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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Some of the stories are brilliant! Overall a fun little read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this so much :D I couldn't pick a favourite story; I loved all the twists that came with them and the depth you get from just a few words :)
Four stars because I skipped all the poems. But GODDAMN THE STORIES WERE GREAT. That Snow White retelling was ten kinds of fucked up.
Here are my individual ratings. Overall, Gaiman's short stories can be really hit or miss for me.
Reading the Entrails - 4
The Wedding Present - 5
Chivalry - 5
Nicholas Was... - 4
The Price - 5
Troll Bridge - 5
Don't Ask Jack - 4
The White Road - 3
Queen of Knives - 3
Changes - 2
Daughter of Owls - 3
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar - 4
Virus - 4
Looking for the Girl - 4
Only the End of the World Again - 5
Bay Wolves - 4
We Can Get Them for You Wholesale - 5
One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock - 4
Cold Colors - 4
The Sweeper of Dreams - 4
Foreign Parts - 4
Vampire Sestina - 5
Mouse - 3
The Sea Change - 4
When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4 - 3
Desert Winds - 3
Tasting - 3
Babycakes - 4
Murder Mysteries - 5
Snow, Glass, Apples - 5
Reading the Entrails - 4
The Wedding Present - 5
Chivalry - 5
Nicholas Was... - 4
The Price - 5
Troll Bridge - 5
Don't Ask Jack - 4
The White Road - 3
Queen of Knives - 3
Changes - 2
Daughter of Owls - 3
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar - 4
Virus - 4
Looking for the Girl - 4
Only the End of the World Again - 5
Bay Wolves - 4
We Can Get Them for You Wholesale - 5
One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock - 4
Cold Colors - 4
The Sweeper of Dreams - 4
Foreign Parts - 4
Vampire Sestina - 5
Mouse - 3
The Sea Change - 4
When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4 - 3
Desert Winds - 3
Tasting - 3
Babycakes - 4
Murder Mysteries - 5
Snow, Glass, Apples - 5
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Alcohol
Turns out I'm not as big a fan of Neil Gaiman's short fiction as I expected to be. All short story collections are uneven. An author's work is varied, taste is subjective, and some things are just better than others when viewed side-by-side.
Neil Gaiman, it turns out, is a bit of a different writer than I have previously encountered him to be. He has more breadth of subject matter, writing style, and themes than I have encountered before. He covers a lot of ground in this collection: poetry, Lovecraftian, strange urban fantasy/magical realism, broken relationships, cats, tiny stories, longer rambling ones, and I honestly wasn't expecting him to be so very varied. It was wonderful and I liked seeing Gaiman's fleeting ideas and the topics he obsesses over and in a way seeing how much bigger he is as a writer than I was aware of was fascinating.
Most of the these stories, though, I found boring or seemingly unfinished. I read the story, shrugged and moved on to the next one. They were vague thought experiments or half-finished rather than compelling stories which stood strongly on their own.
There was a lot of material, as well, that I found too close to the boundaries of my comfort to enjoy. There was lots here about young, broken relationships, objectifying sex, strange magics that had a bit too much to do with penises than I could care about, and I found some of the material in One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock actively upsetting. There's nothing wrong with these topics per se and if it was Stephen King or someone writing it I'd probably wince and keep reading, but for some reason my expectations for Gaiman's work were too narrow and these stories were far enough outside that expectation that they were off-putting - that's entirely on me and what I brought to the reading, but it doesn't change how I felt about the collection.
Highlight reads for me, included: Chivalry, We Can Get Them For You Wholesale, Murder Mysteries, and Snow, Glass, Apples. The best story in here, by a long way, is The Price. That's my takeaway brilliant story from this collection.
I think I just don't like Gaiman's short story style, or maybe I don't like his early short story style? I'm not sure, but the fact is I disliked more of these stories than I liked, though the ones I liked I really did.
