Rating: 
Summary: Heartwarming Fairytale
Review: This is one of those rare stories that will become a true classic. An enchanting fairytale woven through with mystery and magic. This book sticks with you long after its finished. I can't wait until my niece is old enough to start being read to from this book. I hope it will become one of her favorites.
Rating:
Summary: A charming fairy tale with a twist
Review: While Neil Gaiman's Stardust may not be considered "Great Literature," it is an enjoyable and enchanting story enhanced by Charles Vess' beautiful illustrations. Ranging from comical and whimsical to dark and grim, it is not a children's bedtime story (unless Grimm-style stories qualify). It has no lack of lascivious and murderous characters. Although Stardust is a fairy tale (literally, as it takes place in the Realms of Faerie), its characters aren't flat, and even villains are given the depth of real people.The plot unravels with only a few surprises, but its twists are craftily placed in the tapestry of the story. The part of the story that I personally enjoyed the most is the ending, which ties up the story nicely leaving no loose threads hanging. Neil Gaiman lives up to his reputation as a master storyteller. Stardust is for those who are looking for an honest-to-reality fantasy but not for those who are looking for a censored fairy tale that takes place in a perfect world.
Rating: 
Summary: Tough going at first but proves worth it
Review: What I associate with Neil Gaiman: the rather strange book about the apocalypse he cowrote with Terry Pratchett and what I think is a rather dark comic book series. This book was not at all what I expected. Instead, it is a fairy tale for grownups.
Wall is a town on the edge of Faerie, with one gateway in. Only once every nine years, though, do people go in, for a fair. A young man does so, falls in love with one there, has sex with her, and leaves at the end of the fair. Then a baby in a basket appears at the gateway and is adopted by the young man, now married. The son grows up and is ordinary enough except he falls in love with the most beautiful young woman in the town, who to get rid of him sends him into Faerie after a fallen star. His father escorts him to the gateway, beyond which he has a series of marvelous adventures, some of which Gaiman dismisses in a sentence since, I think, we've heard them before. This is intertwined with a battle for succession among three sons and the adventures of a fairly nasty witch. Of course, the virtuous succeed and the evil fail, and all those who should live happily ever do so. All in all a magical story. I found it tough going at first. Gaiman goes very deeply into description, which I tend to skim, so I had to change my usual habits in order to get into the book. But once I got going I found it difficult to put down and ended up staying up until after midnight last night to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: a card on the sleeve...
Review: even after surprising us with the whole sandman collection, gaiman did it again. stardust it's one of the most beautiful fairy tales i've read, and i hope everyone could read it too. maybe someday this is the kind of bed time story that i'll tell to my children. who knows?
Rating: 
Summary: Lighter than air
Review: Neil Gaiman is a wonderful writer and when I picked up Stardust and read the first few pages I was prepared to be enchanted. Unfortunately, the spell never quite took. There is so much to like about Stardust - the basic premise, the main characters, the descriptions both of the human town of Wall and the faery land of Faery. But for all its plots and subplots the story has no depth. It's like only being able to dip your toe into the pool on a hot day when you really want to dive in. As another reviewer here points out, everytime we appear to reach a crisis Gaiman gives the character an "easy out" and there's never any real denouement. Stars may be able to survive without substance, good stories can't.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful escapist fun
Review: _Stardust_, an original fairy tale by Neil Gaiman, is filled with enchantment, wonder, and a splash of humor. Tristran Thorn, who doesn't know he's half-faery, sets out to find a fallen star in the hopes of winning the hand of the lovely but icy Victoria. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the star fell into Faerie, and so that's where he has to go. But what if a powerful witch and three feuding heirs to the throne of Stormhold are all looking for it too, for their own reasons? And what if the star has a mind of her own? Much complication follows. The basic plot is so familiar-feeling that it isn't hard to predict the ending--it feels just like an old hearth-tale passed down through generations--and yet it is utterly original and full of surprises. (Note to Tori Amos fans: Tori has a brief cameo in _Stardust_; I didn't figure it out until I read the acknowledgements at the end. But now that line in "Horses" makes so much more sense...)
Rating: 
Summary: This Gaiman fan was sorely disappointed...
Review: First, let me express that I am certainly a fan of Gaiman's work, and have read a great deal that he's written. From "The Sandman" to "Neverwhere" (including "Black Orchid", "Mr. Punch", "Angels & Reflections", "Death", and others), I have thoroughly enjoyed the way this man puts together characters, stories, plots, scenes, and settings. I have just enjoyed so much that he's done. I fully expected to enjoy this book, but was sorely disappointed. Why, you might ask? (...) It's a rambling narrative set in a poorly explored and half-imagined world of fairy tale magic and Carroline witticisms. Please, let me explain. The most specific criticism I have is that the plot meanders from one conflict to another without ever fully realising any real tension; instead of allowing the characters to overcome their own challenges, they are offered weak and easy "outs" from all of their difficulties (deus ex machina); or, in the case of the final and expected confrontation at the end of the book (that was slowly built towards throughout), the antagonist witch simply perishes before the protagonists are allowed to reach her and engage in any appreciable and entertaining skirmish. Characters are too easily introduced and abandoned, settings are drifted through without rhyme or reason, conflict and comedy are whispered of and are gone... Every word in this book puts me in mind of an episodic story a grandparent might tell a young child at bedtime: the events of the previous nights' episodes are too readily forgotten; the details are fanciful and unimportant, grasped at in a desperate attempt to fill an evening; the ending obligatory, uninspired and uninspiring. I urge anyone interested in Neil Gaiman to not be discouraged by this book or this review. He is a good author, and worthy of your attention. This particular tale though, is best left to gather dust.
Rating:
Summary: A great beginners fantasy
Review: I bought this book in a half price bookstore, thinking that it would be just a quaint little fantasy book, but I was wrong. I started reading this late one night, and I couldn't put it down, not even for one moment. It is possibly the best fanstay novel I have ever read, and it is written in the writing style that I enjoy: straight foreward. It is a very easy book to read, and has a wonderful plot line to follow. You quickly fall in love with the characters Gaiman creates and soon find yourself immersed in the world of Faerie, wishing that you were there yourself. If you have never read fantasy before, consider this book for your first. I guarentee that you will not be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: This is not as good as Neverwhere or the best of the Sandman comics, but it is still very good. Gaiman writes in a style that doesn't seem to be much, but in reality it is extremely mannered. This is a good book if you like the old time, Lord Dunsany-style, pre-Tolkien fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Light reading
Review: This book is entertaining and well worth the time if you like fairy tales.
The main plot revolves around a young man who makes a rash promise to his first crush, and sets out on a quest to fulfill it. The book is more about the adventures and journey through the magical land. This is where the book really shines as it makes the setting come alive with lots of little details. The characters are not developed in-depth, mostly stock fairy tale folk (hero, bad prince, evil witch) but you get a good feel for them. It would be a great book to read to a kid at night. It's like cotton candy: light, enjoyable, but not a whole lot of substance.
For those who are familiar with Gaiman's work this is not as dark or detailed as most of his stuff.
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