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sonjahammer's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
erine's review against another edition
4.0
Narnia, Oz, Wonderland... Stephen King, and The Thief of Always. This volume was full of references to and reminders of some of my favorite places, authors, and stories from childhood.
And the story overwhelmed the art for me this time.
2022: The second time around, I still enjoyed this episode that follows Barbara’s dreams. Her dreamland is in trouble and is making inroads into her reality. Her friend Wanda, a transgender woman, is pulled into helping her, as do her lesbian neighbors. The quiet neighbor who lives alone has unanticipated talents that she uses to fight Barbara’s adversaries and take the (menstruation capable) women to the dreamland. Wanda is left watching over Barbara’s sleeping body with a peeled face nailed to the wall (it’s gross). Trippy, adventure-y, emotional, this story features short-term friendships and the ghosts of our childhood.
And the story overwhelmed the art for me this time.
2022: The second time around, I still enjoyed this episode that follows Barbara’s dreams. Her dreamland is in trouble and is making inroads into her reality. Her friend Wanda, a transgender woman, is pulled into helping her, as do her lesbian neighbors. The quiet neighbor who lives alone has unanticipated talents that she uses to fight Barbara’s adversaries and take the (menstruation capable) women to the dreamland. Wanda is left watching over Barbara’s sleeping body with a peeled face nailed to the wall (it’s gross). Trippy, adventure-y, emotional, this story features short-term friendships and the ghosts of our childhood.
dmaurath's review against another edition
3.0
On the surface, this one feels like a convoluted and distracting spinoff but theres a lot going on here thats not immediately obvious. Gaiman makes you think there isnt subtlety here when he has characters talk directly about avoiding the stereotype of Barbie’s childhood trauma being the cause of her adult problems. But after reading the foreword I realized he says even more here about the treatment of minority groups with maybe too much subtlety and is still unfortunately relevant today.
kbeucler's review
4.0
I went on a crazy Sandman kick this month. The new Netflix show Dead Boy Detectives (a Sandman spin off) came out and put me in the mood. In this volume Barbie, who first appears in A Doll’s House, must return to her dream land to fight the sinister Cuckoo who is destroying the kingdom Barbie created. This is a good one. Gaiman’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters is pretty revolutionary for the 1990s, though not everything aged well.
brightwatcher's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sempiece's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
bioniclib's review against another edition
3.0
This volume covers the battle between Princess Barbara and the vile Cuckoo for control of the part of the Dream World known as The Land. The side characters, which Mr. Gaiman is always so strong in creating, include a drag queen, a lesbian couple, and a witch. The last has a pretty gruesome way of getting even. It also makes mentions of some characters from previous volumes tying together two seemingly unrelated casts of characters.
Probably, my least favorite of the series so far. Though it's unfair to say so because volume 4 was just so dang good. Still, this volume is worth a read.
Probably, my least favorite of the series so far. Though it's unfair to say so because volume 4 was just so dang good. Still, this volume is worth a read.
fakewriter9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
astopotro's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mikime's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
This is the story of Barbie's world and of Wanda and of their other friends and neighbours.
From Samuel R. Delany's Preface (1993)
"It seems to me what Gaiman is saying, with the help of the artists who draw the pictures, is that, in the rich, complex and socially constructed world around us, you cannot ultimately be what - or who - you want to be without some support from me. Wanda supports Barbie at the beginning of the story. At the moment end of the story, [... ] Barbie supports Wanda. The element of death, however, makes it a much darker tale than that simple and rather Pollyanna reduction presupposes.
We're not talking simple altruism hete. We're talking about something much deeper, that allows individuals to exist; we're talking about the hidden, shifting, undersea reefs on which every individual stands - rocks that so rarely show clear above the tides of illusion and desire. That's the support we mean, and it always begins in something outside the self.
Gaiman is also saying that, because of death - even a fantasy death that allows articulation and information to come from beyond its borders, when magicked up by a centuries-old witch - no one can win the Game of I. Wanda cannot win it. Barbie cannot win it. (...) Nor will I. Nor will you. (...) Thus, for Gaiman, A GAME OF YOU is the only game worth playing - because it is the only game where, in the end, there's any chance of coming out ahead.
Even if one wins only by a name written on a stone that will wash away with the next shower, at least that allows something to persist in memory - and thus may lead to something else. But without even the name preserved momentarily in the real world by real action (and here, as I hope we can see, "real" is not the catch-all antonym for fantasy but rather a specific synonym for the political - as it is whenever it's used intelligently), there's no hope at all. Gaiman shows us the most marginal win possible in A GAME OF YOU. But it's still won by moments, however small, of real social bravery. And that's what, at the end of A GAME OF YOU, Gaiman portrays. Thus, in a fantasy world whose tragedies are not real (i.e., not political) but are, nevertheless through that fantasy, deeply recognizable (and readable in any number of real ways), he has given us a triumph. "
From Samuel R. Delany's Preface (1993)
"It seems to me what Gaiman is saying, with the help of the artists who draw the pictures, is that, in the rich, complex and socially constructed world around us, you cannot ultimately be what - or who - you want to be without some support from me. Wanda supports Barbie at the beginning of the story. At the moment end of the story, [... ] Barbie supports Wanda. The element of death, however, makes it a much darker tale than that simple and rather Pollyanna reduction presupposes.
We're not talking simple altruism hete. We're talking about something much deeper, that allows individuals to exist; we're talking about the hidden, shifting, undersea reefs on which every individual stands - rocks that so rarely show clear above the tides of illusion and desire. That's the support we mean, and it always begins in something outside the self.
Gaiman is also saying that, because of death - even a fantasy death that allows articulation and information to come from beyond its borders, when magicked up by a centuries-old witch - no one can win the Game of I. Wanda cannot win it. Barbie cannot win it. (...) Nor will I. Nor will you. (...) Thus, for Gaiman, A GAME OF YOU is the only game worth playing - because it is the only game where, in the end, there's any chance of coming out ahead.
Even if one wins only by a name written on a stone that will wash away with the next shower, at least that allows something to persist in memory - and thus may lead to something else. But without even the name preserved momentarily in the real world by real action (and here, as I hope we can see, "real" is not the catch-all antonym for fantasy but rather a specific synonym for the political - as it is whenever it's used intelligently), there's no hope at all. Gaiman shows us the most marginal win possible in A GAME OF YOU. But it's still won by moments, however small, of real social bravery. And that's what, at the end of A GAME OF YOU, Gaiman portrays. Thus, in a fantasy world whose tragedies are not real (i.e., not political) but are, nevertheless through that fantasy, deeply recognizable (and readable in any number of real ways), he has given us a triumph. "