Neil Gaiman, it turns out, is a bit of a different writer than I have previously encountered him to be. He has more breadth of subject matter, writing style, and themes than I have encountered before. He covers a lot of ground in this collection: poetry, Lovecraftian, strange urban fantasy/magical realism, broken relationships, cats, tiny stories, longer rambling ones, and I honestly wasn't expecting him to be so very varied. It was wonderful and I liked seeing Gaiman's fleeting ideas and the topics he obsesses over and in a way seeing how much bigger he is as a writer than I was aware of was fascinating.
Most of the these stories, though, I found boring or seemingly unfinished. I read the story, shrugged and moved on to the next one. They were vague thought experiments or half-finished rather than compelling stories which stood strongly on their own.
There was a lot of material, as well, that I found too close to the boundaries of my comfort to enjoy. There was lots here about young, broken relationships, objectifying sex, strange magics that had a bit too much to do with penises than I could care about, and I found some of the material in One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock actively upsetting. There's nothing wrong with these topics per se and if it was Stephen King or someone writing it I'd probably wince and keep reading, but for some reason my expectations for Gaiman's work were too narrow and these stories were far enough outside that expectation that they were off-putting - that's entirely on me and what I brought to the reading, but it doesn't change how I felt about the collection.
Highlight reads for me, included: Chivalry, We Can Get Them For You Wholesale, Murder Mysteries, and Snow, Glass, Apples. The best story in here, by a long way, is The Price. That's my takeaway brilliant story from this collection.
I think I just don't like Gaiman's short story style, or maybe I don't like his early short story style? I'm not sure, but the fact is I disliked more of these stories than I liked, though the ones I liked I really did.
I really, really enjoyed the collection overall. A lot of it was 5 star material. But I think there were enough less-than-5-star stories to just about knock one star off. But overall, it is a fantastic collection. And a breakdown review of each story...
The Wedding Present – 5/5 perfect combination of human characters and story, mixed with slight supernatural elements
Chivalry – 5/5 nothing particularly outstanding about it, other than just a really enjoyable short story
Nicholas Was – 4/5
The Price – 4/5 interesting concepts, but something felt lacking. It seemed in the same style of The Wedding Present, but lacking… Maybe because there was less human depth to it.
Troll Bridge – 5/5 I’ve read this before in M Is For Magic. One of my favourite of his short stories.
Don’t Ask Jack – 4/5
The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories – 3/5 for what it was, it felt quite drawn out. Maybe a second reading will reveal hidden depths an more subtleties I missed, though.
Eaten (Scenes From A Moving Picture) – 2/5 I didn’t fully ‘get’ what was happening. As per his introduction, there were some interesting points about the movie industry and the porn industry, but I didn’t really think the piece was anything particularly special.
The White Road – 2/5 Maybe I read it at the wrong time of day. Again, I didn’t really ‘get’ it.
Queen of Knives – 4/5 This was a nice one.
The Facts In The Case of the Departure of Miss Finch – 3/5 There was a lot of potential in this one, and I feel it could have been developed – maybe as a full novel, or even just a slightly longer/more thought out short story. But I suppose that is the point of a short story.
Changes – 5/5 This is another one of my favourites. I agree with the introductory comment that it is essentially a novel outline, but I really enjoyed the brief summary (and would probably love the novel even more).
The Daughter of Owls – 1/5 There didn’t really seem to be much of a point to this one. Add to that the fact that he thought artistically it would be a good idea to write it phonetically or something… And it was almost painful to read. Sorry.
Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar – 4/5 This was nice.
Virus – 4/5 Interesting concepts raised, and one of the few poems in the book I really enjoyed.
Looking For The Girl – 4/5 Again, I really liked this one. I seem to enjoy more when he writes mostly about humans with some fantastical or slightly unnerving elements, rather than his outright fantasy.
