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smithjasont01's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
"Witches astride ghetto blasters crowd the moon, then land on the heath their naked flanks aglisten."
The last of Gaiman's short story collections that I had to read and in my opinion the weakest. It wasn't until a good way into the second half of the collection before I found one I really enjoyed and in total only had four that stood out to me. My favorite being Murder Mysteries as I felt it was the most complete story.
This collection was themed around the dark and macabre. Quite a few reference or add to the Lovecraft mythos, with characters trying to resurrect the old gods in different ways. Many however felt like he had an idea but didn't really know where to take it, with plenty just ending or trailing off.
The first one I enjoyed was a short tale about a man looking to hire a hitman but wanting to get the best deal possible and inso doing setting off the apocalypse. The absurdity of the hitman saying "Yes but if you go with the deluxe package we can get that price down to 5 bucks a person, but you will just need 10,000 people you want killed."
My favorite, Murder Mysteries, was about a murder taking place among angels and the angel Raguel sent to investigate and submit God's vengeance on the killer. He plays with the concepts of love, death, and jealousy amongst angels and we see events that would start to set Lucifer down his path all while God watches his will play out.
Snow, glass, and apples as well as The Sweeper of dreams were the others that I enjoyed.
Overall an okay collection with a few standout stories
The last of Gaiman's short story collections that I had to read and in my opinion the weakest. It wasn't until a good way into the second half of the collection before I found one I really enjoyed and in total only had four that stood out to me. My favorite being Murder Mysteries as I felt it was the most complete story.
This collection was themed around the dark and macabre. Quite a few reference or add to the Lovecraft mythos, with characters trying to resurrect the old gods in different ways. Many however felt like he had an idea but didn't really know where to take it, with plenty just ending or trailing off.
The first one I enjoyed was a short tale about a man looking to hire a hitman but wanting to get the best deal possible and inso doing setting off the apocalypse. The absurdity of the hitman saying "Yes but if you go with the deluxe package we can get that price down to 5 bucks a person, but you will just need 10,000 people you want killed."
My favorite, Murder Mysteries, was about a murder taking place among angels and the angel Raguel sent to investigate and submit God's vengeance on the killer. He plays with the concepts of love, death, and jealousy amongst angels and we see events that would start to set Lucifer down his path all while God watches his will play out.
Snow, glass, and apples as well as The Sweeper of dreams were the others that I enjoyed.
Overall an okay collection with a few standout stories
lijura's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
sylvivresavie's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
3.25
The problem with collections of this sort is how uneven they tend to be, but there are moments when Gaiman's talent shines; moments, even, of brilliance. Still, it is largely merely "pretty good" with the occasional outright misfire. I loved Neverwhere and Coraline when I was young, and this collection, while it did not bowl me over, has convinced me that I should revisit Gaiman as a novelist now, in my 30s.
jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
One of my co-worker's loaned me this short story collection after I loaned him Wicked-- due to the fact that this book contained 1 or 2 short stories that were also "twisted" versions of familiar childhood stories. It was the first time I had read anything by Gaiman and I really enjoyed the stories in this collection.
sabrinatheghost's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
emmalinegc's review against another edition
4.0
This is great! There's a wide selection of topics, but overall the feel of the book is a little dark. There are really great stories mixed in with so-so ones.
septan's review
3.0
I don't particularly enjoy short story collections as they tend to be a bit of a mixed bag and this was no different. Some were brilliant (Nicholas Was...) and others, like the one entirely about a man's penis, I did not like at all. Honestly what is it with this #menwriting.
khorsch926's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
slow-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
3.5
maddie_reads_stuff's review against another edition
4.0
Gaiman plays with a huge variety of styles in this short story collection.
Ok, so as with every collection, there were some stories I really liked (Chivalry, Troll Bridge, Apple), some that really creeped me out (Babycakes, Eaten), and some I really wish I knew the source material better (The White Road, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, One Life...). Even more varied than the genres were the writing styles--stylistic imitations, prose, free-form poems, and even a sestina (something I had promptly forgotten existed after high school English). All the stories were extremely well-written and thought-provoking, though I might skip some of the gorier ones on a re-read.
Ok, so as with every collection, there were some stories I really liked (Chivalry, Troll Bridge, Apple), some that really creeped me out (Babycakes, Eaten), and some I really wish I knew the source material better (The White Road, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, One Life...). Even more varied than the genres were the writing styles--stylistic imitations, prose, free-form poems, and even a sestina (something I had promptly forgotten existed after high school English). All the stories were extremely well-written and thought-provoking, though I might skip some of the gorier ones on a re-read.