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adastrame's review
5.0
A wonderful collection of stories that give a lot more depth to the Endless...
labunnywtf's review
5.0
Edit 12/22 - Yay for B Dalton going out of business! Wish they'd had the entire Sandman series on sale. >:-(
If Neil Gaiman abandoned all other projects and only worked on The Sandman for the rest of his lives, he would make me the happiest little Bunny this side of the Mississippi.
Incredible. All of it. Especially the early look at Death, and Delirium as Delight. That was quite the difference.
If Neil Gaiman abandoned all other projects and only worked on The Sandman for the rest of his lives, he would make me the happiest little Bunny this side of the Mississippi.
Incredible. All of it. Especially the early look at Death, and Delirium as Delight. That was quite the difference.
evabails's review
4.0
This was excellent. I loved being reunited with Dream, Despair's chapter was intense. Loved.
emakay's review
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
tawfek's review
5.0
So the last book i finish reading after 5 days without internet gets to have the first review.
Brilliant as usual.
First of all thanks Neil Gaiman in fulfilling your dream of working with these amazing artists you gave us one of the best visual experiences eveeeer.
The hardest story to read for me was delirium which i actually had to go through twice and kept looking back at the always fabulous lettering style of Todd Klein just to stay at the same page and know who is talking from the five crazies and the dog and dream and Mathew the crow.
Delirium and death and dream are the best characters for me i think its hard to pick a favorite even though it would go like Death Dream Delirium and who wouldn't pick her as a favorite she is hot and deadly (for real...)
The best or the hardest art styles displayed was probably Bill Sienkiewicz Delirium And baron story and Dave Mckean on despair.
But even after picking two of the hardest styles in my opinion each artist fit perfectly Milo Manara on Desire did a great job i felt The meaning of the words Dream Desire Delirium Destiny Death Despair*** Destruction through the writing of each story and the style amazing job
*Death was a story That shows us you just can't escape death even if you seal the island magically and stop time you will still die at the time you were assigned
*Desire is a story that will make you horny its inevitable and Desire is a son of a bitch he is like the personification of the Lucifer of Margret and Master where you will never get really what you want there is always a trick involved that will break your heart and makes you lose your soul , And Milo Manara is a master of erotica Hats off to him and Italians i am starting to think that this is something they excel at Looking at Tinto Brass Filmography.
*Dream is a story of a heartbreak and the not too subtle hints of superman world and many others was great and i think i finally notice Dream's story was always a tragedy it was never meant to be a comedy...
*Despair is the ugliest most depressing portraits i have ever seen its the story of melancholy but i think i went through it unscathed.
*Delirium Is crazy and she is sweet i don't know what is it about helpless people that attract me she is so powerful yet more than once she needed help and she needs someone to watch over her, the five heroes were great they did their job and came out unscathed because they were loony already and i also sympathized with them maybe because i have these illusions that i will be crazy someday.
*Destruction Is he really that anymore ? what can we call him now since he abandoned his post maybe Gaiman will figure that out someday even though i think he can't stop being himself even if we are doing the destruction instead of him.
*Destiny please be kind to me buddy change a few hundred pages from my book i am sure a lot of mess ups are in my future.
I enjoyed the book even though it was a tough read in some spots because of the language difference but that is the only way to get better at it
Brilliant as usual.
First of all thanks Neil Gaiman in fulfilling your dream of working with these amazing artists you gave us one of the best visual experiences eveeeer.
The hardest story to read for me was delirium which i actually had to go through twice and kept looking back at the always fabulous lettering style of Todd Klein just to stay at the same page and know who is talking from the five crazies and the dog and dream and Mathew the crow.
Delirium and death and dream are the best characters for me i think its hard to pick a favorite even though it would go like Death Dream Delirium and who wouldn't pick her as a favorite she is hot and deadly (for real...)
The best or the hardest art styles displayed was probably Bill Sienkiewicz Delirium And baron story and Dave Mckean on despair.
But even after picking two of the hardest styles in my opinion each artist fit perfectly Milo Manara on Desire did a great job i felt The meaning of the words Dream Desire Delirium Destiny Death Despair*** Destruction through the writing of each story and the style amazing job
*Death was a story That shows us you just can't escape death even if you seal the island magically and stop time you will still die at the time you were assigned
*Desire is a story that will make you horny its inevitable and Desire is a son of a bitch he is like the personification of the Lucifer of Margret and Master where you will never get really what you want there is always a trick involved that will break your heart and makes you lose your soul , And Milo Manara is a master of erotica Hats off to him and Italians i am starting to think that this is something they excel at Looking at Tinto Brass Filmography.