Only The End Of The World Again – 3/5 Can’t say I was enamoured. I think it was just.. either not fully laid out, or perhaps the werewolf side was just too ‘accepted’. Or maybe it felt too squashed up inside a short story. Not sure.
Bay Wolf – 2/5 Again, I seem to have a bit of an issue with his poetry. And understanding it.
Fifteen Painted Cards From A Vampire Tarot – 3/5 I struggled to really place what was supposed to be happening in this one. Or maybe nothing was happening and that was the point.
We Can Get Them For You Wholesale – 5/5 Loved it.
One Life, Furnished In Early Moorcock – 5/5 This one kind of seemed like Neil’s version of Judy Blume by Amanda Palmer. I really liked it.
Cold Colours – 3/5 Interesting concepts, but… again, I think I just don’t get his poetry style.
The Sweeper of Dreams – 5/5 YES. This is exactly everything I love about Neil Gaiman, in just two pages.
Foreign Parts – 4/5 Interesting. Very interesting.
Vampire Sestina – 4/5
Mouse – 5/5 Interesting and enjoyable. I like a story where the metaphor is present but not impossible to detect.
The Sea Change – 4/5 Ah. A narrative poem I can get to grips with.
How Do You Think It Feels? – 4/5 Not really a whole lot to say, other than another enjoyable and interesting story.
When We Went To See The End Of The World, by Dawnie Morningside Aged 11 ¼ - 5/5 I really liked the experimenting with prose here. I think it worked a lot better than the Daughter of Owls attempt.
Desert Wind – 2/5 Interesting enough, but kind of.. why?
Tastings – 4/5 I felt like the ending was lacking a little. Or maybe just needed bulking up in the middle. Or something. I feel like there was a more interesting story, and we really only scratched the surface.
In The End – 3/5 I don’t really.. get it. Again.
Babycakes – 4/5 Creepy, but also kind of thought-provoking.
Murder Mysteries – 4/5
Snow, Glass, Apples – 4/5 I’m always a sucker for a good re-telling of a story.
(Interestingly, the 'average' score comes out at 3.88, but I think I'm happy to round it up to an even 4, because some of the good stories were really, REALLY good.
The Wedding Present – 5/5 perfect combination of human characters and story, mixed with slight supernatural elements
Chivalry – 5/5 nothing particularly outstanding about it, other than just a really enjoyable short story
Nicholas Was – 4/5
The Price – 4/5 interesting concepts, but something felt lacking. It seemed in the same style of The Wedding Present, but lacking… Maybe because there was less human depth to it.
Troll Bridge – 5/5 I’ve read this before in M Is For Magic. One of my favourite of his short stories.
Don’t Ask Jack – 4/5
The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories – 3/5 for what it was, it felt quite drawn out. Maybe a second reading will reveal hidden depths an more subtleties I missed, though.
Eaten (Scenes From A Moving Picture) – 2/5 I didn’t fully ‘get’ what was happening. As per his introduction, there were some interesting points about the movie industry and the porn industry, but I didn’t really think the piece was anything particularly special.
The White Road – 2/5 Maybe I read it at the wrong time of day. Again, I didn’t really ‘get’ it.
Queen of Knives – 4/5 This was a nice one.
The Facts In The Case of the Departure of Miss Finch – 3/5 There was a lot of potential in this one, and I feel it could have been developed – maybe as a full novel, or even just a slightly longer/more thought out short story. But I suppose that is the point of a short story.
Changes – 5/5 This is another one of my favourites. I agree with the introductory comment that it is essentially a novel outline, but I really enjoyed the brief summary (and would probably love the novel even more).
The Daughter of Owls – 1/5 There didn’t really seem to be much of a point to this one. Add to that the fact that he thought artistically it would be a good idea to write it phonetically or something… And it was almost painful to read. Sorry.
Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar – 4/5 This was nice.
Virus – 4/5 Interesting concepts raised, and one of the few poems in the book I really enjoyed.
