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A Fall of Stardust
Re-enter the world of Stardust in this chapbook collecting a new short story and two new poems illustrated by Charles Vess!
14 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 5, 2024
"Jenny distrusted birthdays; she was wary of them. You go to sleep one age, wake up another, with no say in the matter"
چرا با ۱۰ صفحه کتاب احساساتی شدم نمیدونم
چرا با ۱۰ صفحه کتاب احساساتی شدم نمیدونم
December 26, 2021
Another extremely short read by Gaiman. This one is set in 1963 and contains a tantalising reference to Wall, the village that marks the boundary between our world and Faerie in Gaiman's Stardust. The protagonist is Jenny, a young girl on the verge of her teens, who encounters a group of magpies who tell her a secret.
The rest of the very short work is filled with short poems and songs by characters that later appear in Stardust. The link between them and Jenny is unclear but they were fun to read as I knew who they were. I really wish Gaiman had written a follow-up to Jenny's story, but he does not appear to have done so yet (22 years later). Here's hoping!
The rest of the very short work is filled with short poems and songs by characters that later appear in Stardust. The link between them and Jenny is unclear but they were fun to read as I knew who they were. I really wish Gaiman had written a follow-up to Jenny's story, but he does not appear to have done so yet (22 years later). Here's hoping!
June 8, 2017
Stardust was originally a ‘storybook with pictures’, done with Charles Vess and released in 1997. This short story, along with a heap of art from other contributors, and some poems, came in 1999 to raise money for Vess’ wife Karen after a car accident. It wasn’t until 1999 that Stardust became a conventional novel. So this kind of doesn’t fit as a prologue even though it does mention the place Wall and has talking magpies. Perhaps Jenny was a character whose story hasn’t been written yet?
Neil might get around to it one day.
But in the meantime it’s a short story about a young girl, a birthday and a mark of growth. Maybe that’s it? Walls. Easily marked lines between one state and another?
Me too, Jenny.
4 stars
Neil might get around to it one day.
But in the meantime it’s a short story about a young girl, a birthday and a mark of growth. Maybe that’s it? Walls. Easily marked lines between one state and another?
Jenny distrusted birthdays, despite the presents she was wary of them. You go to sleep one age, wake up another, with no say in the matter.
Me too, Jenny.
4 stars
September 20, 2015
A slight prequel to Stardust, a bildungsroman capturing the end of childhood innocence and how experience robs the world of a certain magic. It’s backed up by a couple of poems including an exceptionally clever one in pandium form.
December 30, 2015
An extremely short prequel to Gaiman's popular Stardust novel. It's a coming of age story of innocence mixed with myth and a few poems in for good measure. Good, but over too quickly to really be read as a stand alone tale.
June 6, 2017
I got this as part of the 2016 Humble Bundle.
A short coming of age story, and two short poems.
The short story is mildly entertaining, though I can't say it has any impact. The poems are forgettable.
The entire work is quite redundant, two out of five.
A short coming of age story, and two short poems.
The short story is mildly entertaining, though I can't say it has any impact. The poems are forgettable.
The entire work is quite redundant, two out of five.
March 23, 2017
didnt understand the Jenny story...I was vary disapointed will reading this...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2022
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
This little collection is a beautifully put-together piece featuring 30 art prints inspired by Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and two chapbooks by Gaiman himself and Susanne Clarke with short stories set in the universe of Wall. Created as a fundraiser for illustrator a long-time collaborator of Gaiman, Charles Vess' wife, it's a lovingly curated project that's now pretty hard to get your hands on. The chapbooks are classic little fairy tales, whimsical and bizarre as befits their inspiration. While very, very short they're still enjoyable to read and fit well into the collection as a whole.
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
This little collection is a beautifully put-together piece featuring 30 art prints inspired by Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and two chapbooks by Gaiman himself and Susanne Clarke with short stories set in the universe of Wall. Created as a fundraiser for illustrator a long-time collaborator of Gaiman, Charles Vess' wife, it's a lovingly curated project that's now pretty hard to get your hands on. The chapbooks are classic little fairy tales, whimsical and bizarre as befits their inspiration. While very, very short they're still enjoyable to read and fit well into the collection as a whole.