*Dream is a story of a heartbreak and the not too subtle hints of superman world and many others was great and i think i finally notice Dream's story was always a tragedy it was never meant to be a comedy...
*Despair is the ugliest most depressing portraits i have ever seen its the story of melancholy but i think i went through it unscathed.
*Delirium Is crazy and she is sweet i don't know what is it about helpless people that attract me she is so powerful yet more than once she needed help and she needs someone to watch over her, the five heroes were great they did their job and came out unscathed because they were loony already and i also sympathized with them maybe because i have these illusions that i will be crazy someday.
*Destruction Is he really that anymore ? what can we call him now since he abandoned his post maybe Gaiman will figure that out someday even though i think he can't stop being himself even if we are doing the destruction instead of him.
*Destiny please be kind to me buddy change a few hundred pages from my book i am sure a lot of mess ups are in my future.
I enjoyed the book even though it was a tough read in some spots because of the language difference but that is the only way to get better at it
megadeathvsbooks's review
4.0
Although not up to par with the rest of the Sandman series, I found this collection to be a fascinating exploration of the Endless. I read it before I finished Sandman, so I'm sure there are more connections to the Sandman series than I was aware of. The art was very beautiful and I think this is something to be seen more than read.
chimpapple's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bigbookslilreads's review against another edition
3.0
This volume comprises seven stories, one for each of the Endless and representing their essence somehow. I would say it can be read at any time, whether before, in the middle, or after having read the 10 core Sandman volumes. They are not at all related in story to the others, so that made them quite refreshing. Some of these stories emerged as well from Gaiman's will to work with certain artists, so each issue has a different style that somehow connects to the spirit of the Endless approached. I did really appreciate this, and I enjoyed having bits and pieces of the Endless and what they represent. However, these issues varied widely in quality in my opinion, thus the average rating. Below, are some discriminated thoughts on each one.
Death in Venice - ★★★★☆
As the title suggests, it focuses on Death. It was a very good first issue for the volume, and I loved seeing the depiction of a "younger" Death, even though this seemed to be set in the 80s/90s for the most part. The inspiration from Poe's [b:The Masque of the Red Death|204779|The Masque of the Red Death|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172667858l/204779._SY75_.jpg|15568908] and the setting of Venice were all really intriguing, so I would greatly recommend this on that account (as well as the artist). The only thing I did not particularly like was the needless representation of a lover of death in the USA solider. I do not particularly condone that kind of message and I felt that if a character that was obsessed with death was needed, then perhaps something so militaristic didn't need to be included? Specially because it felt admired, not criticised.
What I've Tasted of Desire - ★★★★★
Now this was my favourite of the issues/stories. It appears to be set in the early Middle Ages, perhaps, and is the story of a woman that is hopelessly in love with a ladies' man from her village. She has a meeting with Desire and he helps her get her wish. This story is very familiar to me, and it might be an adaptation of an old tale. Nevertheless, the art, the subject, how the essence of Desire was portrayed, the emotion depicted... Felt very much raw and real and I loved it!
The Heart of a Star - ★★★☆☆
This was simply ok. I would expect Dream's story to stand out among the others, but I didn't really care for it, perhaps because Dream is now mostly boring to me. I didn't care to know about another of his dalliances, and his dispute with Desire felt very oversimplified and lacking in tension. Also, Gaiman just seems to want to personify any "entity" out there, and I felt that kind of unnecessary and repetitious. The art and setting, however, kind of made up for it, as well as some more world-building and exploration of the Endless.
15 Portraits of Despair - ★★☆☆☆
This was a very neat concept, though explored in a bit of a shallow and opaque way for me. It is not a singly story about Despair, but more of a representation of its essence, 15 cases of how people have encountered desperation (not Despair itself). In that, it was very interesting. However, most of the stories were written in a way as to leave you completely clueless as to what exactly they meant. Combined with the art (which sometimes made them near ineligible), this issue was quite a complicated and frankly tiring read.
Getting Inside - ★★☆☆☆
As for the previous issue on Despair, this story focusing on Delirium also suffers from being a really difficult reading experience at times, not because of its subject per se, but because of the writing and artistic style. I appreciated that Gaiman and the artists try to imbue each story with its own style and spirit, evocative of what each Endless represents. While this was strangely beautiful, at the same time so tiring and confusing, and I think the message was a bit lost this way.
