Narration and Plot in Stardust

          As I continue to read through Neil Gaiman's Stardust I have become aware of the unique narration style of the novel. Of course, the narrator in Stardust is not quite as intrusive or varying as say the one in The Hobbit, but it is interesting nonetheless. What I find most intriguing is that there are a minimum of three distinct story lines simultaneously unfolding throughout most of the novel and at times even four. While the majority of novels start from a central point and branch out from that point or follow a singular character as he or she journeys, slowly accumulating companions and enemies such as Golden Walter in Wood Beyond the Wood, Neil Gaiman's Stardust has a much different pattern. Instead of the usual method of story telling Gaiman chooses to jump from one group of characters - whether it be the princes, the witch queen, or Tristan and the Star - to the other and often tells only small portions of each subplot at a time. Perhaps it is my preference of more complicated plots that lead me to feel this way, but I quite enjoy the mild mystery that Gaiman creates by revealing the story piece by piece. I wonder if this more complicated style of writing has anything to do with Stardust being an "adult novel."