Despite only giving this four stars I can quite happily say that this might just be the book that I enjoy the most this year. I will admit that at first I was reading it whilst thinking of the movie but I soon forgot about that I began to treat it like I'd never met the characters before. 
 While there are parts that I dislike,(view spoiler)[ such as the evil queen not getting her comeuppance and I thought there'd be more about the space pirates (hide spoiler)] but I guess that comes from watching the film first. The ending seemed a little too rushed and ended on a bit of a downer, what with Yvaine being immortal and being alone forever after Tristran's death. 
 However, I'm not being too negative on Stardust because I did genuinely love it. I loved that it was different from the film because then I'd be bored knowing what was coming and I loved that there was no shying away from gory scenes. The world of Faerie felt so magical to me and I could've easily stayed in that environment. 
 The only reasons I haven't given this five stars is because of my dislikes that I've written above and also because, like other reviewers have mentioned, there was a tone of "boys will be boys" about Tristran's attitude towards Victoria. Also, Tristran is "... a ninny, a lackwit, and a clodpoll." I want to give him a shake for being such an idiot. 
 Overall, I would recommend this book to my friends and even to my family. Do I think it's better than the film? No but then again, I don't think the book is better. I think they're both just as good and because of how different they are I can treat them as two separate things. 
 Read this review on FadedTulips