On the Peninsula - ★☆☆☆☆
This was by far the most uninteresting story. A bit contrived as well, as I did not understand in which time it was set regarding the Sandman core volumes (Destruction is supposed to be gone for 300 years in the present time, but here he is and it seems to be in the late 1900s?) The plot also revolves around him and Delirium apparently causing remnants from the future to appear in an archaeological dig, and I ask... what? The Endless distorting views of time was never something set up in the other volumes. In fact, linearity is quite asserted (e.g. Destiny). We also follow this woman that has a meet up with Destruction, but her story-line was not interesting in the slightest. Nothing in this was interesting except for the fact that Destruction is taking care of Delirium.
Endless Nights - ★★☆☆☆
Just a short and not very substancial story about Destiny and his book of fate. Besides the beauty of the illustrations, there was nothing interesting in this either. We gained no further knowledge of who Destiny is, only that the book of fate has an end.
Death in Venice - ★★★★☆
As the title suggests, it focuses on Death. It was a very good first issue for the volume, and I loved seeing the depiction of a "younger" Death, even though this seemed to be set in the 80s/90s for the most part. The inspiration from Poe's [b:The Masque of the Red Death|204779|The Masque of the Red Death|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172667858l/204779._SY75_.jpg|15568908] and the setting of Venice were all really intriguing, so I would greatly recommend this on that account (as well as the artist). The only thing I did not particularly like was the needless representation of a lover of death in the USA solider. I do not particularly condone that kind of message and I felt that if a character that was obsessed with death was needed, then perhaps something so militaristic didn't need to be included? Specially because it felt admired, not criticised.
What I've Tasted of Desire - ★★★★★
Now this was my favourite of the issues/stories. It appears to be set in the early Middle Ages, perhaps, and is the story of a woman that is hopelessly in love with a ladies' man from her village. She has a meeting with Desire and he helps her get her wish. This story is very familiar to me, and it might be an adaptation of an old tale. Nevertheless, the art, the subject, how the essence of Desire was portrayed, the emotion depicted... Felt very much raw and real and I loved it!
The Heart of a Star - ★★★☆☆
This was simply ok. I would expect Dream's story to stand out among the others, but I didn't really care for it, perhaps because Dream is now mostly boring to me. I didn't care to know about another of his dalliances, and his dispute with Desire felt very oversimplified and lacking in tension. Also, Gaiman just seems to want to personify any "entity" out there, and I felt that kind of unnecessary and repetitious. The art and setting, however, kind of made up for it, as well as some more world-building and exploration of the Endless.
15 Portraits of Despair - ★★☆☆☆
This was a very neat concept, though explored in a bit of a shallow and opaque way for me. It is not a singly story about Despair, but more of a representation of its essence, 15 cases of how people have encountered desperation (not Despair itself). In that, it was very interesting. However, most of the stories were written in a way as to leave you completely clueless as to what exactly they meant. Combined with the art (which sometimes made them near ineligible), this issue was quite a complicated and frankly tiring read.
Getting Inside - ★★☆☆☆
As for the previous issue on Despair, this story focusing on Delirium also suffers from being a really difficult reading experience at times, not because of its subject per se, but because of the writing and artistic style. I appreciated that Gaiman and the artists try to imbue each story with its own style and spirit, evocative of what each Endless represents. While this was strangely beautiful, at the same time so tiring and confusing, and I think the message was a bit lost this way.
On the Peninsula - ★☆☆☆☆
This was by far the most uninteresting story. A bit contrived as well, as I did not understand in which time it was set regarding the Sandman core volumes (Destruction is supposed to be gone for 300 years in the present time, but here he is and it seems to be in the late 1900s?) The plot also revolves around him and Delirium apparently causing remnants from the future to appear in an archaeological dig, and I ask... what? The Endless distorting views of time was never something set up in the other volumes. In fact, linearity is quite asserted (e.g. Destiny). We also follow this woman that has a meet up with Destruction, but her story-line was not interesting in the slightest. Nothing in this was interesting except for the fact that Destruction is taking care of Delirium.
Endless Nights - ★★☆☆☆
Just a short and not very substancial story about Destiny and his book of fate. Besides the beauty of the illustrations, there was nothing interesting in this either. We gained no further knowledge of who Destiny is, only that the book of fate has an end.