Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne Jones were very good friends. And Cat Chant from Charmed Life is (partially) based off of Gaiman. "I [Neil] crop up, in semi-fictionalised form, in a book by Diana -- Deep Secret -- and she told me once that the young Chrestomanci in The Lives of Christopher Chant was sort of based on me too." That may be why you had the comparison. I personally like them both, but think it's true that they are different. Genre-wise though, I feel like it's a fair to recommend one to someone who likes the other.
Yes, I read that too some time back. I know that DWJ and Gaiman were good friends.
The comparison (not intended, really!) was because of 'Song'; I was hoping that perhaps Stardust, might be an excellent read (wasn't looking to find any DWJ-ishness in the book).
But perhaps I should try Gaiman's other books, although I must confess that I've not been horribly impressed by his writing style...
Doesn't it make the entry really about Stardust? =) Or just about DWJ being better? I've read Stardust several years ago, not long after HMC - both in translation, though. The use of the same poem forced a comparison on me, but mostly in the line of how the authors incorporated famous poetry in their works. Otherwise, those are two different books with different strong points and readers' expectations. I don't like Gaiman's writing style much in general, so I can't make impartial conclusions, but I'd rather not compare at all.
I guess I was just sorely disappointed, and really wanted to say that HMC is way better. But while both novels used the same poem, I felt that DWJ did a fantastic job; she used the entire 'Song' and incorporated into HMC cleverly. Stardust, on the other hand, felt to me as if Gaiman just wanted to use the first line ('Go and catch a falling star...') as a cause (or excuse) to start the novel.
Have you seen the movie of Stardust? I'd be interested in what you thought of the movie vs the book. My personal opinion is that the movie of Stardust is closer in feeling to the book of HMC.
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That may be why you had the comparison. I personally like them both, but think it's true that they are different. Genre-wise though, I feel like it's a fair to recommend one to someone who likes the other.
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The comparison (not intended, really!) was because of 'Song'; I was hoping that perhaps Stardust, might be an excellent read (wasn't looking to find any DWJ-ishness in the book).
But perhaps I should try Gaiman's other books, although I must confess that I've not been horribly impressed by his writing style...
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Doesn't that suggest Christopher was based on Gaiman, not Cat? I can kind of see Christopher as being Gaiman-ish, but not Cat.
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I've read Stardust several years ago, not long after HMC - both in translation, though. The use of the same poem forced a comparison on me, but mostly in the line of how the authors incorporated famous poetry in their works. Otherwise, those are two different books with different strong points and readers' expectations. I don't like Gaiman's writing style much in general, so I can't make impartial conclusions, but I'd rather not compare at all.
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I guess I was just sorely disappointed, and really wanted to say that HMC is way better. But while both novels used the same poem, I felt that DWJ did a fantastic job; she used the entire 'Song' and incorporated into HMC cleverly. Stardust, on the other hand, felt to me as if Gaiman just wanted to use the first line ('Go and catch a falling star...') as a cause (or excuse) to start the novel.
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(Hope this isn't going too far off topic!)
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(I think we should keep to DWJ ;) )
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