June 10, 2023
Back in days of yore Neil Gaiman was quite a capable writer. So, when he released this small book with the very first chapter of the yet-to-be-written sequel to "Stardust", people actually believed that there would be such a sequel. Unfortunately, Gaiman no longer writes books. Well, things like these happen.
October 31, 2024
Pequeño complemento a la serie Stardust, cuyo mayor interés es contar con las ilustraciones de varios dibujantes del mundo Stardust. El relato de Gaiman me ha parecido muy poco inspirado (y muy poco relacionado), y los poemas no me han motivado. El otro cortísimo relato, de otra autora, es más simpático. Sólo merece la pena por las ilustraciones y si eres un poco completista.
December 11, 2020
This was cute and fast, nothing spectacular but I enjoyed the poems
June 17, 2021
My first ever Neil Gaiman read through a friend's author recommendation. I like his style in writing. This is a short story with poetry which you can finish in less than 10 minutes.
August 22, 2024
Not impressed. Ridiculously short.
May 31, 2023
A mixed experience! This collection contains one short story and three poems, all set in the world of Gaiman's novel Stardust.
The short story... I don't get why it's part of this collection. Why I was reading about [SPOILERS!] a 13-year-old girl communicating with magpies and then getting her first period, I don't know! It contains one VERY fleeting reference to the village of Wall (which marks the boundary between our world and Fearie in Stardust), but that's it. Apparently, it was written before Stardust, but I still don't get why Gaiman looked at it and thought it was suitable for this collection, rather than, like... writing a few extra poems!
The poems, I did love! Septimus's Triolet is a dark, fun little stanza that I enjoyed because it relies on the reader already having all of the necessary context re: Septimus, who he is and what his deal is. This might seem like a duh, but a lesser author might have given exposition or wasted time repeating things we already know from Stardust. If you haven't read Stardust, you just get what's obvious from context.
The Song of the Little Hairy Man I also loved because it gets the voice of Charmed PERFECT. It's funny and endearing, and it provides a bit of context for a character who doesn't get a lot in Stardust – but not too much, because Charmed is the kinda guy who doesn't actually NEED an explanation.
The Old Warlock's Reverie wasn't much fun, for me, though. He's a new character, and there's not enough here for me to be interested in him. But, I like that it expands the mythology of Faerie by establishing some other life forms that exist there but don't feature in Stardust.
I was hoping there'd be something from the P.O.V. of the Lilim or their kingdom, Carnadine, before it was lost to the sea. I know witches get their moment in Stardust, but there's so much to mined, here! The eldest is implied to be as old as time!
I'm giving this a low rating because, ultimately, the short story does account for over half of it. But I loved the poems, and I'd enjoy it if Gaiman ever decided to publish more – or even some better short stories!
The short story... I don't get why it's part of this collection. Why I was reading about [SPOILERS!] a 13-year-old girl communicating with magpies and then getting her first period, I don't know! It contains one VERY fleeting reference to the village of Wall (which marks the boundary between our world and Fearie in Stardust), but that's it. Apparently, it was written before Stardust, but I still don't get why Gaiman looked at it and thought it was suitable for this collection, rather than, like... writing a few extra poems!
The poems, I did love! Septimus's Triolet is a dark, fun little stanza that I enjoyed because it relies on the reader already having all of the necessary context re: Septimus, who he is and what his deal is. This might seem like a duh, but a lesser author might have given exposition or wasted time repeating things we already know from Stardust. If you haven't read Stardust, you just get what's obvious from context.
The Song of the Little Hairy Man I also loved because it gets the voice of Charmed PERFECT. It's funny and endearing, and it provides a bit of context for a character who doesn't get a lot in Stardust – but not too much, because Charmed is the kinda guy who doesn't actually NEED an explanation.
The Old Warlock's Reverie wasn't much fun, for me, though. He's a new character, and there's not enough here for me to be interested in him. But, I like that it expands the mythology of Faerie by establishing some other life forms that exist there but don't feature in Stardust.
I was hoping there'd be something from the P.O.V. of the Lilim or their kingdom, Carnadine, before it was lost to the sea. I know witches get their moment in Stardust, but there's so much to mined, here! The eldest is implied to be as old as time!
