The Sandman: Book Five by Neil Gaiman

Midnight Theatre: Despite the pretty cool cover and the interesting enough art, I was very “meh” on this one. Not my style, really. All mystery and blackmail and exactly one semi-interesting character.

The Dream Hunters: Yoshitaka Amano’s art is frigging gorgeous. I love it, so so much. Seeing The Dreaming rendered this way is just amazing.

The story was fantastic as well. Gaiman’s very good at that old-school, fairy-tale vibe. This had it in spades.

Endless Nights: Feeling mostly “meh” about this little series. I do appreciate short stories, but reading them one after the other like this just isn’t my jam.

Green Lantern Lady falling at complete random for her own sun was… stupid. Hate it. I did think the art was really nice, though.

Not gonna lie, I skimmed most of Despair’s chapter. Just don’t need that shit in my head right now. Did not understand what was going on in Delirium’s bit, either. So there’s that.

In Other News

It's Eclipse Day!

I was lucky enough to be in the path of totality. It was so cool.

Image taken with my iPhone

The Sandman: Book Four by Neil Gaiman

Did I procrastinate the heck outta reading this one: Yes. Was It really Good: Yes. Did it get me through a rough couple of work days: Also yes. This collection is largely about endings and it does definitely invoke the feeling of a proper end.

The Castle: I like it a lot. Reintroduction to the “main” characters from The Dreaming.

The Kindly Ones: Interesting for Loki and Robin Goodfellow to be teaming up. I feel like a lot of this was interesting. There’s some closure for some long-running story lines. There’s plenty of action. I feel like Lyta’s story was a but confusing, to be completely honest. But yeah… otherwise pretty good.

The Wake: Beautiful art. Love it. Pretty awesome wrap-up of the series.

Exiles: Interesting art style. The brushy-ness of it definitely brings and other-worldly feel. I’m really not sure what to make of the story. It’s very philosophical.

The Tempest: I think it’s interesting that this story was in the collection after “The Kindly Ones” and “The Wake.” Almost like a meditation on the ends of things, featuring Dream 1.

The Last Sandman Story: Wildly different and evocative art than the rest of this collection. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Favorite Line

"Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?" - Lucien

The Sandman: Book Three by Neil Gaiman

Fear of Falling: Meh

The Hunt: Really liked this one.

Soft Places: I liked the concept of Soft Places. Kinda fun.

The Parliament of Rooks: Chibi Dream and Death are adorable. I enjoyed this one.

Brief Lives: Ultimately, Brief Lives is a meditation on change. I think it does a good job getting there. The characters throughout are some of my favorite since the first story arc. I do love me some Gaiman Old Gods. Delirium is quite delightful, and yes, I will be sticking with that semi-pun. I’m glad she got her closure.

Ramadan: I quite like the art in this one. The story, too, is pretty good. Kind of a “be careful what you wish for” thing.

World’s End: I really like the art for Cluracan’s story. “Hob’s Leviathan” and “The Golden Boy” were probably my favorites of this set. The concept of the Inn is neat.

Favorite Lines

"It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt." - Dream

"You shouldn't trust the story-teller; only trust the story." - Vassily

 

Cover Art Preceeding "The Parliament of Rooks"

This just amused me

The Sandman: Book Two by Neil Gaiman

As this is essentially an anthology, my review will follow my anthology review format: each story gets its own little review.

Season of Mists:

Love love love the Endless descriptions.

Always a fun time seeing gods and such all coming together. Shared universes are such fun. I feel like Dream’s way of getting around actually handing the key to Hell over to anyone is neat. Didn’t really seem like he had much of a choice, but yeah.

Thermidor:

So… is this Orpheus THE Orpheus? Interesting fate, to end up as just a head.

August:

Ehhhh… no notes on this one.

Three Septembers and a January:

Also a lot of meh. I think the premise was good, but yeah… not my thing.

A Game of You:

Fun fun returning characters! I really did want more from Barbie’s dreams and I’m happy to be getting it.

I really enjoyed Thessaly, of all the characters. She’s neat and I want to know more about her.

I was really engaged with this story. It’s pretty awesome.

The Song of Orpheus:

Semi-interesting retelling.

The Flowers of Romance:

Drastically different art from the rest of the collection. Kinda cute, I guess.

Death: A Winter’s Tale:

Also drastically different art. Death musing about herself.

How They Met Themselves:

Much shrugging.

Favorite Lines

"Go Back? I don't know. I think Hell's something you carry around with you. Not somewhere you go." - Charles Rowland

"People may not be ready for my gift, but they get it anyway. The Sunless Lands are far away, and the journey is hard, and most of you will be glad of the company of a friend. At the End, each of us stands naked. At the End, each of us stands alone." - Death

The Sandman: Book One by Neil Gaiman

I am honestly not sure about how to go about writing a review of this. A majority of the book is one full story, but then there are a batch of semi-unrelated other stories at the end -- most of which have been adapted in the Netflix series The Sandman. I have written a review of the show HERE. If I remember correctly, it's mostly me gushing about how good it is. The source material here is just as good, even if I'm not a giant fan of the art.

