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midici's review against another edition
4.0
Like "Dream Country," Fables and Reflections contains several stories, introducing new characters and returning to old ones, with Morpheus lurking behind every page.
I'm not sure why I like the multiple story collections so much; I am not always a huge fan of short story collections, but something about the medium, or just the stories themselves, really appeals to me.
Fear of Falling: We plunge immediately into a slightly familiar story; that of the artists' connection to the world of dreaming. While not as dark as the story Calliope, it does involve a writer, whose fears are manifesting themselves in his dream. A chance encounter with the Sandman has him facing his fears after he wakes.
Three Septembers and a January: I really enjoyed this one. The idea of immortal beings playing with mortal lives and betting on them, is an old one that comes up a lot in Greek and Roman mythology. In this tale Desire, Despair and Delirium goad Morpheus into making a bet over the fate of a man named Joshua. He's a depressed, failed business man. I found Morpheus solution to the problem to be extremely clever. Morpheus caused his 'dreams' to become 'reality' in such a way that he fully believed that he was an Emperor. This purpose kept him from falling to Despair, his content with his role kept him from being tempted by Desire, and the newfound mental stability this dream gave him kept him from becoming one of Delirium's.
Thermidor: We return to Johanna Constatine, a woman who once attempted to trap Morpheus without fully realizing who and what he was. Morpheus recruits her to fulfill a task that must be done by a mortal. It's the end of the 1700s and Johanna crosses into France, which is in the middle of a revolution, in order to transport something very important to Morpheus - the head of his son Orpheus. Orpheus' head is still 'alive' in the sense that it is aware and still able to use his talent as a bard to bend the world around him. When Johanna is caught, she uses Orpheus' gift to have the dead sing to the tyrants responsible for the mass murders in the country. This results in Johanna's and Orpheus' escape, and death to the French tyrants. I loved the artwork in this one.
The Hunt: A grandfather telling his granddaughter what she believes to be some sort of moral story. It's about a young man of the People (some type of Fae) who goes on a quest to meet a duchess. He encounters several strange and interesting things along the way, including a woman of the People. When he completes his quest he ends up returning to her. The granddaughter is irritated with what she thinks is a story to warn her off of a boy she is dating; her grandfather is exasperated by his granddaughter's refusal to understand that the story is about himself, and the girl's grandmother.
August: A story about Emperor Augustus and how he spends one day a year hiding from the Gods in order to properly plan for the future. He knew of two possibilities for the future - one in which Rome would continue to grow and expand into an empire that would last thousands upon thousands of years, and one in which they fall to ruin. It's implied he purposely chooses the latter, to spite the uncle who hurt him when he as a child.
Soft Places: Marco Polo accidentally wanders into a 'soft place' where different times and places all intersect in one. While people can become lost there forever, Marco is rescued by Morpheus, who has only recently escaped his own prison.
Orpheus: This tale doesn't just remind me of Calliope - it's a prequel of sorts, going back to a time when Morpheus and Calliope were married, and attending their son Orpheus' wedding. This story also, coincidentally, explains why he is a talking/singing head in Thermidor. This was one of my favourites of the whole collection. The story of Orpheus is an old one. In the one I knew before, Orpheus was the most talented bard in all of Greece (ie, in the entire world). When his wife dies tragically young, Orpheus is distraught, and vows to get her back. He travels to the underworld, and sings his way past Charon, past the Cerebus, past the dead, until he sings such a mournful song to Hades and Persephone that they agree to send his wife back up with him. But he must walk all the way out without once looking back, otherwise, she would be lost for good. While he starts off exulted, the longer he silently walks, the more certain he is that he is alone, and that Hades is playing a trick on him. Finally, when he can see the exit, he can't wait any longer and turns - just in time to see his beloved wife fade away from him since he broke his word.
This story is almost the same, except with the added bonus of a rapist-friend being indirectly responsible for his wife's death, and Death's involvement. When Morpheus refuses to help his son go to the underworld where he does not belong, they have a huge falling out. He goes to his aunts and uncles for help. Destruction tells him how to get to Death's house. Death reluctantly agrees to tell him how to enter the underworld but warns him that if he does go and return, she will never be able to take him - he will be in a sense immortal. After his failure to rescue his wife Orpheus lives in isolation until he is brutally dismembered by the Bacchante.
Morpheus takes the head to monks to be cared for but the damage has already been done. When Morpheus refused to help, Orpheus had stormed away and declared that he no longer considered Morpheus his father. Now, when he begs his father to help him die, Morpheus tells him his fate is his own, especially since he declared himself no longer his son. He tells him they will never meet again and walks away from him - without once looking back. It's a painful parallel and I loved it.
Parliament of Rooks: The baby Morpheus claimed as his own (in the Doll's House, I think) is now a toddler. He is taken in his dreams to Cain and Abel's house, with Lilith watching over him. It's a story that is about stories, and storytellers, and the magic of secrets.
Ramadan: The last story in the book, and definitely my favourite. The artwork is amazing, the best in the collection. The story is like an old Arabian Nights fairytale, of a sultan who goes into his collection of magical and dangerous artefacts and uses one to barter with the god of Dreams. He is so concerned over the eventual end of his empire that he offers to give the city/empire to Morpheus so it will live forever. He agrees to the terms but it's a poor choice. Now the city/empire no longer exists on earth, except in their dreams - his great empire is closed to them forever in order to exist forever as a dream.
I'm not sure why I like the multiple story collections so much; I am not always a huge fan of short story collections, but something about the medium, or just the stories themselves, really appeals to me.
