Today was not a good day. It was one of those "augh, my abdomen is tearing itself apart from the inside" days. It was also a sad day school wise because I had to read, of all things, The Painted Door which is possibly the most depressing short story I've read this year. Really. It's more depressing than Of Mice and Men which is really, really sad. 
 Anyway. So basically all of the sadness of the day could only be fixed by a hot wat bot (hot water bottle,) cinnamon apple tea, a warm bed, and something by Neil Gaiman. That something ended up being Stardust. 
 It was the perfect book to lift my spirits. Kind of dark in some ways, with almost borderline humour (I mean the Lords of Stormhold? Hilarious, but creepy, but... still really funny,) and an engaging, faerie tale like plot and feel. It was just what I needed. 
 When you're in a certain mood, stories that remind you of childhood faerie tales are the best. This is, literally, a faerie tale for older people. There is a faerie land that lies beside/near/within etc England, just across a wall. A land of dwarf-things, fallen stars, witches, corrupt kings, and talking trees. The kind of land that's filled with such magic that you can lose yourself in the pages for awhile. 
 The writing is classic Gaiman- clever, concise, and easy to read. 
 The characters are lovable, and I was almost cheering for Tristan the whole time. (view spoiler)[let's be honest, I was more on Yvaine's side, because what kind of jerk takes a living star home to the girl who is gonna spurn him anyway? But he wasn't that much of a jerk, just a little... misguided. (hide spoiler)] 
 This book gave me warm fuzzy feelings, which is possibly not good, because like all of Neil Gaiman's work it's kind of dark. But I thank Neil Gaiman once again for another astounding tale.