old woman, "you will know all there is to know about regrets, and you will know that one more, here or there, will make no difference in the long run.”
    Yvaine
  • “The sun set, and a huge spring moon appeared, high already in the heavens. A chill breeze blew.”
    Narrator
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “Because,” announced Tristran, “every lover is in his heart a madman, and in his head a minstrel.”
    Highlighted by 62 Kindle customers
  • Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle customers
  • “It’s not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it’s yours and then be willing to let it go.
    Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers
  • “There is a proverbial saying chiefly concerned with warning against too closely calculating the numerical value of unhatched chicks,” pointed out Quintus.
    Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers
  • (Fairy Tales, as G.K. Chesterton once pointed out, are not true. They are more than true. Not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be defeated.)
    Highlighted by 35 Kindle customers
  • Adventures are all very well in their place, he thought, but there’s a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.
    Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers
  • The squirrel has not yet found the acorn that will grow into the oak that will be cut to form the cradle of the babe who will grow to slay me.”
    Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers
  • they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does.
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
  • It has occasionally been remarked upon that it is as easy to overlook something large and obvious as it is to overlook something small and niggling, and that the large things one overlooks can often cause problems.
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
  • All too often I write to find out what I think about a subject, not because I already know.
    Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers
Show all 20 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Wall: The town in England where Tristran grew up.
  • Faerie: The mystical world on the other side of the wall on the edge of Wall.

First Sentence edit see section history

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Chapter One: In Which We Learn of the Village of Wall, and of the
Curious Thing That Occurs There Every Nine Years

Chapter Two: In Which Tristran Thorn Grows to Manhood
and Makes a Rash Promise

Chapter Three: In Which We Encounter Several Other Persons,
Many of Them Still Alive, With an Interest in the
Fate of the Fallen Star

Chapter Four: “Can I Get There by Candlelight?”

Chapter Five: In Which There is Much Fighting for the Crown

Chapter Six: What the Tree Said

Chapter Seven: “At the Sign of the Chariot”

Chapter Eight: Which Treats of Castles in the Air, and Other Matters

Chapter Nine: Which Deals Chiefly With the Events
At Diggory’s Dyke

Chapter Ten: Stardust

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 52 of 100 in National Public Radio's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Hyperion, and followed by Cryptonomicon.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Neil Gaiman (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Charles Vess (Illustrator)
  2. Sash Uusjärv (Translator)
  3. Artur Barciś (Narrator)
  4. Meelis Krošetskin (Cover Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: William Morrow
Country: United States
Publication Date: 1999
ISBN: 0380977281
Page Count: 256

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3557.A3519S73 1999
  • Dewey: 823.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

This book contains very mild sexual content (not graphic) and some violence.

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Neverwhere
  • The Graveyard Book
  • M Is for Magic
  • Coraline

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Stardust

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • The Princess Bride

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