I'll be honest and say the first time I read Neil Gaiman's Stardust, I wasn't particularly impressed. However, this most recent rereading was a much more fun experience, and I can't help but wonder if the edition I have no isn't expanded from the original novel, or if I somehow just missed things the first time.
Anyway, the novel is set in the Victorian era, in the town of Wall, where the wall has a gap in it that leads to Fairie. Once every nine years, a great fair happens on the other side of the gap, which is also the only time the people of Wall let people pass through the gap. Young Duncan Thorn, in love with a barmaid, winds up enchanted by a slave girl held by an enchanted chain, and winds up...er...conceiving Tristran under her influence. As Tristran grows up, he's not allowed to go to the fair. However, one night a star falls in Fairie, and he promises the woman he longs for that he will go retrieve it for her in exchange for his fondest desire.
Said star, Yvaine, is not happy about falling after getting hit with a Topaz necklace thrown by the 81st lord of the Stormhold. (Neither are the 3 surving princes of Stormhold, who have to find the topaz to claim Lordship. The Lilim, are quite happy she fell, since they can use her heart to regain their youth.)
Anyway, Tristran does find the star, and the other 2 major plotlines resolve themselves with very little interference from Tristran. And in the end, everyone gets what they deserve.
The movie, while really well done, did change around a few plot elements, and greatly expands the role DeNiro did so well. (In the book, he has maybe 2-3 lines.)
While not my favorite book by Gaiman, it's still an exciting read that has improved with age.
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