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stuedb's review against another edition
4.0
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14331320
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14331320
dryden's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
art_cart_ron's review against another edition
3.0
I've heard good things about Lucifer over the years, and was sort of led to believe it was better than I found it. The collected editions created in preparation for the TV series made getting ahold of them easy - so I took advantage of it.
In Book One I didn't find many of the characters particularly endearing. I liked the Sandman Presents mini (3 issues), that kicked it off, well enough - but found no particular hooks in the other story arcs. Hoping for improvement... seeing as I went all in and got the 5 books from the outset.
Oh well, no shortage of people to donate them to if they fail to improve.
In Book One I didn't find many of the characters particularly endearing. I liked the Sandman Presents mini (3 issues), that kicked it off, well enough - but found no particular hooks in the other story arcs. Hoping for improvement... seeing as I went all in and got the 5 books from the outset.
Oh well, no shortage of people to donate them to if they fail to improve.
amandaventure's review against another edition
2.0
I hate to say this but this is a DNF for me.
Don't get me wrong... I understand how its good but I'm just really not connecting to it as much as I wanted to. I love the Sandman series but it takes some fortitude to finish a series of that caliber. Like, no one sits down and reads The Odyssey in one sitting you know...
I enjoyed when Lucifer was snarky but there wasn't enough of it. I guess I was hoping this would be more episodic than it turned out to be. It has a wonderful lyrical feeling to the story telling but I just feel like they were trying to be too esoteric for there own good. I would have rather invested more in a clear plot rather than the poetry.
Don't get me wrong... I understand how its good but I'm just really not connecting to it as much as I wanted to. I love the Sandman series but it takes some fortitude to finish a series of that caliber. Like, no one sits down and reads The Odyssey in one sitting you know...
I enjoyed when Lucifer was snarky but there wasn't enough of it. I guess I was hoping this would be more episodic than it turned out to be. It has a wonderful lyrical feeling to the story telling but I just feel like they were trying to be too esoteric for there own good. I would have rather invested more in a clear plot rather than the poetry.
deathtomartyrs's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
4.0
Imagine a person : highly articulate, well informed on almost every topic, fiercely intelligent and capable of deal making under the most pressing of scenarios. No, he is not a diplomat and neither is he a human being and in fact I am not entirely certain if I can refer to this person as a ‘he’. The person in question is an angel and the name is Lucifer Morningstar. We know him as the Devil. That’s right : no fire and brimstone, no cloven hooves, no horns and forky tail and none of the theatrics that the role asks for in popular mythology. Lucifer is introduced as more of a has-been for he has resigned his role as the lord of Hell (utter boredom with the monotony) and now runs a piano bar on earth. He is still not someone to be trifled with for all the things that made him formidable once still lurk under the surface. This collection is a series of short stories in which Lucifer travels all over Earth and his former dominion to find resolution for multiple crises. There is a whiff of nostalgia when he remarks approaching the gates of hell : Home again, home again. Jiggety jig.
There arrives a missive to Lucifer from the throne high above the clouds with a pass attached that wants to recruit him for a particular job. With nothing better on his list of appointments, he accepts and is then hurled headlong into an adventure filled with ancient gods, clairvoyant teenagers, his former minions and all powerful shamans. I liked Morningstar for his poetic turn of phrase even when it is about describing absolutely terrifying things :
Understand me. Whatever lived there then lives there still, though your kind abandoned this place half a million years ago. There are forests of black oaks, a hundred feet tall, standing invisible in the dark. There are creatures…predators..that have not eaten in geological ages. You have forgotten the voiceless, but they have not forgotten you. They want you to come home. Want the feel of your fear and your worship. But while the darkness is a home for them, for you it was only a womb.
Lucifer does not come across as a hero or a villain but he has his own agendas to fulfil. His next move is to a version of the Japanese hell where he goes in search of his wings and which he reclaims even while he is in mortal form (utterly powerless and without defences). This is where Lucifer becomes a personification of hard, cold intellect and it suits the character the most. He is dismissive of wasteful excess and also of trivial conversation and is guilty as charged of being a ‘devilishly’ charming and manipulative bugger. The last sequence of stories ‘Children and monsters’ is a prolonged confrontation between the hosts of heaven and Lucifer. But then he trumps them all with a move which is in itself a classic. Mike Carey does not make the character either good or evil but all head. There might be machinations that Lucifer is planning to set in motion but none of those are revealed in detail here.
I did happen to see a couple of episodes of the TV series and the Lucifer of the book does not have any resemblance to the beefcake in the series ! The book is far more interesting (isn’t it so almost always ? ). Recommended.
All stories are lies. But good stories are lies made from light and fire. And they lift our hearts out of the dust, and out of the grave.
When the Devil wants you to do something, he doesn’t lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to Hell.
There arrives a missive to Lucifer from the throne high above the clouds with a pass attached that wants to recruit him for a particular job. With nothing better on his list of appointments, he accepts and is then hurled headlong into an adventure filled with ancient gods, clairvoyant teenagers, his former minions and all powerful shamans. I liked Morningstar for his poetic turn of phrase even when it is about describing absolutely terrifying things :
Understand me. Whatever lived there then lives there still, though your kind abandoned this place half a million years ago. There are forests of black oaks, a hundred feet tall, standing invisible in the dark. There are creatures…predators..that have not eaten in geological ages. You have forgotten the voiceless, but they have not forgotten you. They want you to come home. Want the feel of your fear and your worship. But while the darkness is a home for them, for you it was only a womb.
Lucifer does not come across as a hero or a villain but he has his own agendas to fulfil. His next move is to a version of the Japanese hell where he goes in search of his wings and which he reclaims even while he is in mortal form (utterly powerless and without defences). This is where Lucifer becomes a personification of hard, cold intellect and it suits the character the most. He is dismissive of wasteful excess and also of trivial conversation and is guilty as charged of being a ‘devilishly’ charming and manipulative bugger. The last sequence of stories ‘Children and monsters’ is a prolonged confrontation between the hosts of heaven and Lucifer. But then he trumps them all with a move which is in itself a classic. Mike Carey does not make the character either good or evil but all head. There might be machinations that Lucifer is planning to set in motion but none of those are revealed in detail here.
I did happen to see a couple of episodes of the TV series and the Lucifer of the book does not have any resemblance to the beefcake in the series ! The book is far more interesting (isn’t it so almost always ? ). Recommended.
All stories are lies. But good stories are lies made from light and fire. And they lift our hearts out of the dust, and out of the grave.
When the Devil wants you to do something, he doesn’t lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to Hell.