There are some books, you must understand, that cast such a particular spell upon the reader that when the final page is turned, one feels rather as though they have been gently set down upon solid earth after a most marvellous flight. Stardust is precisely such a book—a story in which a young man crosses into Faerie to retrieve a fallen star and finds instead something far more precious.
If you have recently closed the covers on this beloved tale and find yourself wandering about your house with that peculiar ache of wanting more magic, more wit, more romance that tastes of moonlight and adventure—well then, you have come to the right place. What follows is a carefully curated collection of books that capture that same ineffable quality: the fairy tale atmosphere, the romantic longing, and the sense that the world is rather more enchanted than we generally give it credit for.
1. The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown
If Stardust left you longing for a tale where fairy dust mingles with historical adventure, where romance blooms alongside sword fights, and where the heroine possesses both a clever tongue and an indomitable spirit, then The Wendy shall prove to be the book you have been seeking.
This is not your grandparents’ Peter Pan, though all the beloved characters are present and accounted for. Set in 1780s England, The Wendy reimagines the tale we thought we knew with Wendy Darling as a fierce young woman who dreams not of thimbles and nurseries, but of commanding her own ship and sailing the seven seas. One reader proclaimed it “better than the original,” which is quite bold indeed, yet upon reading, one finds it difficult to argue the point.
The writing possesses that same quality of fairy tale charm that distinguishes Stardust—a narrator who addresses the reader directly with wit and warmth, speaking of the most extraordinary occurrences in the most delightfully ordinary terms. The magic smells green and tastes like pickles. Wendy has an irrepressibly expressive eyebrow. Peter Pan himself is mysterious and unpredictable, as any proper magical being should be, while Captain Hook proves far more complex than simple villainy would suggest.
Readers have described it as “all the markings of a classic” and praised the way it captures the whimsy of Barrie’s original while creating something entirely fresh. The complete trilogy—The Wendy, The Navigator, and The Captain—is now available for those who wish to continue the adventure straight on ’til morning.
2. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
In the land of Ingary, where fairy tale conventions are accepted as simple facts of life, young Sophie Hatter labours under the most dreadful curse of all—being the eldest of three daughters, which means she is quite certain to fail should she ever seek her fortune. Then the Witch of the Waste transforms her into an old woman, and Sophie discovers that curses have a way of liberating rather than limiting.
What follows is a delicious confection of walking castles, tantrum-throwing wizards, and a fire demon named Calcifer who drives rather hard bargains. Like Stardust, this tale plays with fairy tale tropes whilst simultaneously honouring them, serving up a romance that creeps upon the reader as surprisingly as it does upon its protagonists.
3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Here is a book that understands precisely what Stardust understands: that true love and high adventure are not opposites but rather the very best of companions. Goldman presents his tale as an abridgement of a fictional author’s work, providing sardonic commentary throughout that somehow makes the romance and adventure feel more genuine rather than less.
Buttercup and Westley’s story contains fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles. If this seems rather a lot, that is because it is. And every bit of it is utterly magnificent.
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Imagine, if you will, a circus that arrives without warning and opens only at night. Le Cirque des Rêves appears in fields and meadows, its black-and-white striped tents concealing wonders that defy the laws of nature and physics alike. And within this circus, two young magicians compete in a contest neither fully understands.
Morgenstern weaves atmosphere like spider silk, creating a world so richly imagined one can practically smell the caramel and feel the flutter of paper butterflies. The romance unfolds slowly, inevitably, tragically—as the best fairy tale romances so often do.
5. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
In a frozen kingdom inspired by Russian folklore, Miryem is such a skilled moneylender that rumours spread she can turn silver into gold. When the King of Winter hears these rumours and decides to test them, she finds herself caught between mortal and fairy realms in a tale that braids together multiple perspectives like an intricate frost pattern on glass.
This is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling that understands the cold beauty and genuine danger of fairy tales whilst never losing sight of human warmth and determination.
6. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
In a valley threatened by an ancient and malevolent forest, a wizard called the Dragon takes a young woman into his tower every ten years. When Agnieszka is chosen instead of her beautiful friend, she discovers that magic comes in unexpected forms and that the Wood’s corruption runs deeper than anyone imagined.
Grounded in Polish folklore, this tale combines the intimacy of fairy tale romance with genuine horror and the fierce love between friends. It won the Nebula Award, and deservedly so.
7. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This is perhaps the strangest recommendation on this list, and yet there is something in its dreamlike beauty that will speak to those who love Stardust. Piranesi lives in a House of infinite halls lined with thousands of statues, where clouds fill the upper levels and an ocean floods the lower. He knows every corner, every tide, every bird that nests in the marble.
Then evidence emerges that he is not as alone as he believed, and a mystery begins to unfold that will reshape everything he knows. Clarke’s prose is as haunting and precise as those endless marble halls.
8. Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Here is a secret: Neil Gaiman himself has acknowledged that Stardust draws heavily from this nearly-forgotten 1926 masterpiece. In the comfortable merchant town of Lud-in-the-Mist, which borders upon Fairyland, the citizens have banned all fairy fruit and refuse to speak of magic. But when the mayor’s son is affected by forbidden fruit, old mysteries must be confronted.
Gaiman called it “the single most beautiful, unjustifiably forgotten novel of the twentieth century.” If you wish to taste the very waters from which Stardust springs, begin here.
9. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year, and Vasilisa grows up listening to her nurse’s fairy tales about Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. When her father brings home a devout new wife who forbids all the old ways, Vasya alone can still see the household spirits—and she alone may be able to save her family from the darkness gathering in the wood.
This is fairy tale as it was before Disney, beautiful and dangerous and utterly transporting.
10. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
When her beloved Charlie is captured by a sorceress, a simple young woman named Tress sets out across an ocean made not of water but of deadly spores, joining a pirate crew and discovering courage she never knew she possessed. Sanderson wrote this tale for his wife as a gift, inspired by The Princess Bride, and the love shows in every whimsical page.
The narrative voice here will remind Stardust lovers of exactly why they fell in love with fairy tale fantasy in the first place.
11. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Isobel paints portraits for the fair folk, who cannot create craft without crumbling to dust. When she accidentally captures mortal emotion in the eyes of the autumn prince, she must flee with him into the wild lands, where the boundaries between enemy and ally blur as thoroughly as those between mortal and fae.
A standalone fantasy that builds an entire enchanted world in under four hundred pages, with a romance that earns every single beat.
Finding Your Next Fairy Tale
Each of these books offers its own particular magic, yet all share that quality which makes Stardust so beloved: they remind us that the world is full of wonder, if only we know where to look. Whether you choose tales of walking castles or frozen kingdoms, pirate ships or marble halls, you will find adventures worthy of crossing into Faerie for.
And that, after all, is precisely what the best books do—they take us somewhere impossible and bring us home changed.
