Well, this was just fun.
I saw the movie years ago, before I knew who Neil Gaiman was, and I went in with no expectations. I remember being surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie, and that’s about it. A few years later, I picked up the book after finishing Gaiman’s American Gods, without realizing that this was the book the movie was based on. And now after reading the book, I want to watch the movie again.
The story has all the elements you want in a fairy tale: inheritances, dangerous journeys, mythical creatures, magic, true love, you know, all that. But it’s told in such a fun adult way, and there’s a little bit of sex and violence exactly where the sex and violence would be if this magical world actually existed. It’s for grown ups, but reading it makes you feel like a child. Gaiman keeps that fairy tale matter-of-factness: there was a unicorn there because that’s how it happened. The witches want a star’s heart because that’s what witches do.
So this was fun, especially after reading some much heavier books earlier in this Cannonball. It was nice to sit back for an afternoon and let my imagination run free. Some reviews are critical of the translation of the book to the movie, or think the movie was better, or whatever, but I honestly can’t stir up many feelings about that, as I enjoyed both and was happy to stumble across each of them independently.
There should be more fairy tales for adults.
The audiobook version is wonderful. Such a great story.