I really did enjoy my reading experience, finishing most of it over a day. Particularly striking was the "Waiting for the End of the World" bit, following Dream retrieving the Ruby. I definitely enjoyed that more here than I did the Netflix episode depicting it.

The only other note I have is that I wish the issue titles were included in a more prominent place, in addition to the covers. Some are included in the art of the comic itself but I really had to search a couple times.

I'm really looking forward to the next volume and stories I haven't previously experienced.

Favorite Lines

"People think dreams aren't real because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real but they are made of viewpoints, of images, or memories and puns and lost hopes..." - John Dee

"The only reason people die, is because everyone does it. You all just go along with it. It's rubbish, death. It's stupid. I don't want nothing to do with it." - Hob Gadling

"Thing need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." - Dream

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted to GoodReads: August 14, 2014

Alright, so... this was my second Neil Gaiman book, my first being Neverwhere. I saw the 2007 movie adaptation a few years ago and absolutely loved it. However, the movie also did that thing where it condensed the plot lines and, in my opinion, made the story more enjoyable.

That does not mean, however, that I didn't enjoy Stardust. It was fun. The plot was a lot more twisty and the world of Wall and Faerie populated with more people. The only real problems I have with the book are: there wasn't really any real threat and the ending just petered out.

The witch is set up as an antagonist but all she does is try to kill Yvaine that one time. There's a lot more time spent with the Stormhold brothers who never did much of anything. There wasn't any danger established other than that. Nothing. Just a lot of "Oh hey, Tristan and Yvaine are wandering around and Yvaine's not eating but Tristan is eating loads."

The ending... due to a lack of a decent villain, there was a serious lack of, to put it in gaming terms, final boss battle. I'm not saying the ending was bad but it just sort of petered to a fairly uninteresting end... in my opinion anyway.

My recommendation is to read the book before seeing the movie, but definitely see the movie.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A Spoiler Free Review

Gaiman is masterful at drawing the reader in. Not gonna lie, had a hard time putting this one down.

The main character not being named is actually really nice from a Doyle-ist style perspective. The reader can more easily imagine they are the protagonist rather than having some preconceived notion of who the protagonist is based on their name. I mean, despite the protagonist being a boy and from the 1960s/1970s, I more or less was him. Super bookish and wanting so very much to find my own Lettie or other such magical world to inhabit.

Speaking of, the tone of this book really reminds me of the Seanan McGuire Wayward Children series. It has that same sort of whimsical yet very real feeling about it.

Ursula Monkton is somehow a mix of Gaiman’s Other Mother and Meredith from the 1998 version of The Parent Trap. I think she might be up there with Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter in terms of the just absolute menace she exudes. I throughly hated her, along with the protagonist. I wasn’t disappointed in her ending, either. And really, that solidified her as something like The Other Mother, at least in my head.

I quite enjoyed the Hempstock ladies. The ways their magic worked was mysterious and yet the very things women would work, if that makes sense. And yes, they did spark that “Mother, Maiden, Crone” thing in my mind. How could they not? I vaguely wish there were more stories about the Hempstocks, but it’s probably best that there aren’t. Too much of a good thing and all that.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s another of Gaiman’s masterworks, I think. Or maybe I’m just a hardcore Gaiman fangirl. Who knows.

Favorite Quotes

"Childhood memories are sometimes covered and obscured beneath the things that come later, like childhood toys forgotten at the bottom of a crammed adult closet, but they are never lost for good." - Narrator

"Books were safer than other people anyway." - Narrator

"You only need men if you want to breed more men." - Ginnie Hempstock

"Different people remember things differently, and you’ll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not." - Old Mrs. Hempstock

“You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.” - Ginnie Hempstock    

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

A Spoiler Free Re-read Review

I'm not sure there's a lot to say about Neverwhere that hasn't been said already, especially considering it's about 27 years old at this point and fairly well known... I think anyway. This is also at least my third reread of the book and I'm not sure what my original thoughts on it were. I probably won't have anything profound to say. I will say upfront that I recommend Neverwhere to a) anyone who hasn't read it yet, b) any fantasy fan, an c) any fan of Neil Gaiman's work.

Neverwhere is one of my favorite "Portal Fantasies." It takes the reader from the everyday mundane London Above to the fantastical and actual quite frightening London Below. And boy, does that world-building skill of Gaiman's really pop here. I don't think I've been more immediately immersed in a world or wanted much, much more of that world than when I picked up Neverwhere. London Below is a gift that keeps on giving and enticing you with what could possibly be around the next corner, even if you don't know much about London itself. For those in the know, I'm sure there are Easter Eggs I've missed out on.

The story of Neverwhere is no slouch, either. We largely follow Richard Mayhew as he's basically dragged kicking and screaming into London Below through no real fault of his own. I mean, I guess one could say he's too kind for his own good, but I'm not sure that's exactly the case... turns out, Richard's got more backbone than he even gave himself credit for. Anyway, Richard journeys through London Below alongside Door, Hunter, and the Marquis de Carabas (Jack Sparrow eat your heart out), each of whom are fully fleshed out in their own rights. They are followed, attacked, and harried, seemingly at random to them, by the main antagonists, Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar, a pair of utterly despicable but slightly charming? assassins. All this toward the ultimate baddie, who I shall not name because of spoilers, but it's not a spoiler to say there is one as Croup speaks with this Big Bad on several occasions.