Fear of Falling: We plunge immediately into a slightly familiar story; that of the artists' connection to the world of dreaming. While not as dark as the story Calliope, it does involve a writer, whose fears are manifesting themselves in his dream. A chance encounter with the Sandman has him facing his fears after he wakes.
Three Septembers and a January: I really enjoyed this one. The idea of immortal beings playing with mortal lives and betting on them, is an old one that comes up a lot in Greek and Roman mythology. In this tale Desire, Despair and Delirium goad Morpheus into making a bet over the fate of a man named Joshua. He's a depressed, failed business man. I found Morpheus solution to the problem to be extremely clever. Morpheus caused his 'dreams' to become 'reality' in such a way that he fully believed that he was an Emperor. This purpose kept him from falling to Despair, his content with his role kept him from being tempted by Desire, and the newfound mental stability this dream gave him kept him from becoming one of Delirium's.
Thermidor: We return to Johanna Constatine, a woman who once attempted to trap Morpheus without fully realizing who and what he was. Morpheus recruits her to fulfill a task that must be done by a mortal. It's the end of the 1700s and Johanna crosses into France, which is in the middle of a revolution, in order to transport something very important to Morpheus - the head of his son Orpheus. Orpheus' head is still 'alive' in the sense that it is aware and still able to use his talent as a bard to bend the world around him. When Johanna is caught, she uses Orpheus' gift to have the dead sing to the tyrants responsible for the mass murders in the country. This results in Johanna's and Orpheus' escape, and death to the French tyrants. I loved the artwork in this one.
The Hunt: A grandfather telling his granddaughter what she believes to be some sort of moral story. It's about a young man of the People (some type of Fae) who goes on a quest to meet a duchess. He encounters several strange and interesting things along the way, including a woman of the People. When he completes his quest he ends up returning to her. The granddaughter is irritated with what she thinks is a story to warn her off of a boy she is dating; her grandfather is exasperated by his granddaughter's refusal to understand that the story is about himself, and the girl's grandmother.
August: A story about Emperor Augustus and how he spends one day a year hiding from the Gods in order to properly plan for the future. He knew of two possibilities for the future - one in which Rome would continue to grow and expand into an empire that would last thousands upon thousands of years, and one in which they fall to ruin. It's implied he purposely chooses the latter, to spite the uncle who hurt him when he as a child.
Soft Places: Marco Polo accidentally wanders into a 'soft place' where different times and places all intersect in one. While people can become lost there forever, Marco is rescued by Morpheus, who has only recently escaped his own prison.
Orpheus: This tale doesn't just remind me of Calliope - it's a prequel of sorts, going back to a time when Morpheus and Calliope were married, and attending their son Orpheus' wedding. This story also, coincidentally, explains why he is a talking/singing head in Thermidor. This was one of my favourites of the whole collection. The story of Orpheus is an old one. In the one I knew before, Orpheus was the most talented bard in all of Greece (ie, in the entire world). When his wife dies tragically young, Orpheus is distraught, and vows to get her back. He travels to the underworld, and sings his way past Charon, past the Cerebus, past the dead, until he sings such a mournful song to Hades and Persephone that they agree to send his wife back up with him. But he must walk all the way out without once looking back, otherwise, she would be lost for good. While he starts off exulted, the longer he silently walks, the more certain he is that he is alone, and that Hades is playing a trick on him. Finally, when he can see the exit, he can't wait any longer and turns - just in time to see his beloved wife fade away from him since he broke his word.
This story is almost the same, except with the added bonus of a rapist-friend being indirectly responsible for his wife's death, and Death's involvement. When Morpheus refuses to help his son go to the underworld where he does not belong, they have a huge falling out. He goes to his aunts and uncles for help. Destruction tells him how to get to Death's house. Death reluctantly agrees to tell him how to enter the underworld but warns him that if he does go and return, she will never be able to take him - he will be in a sense immortal. After his failure to rescue his wife Orpheus lives in isolation until he is brutally dismembered by the Bacchante.
Morpheus takes the head to monks to be cared for but the damage has already been done. When Morpheus refused to help, Orpheus had stormed away and declared that he no longer considered Morpheus his father. Now, when he begs his father to help him die, Morpheus tells him his fate is his own, especially since he declared himself no longer his son. He tells him they will never meet again and walks away from him - without once looking back. It's a painful parallel and I loved it.
Parliament of Rooks: The baby Morpheus claimed as his own (in the Doll's House, I think) is now a toddler. He is taken in his dreams to Cain and Abel's house, with Lilith watching over him. It's a story that is about stories, and storytellers, and the magic of secrets.
Ramadan: The last story in the book, and definitely my favourite. The artwork is amazing, the best in the collection. The story is like an old Arabian Nights fairytale, of a sultan who goes into his collection of magical and dangerous artefacts and uses one to barter with the god of Dreams. He is so concerned over the eventual end of his empire that he offers to give the city/empire to Morpheus so it will live forever. He agrees to the terms but it's a poor choice. Now the city/empire no longer exists on earth, except in their dreams - his great empire is closed to them forever in order to exist forever as a dream.
seraphiina's review
4.0
This one contains 9 short stories in which Dream partakes in the tales of several known figures from history, mythology, etc. As usual, the art is amazing, most of the stories are great, but a few of them were tedious and hard to get through. I usually prefer the volumes with a longer narrative to these shorter stories. Still, I had my fun!
charlio64's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.0
brobeccks's review
3.0
whilst i really loved the other volumes, i really had a hard time reading this one for some reason… i guess these particular stories just didn’t really hit with me. did love a couple of the stories though.
littlesunny's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
knod78's review
5.0
Wow just wow on this book. Now that’s how you write short stories. The one about Julius Caesar hit me like a train of bricks.
friendlyelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-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