Fantasy; Quest; Fairy Tale
Let's run down the list:
- Fantasy: Characters in Stardust include sentient trees, people transformed into animals and then back to human again, witches, a unicorn, a dude with wings, and ghosts. There are also events ranging from curses and Faerie Markets, to divinations and transformations. Yup—we're definitely out of this world and squarely in the world of fantasy.
- Quest: There's not one, not two, but three—count 'em, three—parties
questing for the fallen star (Tristran, the Stormhold lords, and the
witch-queen). Not only that, but for Tristran, the quest becomes a
defining moment of his life. He matures into manhood, finds his true love,
and discovers his heritage as half-faerie and a Lord of Stormhold. If this
doesn't land this book in the quest genre, then we don't know what does.
- Fairytale: Okay, so Stardust isn't technically a classic fairy tale in the sense of the compact tales of the Brothers Grimm—its plot is longer and more complex, its characters more multi-dimensional, and its original authorship is most certainly known. But there are so many fairytale elements (quests, royalty, magic helpers, true love, marriage, not to mention, um, fairies) that we just had to mention fairytales as an important genre-influencer-thingie here.