The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars [Hardcover]

Steven Brust (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1987

Once upon a time there was a kingdom that lived in darkness, for the sun, the moon and the stars were hidden in a box, and that box was hidden in a sow's belly, and that sow was hidden in a troll's cave, and that cave was hidden at the end of the world.

Once upon a time there was a studio of artists who feared they were doomed to obscurity, for though they worked and they worked, no one was interested in the paintings that stood in racks along their studio walls.

The Sun, the Moon, & the Stars is a tale of two quests, of two young men who are reaching for the moon. And the sun. And the stars.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This thoroughly refreshing, informative novel contains disparate components that coalesce nicely: an examination of how five struggling artists who share a studio interact with each other, a discourse from one of them about his craft, and a Hungarian fairy tale featuring Csucskari, a gypsy who tries to find the sun, moon and stars and restore them to the vacant heavens. Narrator Greg and his friends routinely assemble at the studio to work and exchange ideas. After three years, however, their enthusiasm ebbs as solvency and acclaim seem no closer. The five contemplate disbanding, while Greg labors on an immense, ambitious painting entitled Death of Uranus. With engaging unpretentiousness he explains some fundamental artistic issues to the reader: technique, the difficulties inherent in creating visually and intellectually stimulating paintings and the vacuousness of "pretty" pictures. Interspersed throughout the book is a fairy tale also told by Greg, who excitingly chronicles Csucskari's skirmishes with dragons and other foes. This fanciful fable ingeniously reinforces the book's principle theme of persevering despite adversity, yet it is Greg's amiable, frank discussion of his vocation that truly fascinates.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Steven Brust is a master stylist." --Publishers Weekly

"In a genre that's mostly done by the numbers, Steven Brush maintains a hipster charm and an originality of mind." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1st edition (June 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441084109
• ISBN-13: 978-0441084104
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,894,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in a family of Hungarian labor organizers, Steven Brust worked as a musician and a computer programmer before coming to prominence as a writer in 1983 with Jhereg, the first of his novels about Vlad Taltos, a human professional assassin in a world dominated by long-lived, magically-empowered human-like "Dragaerans." Over the next several years, several more "Taltos" novels followed, interspersed with other work, including To Reign in Hell, a fantasy re-working of Milton's war in Heaven; The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, a contemporary fantasy based on Hungarian folktales; and a science fiction novel, Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille. The most recent "Taltos" novels are Dragon and Issola. In 1991, with The Phoenix Guards, Brust began another series, set a thousand years earlier than the Taltos books; its sequels are Five Hundred Years After and the three volumes of "The Viscount of Adrilankha": The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode.While writing, Brust has continued to work as a musician, playing drums for the legendary band Cats Laughing and recording an album of his own work, A Rose for Iconoclastes. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where he pursues an ongoing interest in stochastics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm not sure I got it all, but it was beautiful, October 2, 2000

By 

Stephanie Zuercher "book nerd" (Berea, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Paperback)

"Beautiful" is a pretty good description of this book. It's part of the "Fairy Tales" series, all of which I love. The main character is a painter, but his creational experience (with a "big canvas") applies to any sort of artist (the creative types). The writing style rings as true, every single page. The minor characters are intriguing and fleshed out enough to be human; I found a couple of them humorous. It gives a very good insight into the craft of a painter (speaking as a musician) as well as the mind of a creator; the juxtaposition of the modern story, the fairy tale, and the incidents in the past of the narrator is fascinating.

When I say I'm not sure I got it all, I wasn't kidding. While it resonated on all those levels, I don't think I fully understood the relationship of the Hungarian fairy tale to the painter's story; I'm not sure I caught all the symbolism within the painting, either. I'll just have to go reread it . . . darn!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Innovative, June 5, 2000

By 

Michael Gallant - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Paperback)

Steven Brust once again refuses to be pigeonholed. The author of the Taltos series heads in a completely new direction in this book. He spins a double storyline of a Hungarian folktale which symbolically connects to the painting the main characters is creating, as well as the story of the group of artist as they struggle to be discovered.

Brust touches on the dynamics of friendships in crisis, lives at a point of decision and the creative process itself in this brilliant story.

This will strike a chord in any writer or artist.

Buy it. Now.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The dilemmas of an artist, July 16, 2003

By 

"gentlemaniac" (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Paperback)

First off: If you have little or no interest in art, this book might not be for you. Second, if you're looking for another book lik "Jhereg" or "The Phoenix Guards" this is not it. There is a Hungarian faerie tale(which I understand from the text is liberally adapted by the narrator) dispersed between the chapters, but chances are it will not fulfill your fantasy needs. That said, let's see what we have:

The story is centered around Greg, a young painter who shares a studio with four fellow artists. They're almost broke, and they're reaching a point where their artistic ambitions must come to fruitition or be set aside for mundane pursuits.

The fact that all their efforts might have been for nothing creates tension within the group, and the fact that Greg is a rather arrogant does not help. He's intelligent and he knows it, but he has trouble seeing things from more than one side, and this makes him rather insensitive. He takes art seriously to the point of pretentiousness, but he is not the most talented artist in the group. He is, all in all, human. The other characters are of course less thoroughly described, but I did not find them boring or one-dimensional.

There are several sections where Greg is allowed to think aloud, expressing his thoughts about life, art and hungarian faerie tales. When you flip the last page, you have really gotten to know Greg.

I consider this one of the strong points of the book. Even with his biased opinions and ill-considered remarks, Greg is a likable character. He lives off his girlfriend and feels rather guilty about this, but he can't let go of his artistic ambitions. Like a man who gambles with household money, he must either take the loss and admit failure, or go on, raise the stakes and hope for his luck to improve. The same goes for the rest of the group; they must take their shot at the stars or take a nine to five job.

To sum it up, I loved this book. It made me wish I had taken more art classes, it made me want to tell stories of my own. It made me want to recommend it to everyone, but I realize(particularly after reading some of the other reviews) that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Fortunately.