I'm giving this a low rating because, ultimately, the short story does account for over half of it. But I loved the poems, and I'd enjoy it if Gaiman ever decided to publish more – or even some better short stories!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2019
I will faithfully devour everything Neil Gaiman writes, but this story, while enjoyable, was really to short to actually 'tell' me anything. I think I enjoyed the poems more, especially the pantoum (although I already knew that one).
January 10, 2017
The poems in this short piece were cool because even though most weren't stated out and out, you could tell which characters from Stardust they were talking about.
The piece that I'm confused about the most is in the beginning about Jenny. It takes place in 1963 and other than a mention of Wall doesn't seem to have much connection to the Stardust story. It feels like a tease and I really wish this were going to be a longer story because Jenny, or her family, sound like they could have been very important.
The piece that I'm confused about the most is in the beginning about Jenny. It takes place in 1963 and other than a mention of Wall doesn't seem to have much connection to the Stardust story. It feels like a tease and I really wish this were going to be a longer story because Jenny, or her family, sound like they could have been very important.
January 17, 2017
A story-collection from Gaiman's 2016 Humble Bundle. This book collects a bunch of poems and a short story from the Stardust universe. Not really being a fan of poems in general, my favourite from this book was the short-story. I kind of like the fact that it was a sort of growing up story for girls. Not really coming-of-age, but still about a girl growing up ahead of her older brothers they way we sometimes do. But mostly, this book reminded me that it's been way too long since I read Stardust and that should be remedied.
Read
December 27, 2016Prologue to the lovely Stardust begins with a short story which brings that world flooding back albeit through the Gaiman-types of otherworldly, spooky nature. The four poems (on lesser characters) resonated less so, though are fine in and of themselves. Charles Vess's illustrations are competent yet his colour cover here is a thing of outstanding beauty. At 10 pages or so, it's quite worth your time.
February 4, 2017
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2776783.html
This was part of the Neil Gaiman Humble Bundle, only 14 pages, published in 1999 and illustrated by Charles Vess. Most of it is a very short coming of age story about a girl and the significance of magpies; there are also three poems. The third poem is rather neat but the other two (including the one excerpted above) are rather slight.
This was part of the Neil Gaiman Humble Bundle, only 14 pages, published in 1999 and illustrated by Charles Vess. Most of it is a very short coming of age story about a girl and the significance of magpies; there are also three poems. The third poem is rather neat but the other two (including the one excerpted above) are rather slight.
October 4, 2015
Ever since I was mesmerized by Instructions, I've been looking forward to reading this other collaboration between Gaiman & Vess. Once again, the crisp art is a perfect complement to Gaiman's restrained, poetic narrative. My only real complaint is that the entire exercise feels a bit rote: it's almost Gaiman-by-the-numbers (which isn't entirely a bad thing).
Read
September 23, 2015Slight but charming offcuts, which really should be included with Stardust proper. But then, some editions of that don't even have the illustrations, so clearly it has a problem with mislaying bits of itself.
November 10, 2015
Like many, I received this as part of the Humble Bundle of Gaiman rarities. A super quick read, it contains a writings relevant to the Stardust universe, including a prologue and 3 poems. A lovely little gem with lovely stylized art!
Want to read
June 29, 2011Tengdría que corroborar si está incluido en la edición Absolute de Stardust que me compré el año pasado.
September 27, 2015
Excellent pantoum included.
February 4, 2016
A short ebook - very nice short story, set in the world of Stardust, and some poems of varying interest.
March 19, 2016
Really short piece of work, not that interesting, but I got it cheap as a part of a big bundle of books.
March 20, 2016
a fun little bitty prequel into the world of Stardust and Wall. I enjoyed it. not a huge poetry buff or I would've given a higher rating.
February 21, 2017
Part of the Humble Bundle. Has potential.
December 15, 2016
Prolog tentang beranjak dewasa. Puisi tentang kematian dan 'rahasia'.
December 21, 2016
a wonderful prologue to Wall and addition to the Stardust story. So happy I bought the Humble Bundle :D
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews