This is one of the few times where I liked the movie better. The movie had a more climactic ending with an actual final battle that was absent from the book. I found the end especially weak since the movies ending had such a Neil Gaiman feel to it but he didn't even write it. The actual quest throughout the book was much better but the ending just left me with a bad feeling.

Stardust has some strange similarities to A Song of Ice and Fire. There is a wall at the edge of town that is guarded because on the other side there be magics and mythical creatures. There are a bunch of princes killing each other to be crowned kind of all the land. Magis is used sparingly and only when increasing the dramatic tension. Also they say ages like 4 and 40. Now that may just be an olde english thing but I have only ever encountered it previously in ASoIaF.