Neil Gaiman kicks off my CBR7.

I’m so excited to be starting my third Cannonball Read! I can’t believe with my crazy life that I got so many books in last year. Here’s hoping to top that goal this year (and hopefully, by the end of 2015, I’ll be DONE with school). I have a few goals in mind: read the books I’ve never read on my shelf. Last year, I determined to buy no books until I had read them and decided that yes, I would like them to occupy space on my shelf. I am very happy with this decision. I’m adding to it this year by reading the books that I *do* have and have not read, plus, I’d also like to read more Anglophone writers–writers outside US/Britain and the Commonwealth, for a start. We’ll see how that goes. But for now, I need to get through the thinning library stack, and that brings us to Stardust.

Tristan Thorn foolishly promises to fetch a fallen star for his crush, Victoria Forester (will these silly Nice Guys never learn?), and in return, she must give him whatever his heart desires. In the meantime, the 81st Lord of Stormhold has just died, and his three living sons are duking it out for power–beware the crafty Septimus, who has killed most of his family. And then there’s the Lilim, a set of three sister witches, who need the heart of a fallen star to maintain their youth and beauty. Gaiman weaves these separate stories into a rich, intriguing adventure.

I liked this story. I wanted to love it. But it’s definitely a faerie story, while some of Gaiman’s older adult work (American Gods, specifically) have a lot more emotional resonance. So that’s why I’m giving this book three stars. I enjoyed it (minus a graphic episode that involved a unicorn), but I would recommend some of his other works first.