The eldest of the Lilim, the witch-queen, goes in pursuit of her. They plan to cut out her heart so they can use it to restore their youth. Elsewhere, three witches known as the Lilim have discovered the star’s existence. Tristran finds the star and is surprised to see that she’s not a lump of rock, but he remains true to his quest and chains them together so he can take her to Victoria.

Shortly after, Septimus kills Tertius with a poisoned bottle of wine. The necklace hits the star, a young woman named Yvaine, and causes her to fall to earth. To decide their fate, the Lord of Stormhold throws his royal topaz necklace out the window and tells them whoever retrieves it will rule. Meanwhile, the Lord of the kingdom of Stormhold is dying, and the three remaining of seven sons are vying for the crown: Primus, Tertius, and Septimus. Tristran tells his father that he’s going to cross the wall to retrieve the fallen star, and Dunstan understands that his son is going home. Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he goes to collect the star for her. One day, he and Victoria see a falling star. As a teenager, he has a crush on a local girl named Victoria Forester. Dunstan’s son, Tristran, grows up in Wall without knowing who his true mother is. He and the woman spend the night together and have a son, who the woman sends over the wall to live with Dunstan. One year, Dunstan meets a young woman who is enslaved by a witch.

Every nine years, a market fair is held in the meadow between worlds. Watch the movie instead (which is still much more appropriate for teens than for children).This study guide uses the 2012 hardcover edition from William Morrow.ĭunstan Thorn is a practical teenager living in the small English village of Wall, which sits alongside a long stone wall that separates the human world from Faerie. I do not recommend this book for anyone, but especially not children or teenagers due to the inaccurate portrayals of live and romance, explicit sex, and gruesome acts of violence. There's a particularly unpleasant scene where a witch dismembers a unicorn, and there is no 'good guy wins, bad guy loses' at the end. If you like happy endings or dislike gratuitous sex and violence, skip this book. Neither scene seems to serve any purpose besides satisfying the author's dark sense of humor, because they don't advance the plot and aren't even between the main characters. In the first few chapters, there's a pretty explicit sex scene, and later on there's another sex scene between a noble and a servant. I read the book because I just recently saw the movie (which I loved), and while I haven't enjoyed other Neil Gaiman books in the past, I thought it might be different based on the movie.

Stardust by neil gaiman