Looking For The Girl – 4/5 Again, I really liked this one. I seem to enjoy more when he writes mostly about humans with some fantastical or slightly unnerving elements, rather than his outright fantasy.
Only The End Of The World Again – 3/5 Can’t say I was enamoured. I think it was just.. either not fully laid out, or perhaps the werewolf side was just too ‘accepted’. Or maybe it felt too squashed up inside a short story. Not sure.
Bay Wolf – 2/5 Again, I seem to have a bit of an issue with his poetry. And understanding it.
Fifteen Painted Cards From A Vampire Tarot – 3/5 I struggled to really place what was supposed to be happening in this one. Or maybe nothing was happening and that was the point.
We Can Get Them For You Wholesale – 5/5 Loved it.
One Life, Furnished In Early Moorcock – 5/5 This one kind of seemed like Neil’s version of Judy Blume by Amanda Palmer. I really liked it.
Cold Colours – 3/5 Interesting concepts, but… again, I think I just don’t get his poetry style.
The Sweeper of Dreams – 5/5 YES. This is exactly everything I love about Neil Gaiman, in just two pages.
Foreign Parts – 4/5 Interesting. Very interesting.
Vampire Sestina – 4/5
Mouse – 5/5 Interesting and enjoyable. I like a story where the metaphor is present but not impossible to detect.
The Sea Change – 4/5 Ah. A narrative poem I can get to grips with.
How Do You Think It Feels? – 4/5 Not really a whole lot to say, other than another enjoyable and interesting story.
When We Went To See The End Of The World, by Dawnie Morningside Aged 11 ¼ - 5/5 I really liked the experimenting with prose here. I think it worked a lot better than the Daughter of Owls attempt.
Desert Wind – 2/5 Interesting enough, but kind of.. why?
Tastings – 4/5 I felt like the ending was lacking a little. Or maybe just needed bulking up in the middle. Or something. I feel like there was a more interesting story, and we really only scratched the surface.
In The End – 3/5 I don’t really.. get it. Again.
Babycakes – 4/5 Creepy, but also kind of thought-provoking.
Murder Mysteries – 4/5
Snow, Glass, Apples – 4/5 I’m always a sucker for a good re-telling of a story.
(Interestingly, the 'average' score comes out at 3.88, but I think I'm happy to round it up to an even 4, because some of the good stories were really, REALLY good.
A fun read with Neil Gaiman’s fantastic ability at creating characters and settings that jump out of the page. Some stories didn’t leave a mark on me, but others were excellent stories of alternate universes.
The following list includes my favourite 5-star reads from the collection:
Wedding story
The goldfish pool and other stories
Cold colours
The sweeper of dreams
The following list includes my favourite 5-star reads from the collection:
Wedding story
The goldfish pool and other stories
Cold colours
The sweeper of dreams
First of all: read the introduction!
You're welcome...
Then, after finishing the book, read it again just to remember everything that you just read!
You're welcome again...
Well, Smoke and Mirrors is a short stories collection. Some of them are really amazing, most of them are great, some just okay, one is creepy and one is absolutely disturbing...
I can't take some of them out of my mind, like the one with the cat... or the magician... or Lucifer...
If you like Neil Hainan's writing style you will love this book. If you don't and is trying to give him a chance, this book is NOT for you, but read those 3 I just mentioned just because they're really good.
Anyhow, enjoy!
You're welcome...
Then, after finishing the book, read it again just to remember everything that you just read!
You're welcome again...
Well, Smoke and Mirrors is a short stories collection. Some of them are really amazing, most of them are great, some just okay, one is creepy and one is absolutely disturbing...
I can't take some of them out of my mind, like the one with the cat... or the magician... or Lucifer...
If you like Neil Hainan's writing style you will love this book. If you don't and is trying to give him a chance, this book is NOT for you, but read those 3 I just mentioned just because they're really good.
Anyhow, enjoy!