I'm at a loss to really discuss Neverwhere past this point. I'm just so floored every time I read it and think about it. Neil Gaiman's world-building and character-building are just amazing. Each new place or person Richard comes across jumps off the page with a life all their own. You can feel the backstories of each character just lurking in the background, waiting to be told or just imagined. I'm truly in awe.

All of that said, London Below is not Narnia. It's not safe in any sense of the word. There is violence and a rather frank attitude toward death. Neverwhere is definitely not a book I'd hand to a child.

Pretty sure I've just run out of things to say about Neverwhere. Gonna go ahead and close this out with a GO READ IT. 

Favorite Lines

"Nice in a bodyguard," lectured the Marquis, "is about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters. He looks dangerous." - The Marquis de Carabas

"But you must never imagine," he continued, "that just because something is funny, Messire Marquis, it is not dangerous." - Mr. Croup

On Another Note

The following description reminded me of the Pokemon: Furret

"Upon her arrival, it comes through the underbrush, a fury of brown and of white, undulating gently, like a wet-furred snake, its red eyes bright and peering through the darkness, its teeth like needles, a carnivore and a killer. The creature is extinct in the world above: it bears a similar relationship to the mink, and to the weasel, to that which a timber wolf bears to a Yorkshire Terrier. It weighs almost three hundred pounds, and is a little over fifteen feet long, from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail."

Mine's a little small, but you get the idea.

Netflix's The Sandman

 A Semi-Spoilery Series Overview

Overall, The Sandman is a fantastic show. The casting was spot on. The music is awesome. The story lines were engaging. Highly recommend watching if you are any kind of fantasy fan. Or heck, even if you're not. It's a fun ride.

I have been a fan of Neil Gaiman's work ever since I first read Neverwhere at some point in my teens. I haven't had a chance to read The Sandman comics, but they have been on my radar and my reading list for years. I'm not sure how good of an adaptation this show is, but it's definitely worth a watch on its own merits.

So, being a fan of Gaiman's and comics (mostly the shows and movies based on them, to be completely honest) in general, I had at least a passing familiarity with some of the characters going into The Sandman. I kind of vaguely knew about Dream and was far more familiar with Death from some cosplay stuff and images I'd seen floating around online. I had watched the first couple episodes of Lucifer when they first came out, but never got into the show. Honestly, I was most familiar with Constantine from the Keanu Reeves movie, the Constantine TV show, and a smattering of DC's animated content. I thought all these roles were filled wonderfully by the actors in The Sandman. My favorites were Constantine (I am a big fan of Jenna Coleman's) and Death. I thought Dream was actually kind of vampiric in the ways he was styled. Very much reminded me of Stephanie Meyer's Edward Cullen (specifically Robert Pattinson's portrayal) and, at one point, Anne Rice's Lestat. Probably his paleness and that popped collar coat he had going on.

Other characters I enjoyed were Lucienne, Gault, and Fiddler's Green. I pegged Fiddler's Green from the moment he showed up. After all, you can't just have Stephen Fry playing some eccentric recluse. I quite liked Unity Kincaid. Honestly, I could take or leave the BnB crew. They were all bits of eccentric flavor that mostly served to showcase Rose's powers. Patton Oswald as Matthew was a delight.

The first big story line was fun. I always enjoy the quests to find missing items of importance. That said, in comparison to the second story line of the season, it fades into the background. I very much enjoyed seeing Jenna Coleman play Constantine. That episode was pretty awesome, honestly. It was nice to see some of the power behind Dream's tools. David Thewlis' character really needed some actual therapy, in my opinion, rather than to just be locked up. I'm also not sure how that diner ended up in a semi-time loop sort of thing. I just didn't feel like it was well explained or really conveyed as to what was going on. Also not sure what I would have done better so... yeah. It was probably my personal low point.

I thought the Rose Walker story line was much more interesting. I liked the concept of the Dream Vortex, though the explanation as to "What's it for/Why's it happen" was definitely rushed and just kind of dumped on the viewer by Fiddler's Green. The serial killers were delightful characters, ya know, once you put aside the whole serial killer thing. The Corinthian was an interesting villain, even if I didn't find him at all terrifying. Honestly, Jed's foster care situation was much worse. That's probably due to my personal awareness of how true to life Jed's situation was. The foster care system in the US is VERY broken and this kind of thing actually happens to people so... yeah... Jed's whole thing with his foster parents was more terrifying than The Corinthian. On a brighter note, I hope we get to see what happens with Lyta's baby.

My favorite episode is definitely episode 6: The Sound of Her Wings. I enjoyed getting Death's perspective on humanity and the meetings with Hob. This was also the episode where Dream's look made me go "Lestat" at one point even though he resembles none of the actors who've played that character previously. My boyfriend really enjoyed episode 4: Hope in Hell. The battle of wits between Dream and Lucifer was definitely a highlight.

So yeah, definitely go give The Sandman a watch if you haven't already.