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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
Okay. I’m going to tell you right off the bat: I’m a Neil Gaiman junkie. Anything he does is magic to me, and _The Sandman_ series is no exception.
A group of characters find themselves holed up together, weathering a “reality storm” that rages wherever, and whenever, each of our characters found themselves when the storm hit.
As many do, when weathering a storm, the characters decide to tell stories to the group. Very entertaining piece that doesn’t fully feature Dream, but _The Sandman_ style still shines.
A group of characters find themselves holed up together, weathering a “reality storm” that rages wherever, and whenever, each of our characters found themselves when the storm hit.
As many do, when weathering a storm, the characters decide to tell stories to the group. Very entertaining piece that doesn’t fully feature Dream, but _The Sandman_ style still shines.
Slow going but the ending completely made up for it...
I've been putting this one and The Wake off for a long time, mostly because I'm terrible about the death of characters I've come to love. I finally forced myself to read this one, and it's as good as I was sure it would be, and as painful. Dream's little tour of friends and companions was similar to the Tenth Doctor's at the end of The End of Time, but I managed this one without doing The Ugly Cry (same can't be said for David Tennant's departure).
Still can't bring myself to read The Wake.
Still can't bring myself to read The Wake.
Very interesting stories in stories in stories... lots of ideas bouncing around and into each other.
This volume felt more like a digression from the series... Not so much "filler", but a kind of side street. A fascinating cast of characters who end up as storytellers passing time during a "reality storm," stranded in between realms. The artwork was pretty stellar in parts, especially that one two-page spread (you'll know it, when you see it), but I found myself really missing the Lord of Dreams (pounding a fist upon the recto margins chanting with each strike: MORE--FEE--US! MORE--FEE--US! MORE--FEE--US!).
This was by no means bad, (I gave it 4 stars) but compared to the other volumes it just felt like it was missing something. The stories were all over the place and some of the text was too hard for me to read. I gave up on a few panels and just focused on the illustrations.
"World's End" follows a pair of colleagues (Brant and Charlene) who get in a car accident on their way to Chicago. Finding themselves in the middle of a snowstorm (or a reality storm) they find themselves an inn with a ton of other travelers. To pass the time, they start to tell stories. I honestly found myself bored by some of the stories and some I went okay then. There's only one that seems at all connected to the larger arc of this series. Dream per usual appears in all of the stories.
"A Tale of Two Cities" (3 stars)-What if cities slept, and then one day they could or do awaken? I don't know. This story felt like it was trying way too hard.
"Cluracan's Tale" (2.5 stars)-Readers will remember him from Season of Mists. Look this story made barely any sense to me. Dream does appear in this one and helps out Cluracan due his sister Nuala (who is living with Dream in his castle) asking for him to intercede.
"Hob's Leviathan" (4 stars)-A traveler named Jim speaks of a mysterious serpent he found in the sea during his travels. There's also a story within a story in this one, and the character Hob appears.
"The Golden Boy" (3.5 stars)-Sorry, any alternative tales of Presidents of the United States just are not going to work for me right now.
"Cerements" (5 stars)-This one has a bunch of different parts to it, but we also get to see Petrefax tell a story which revolves around the city of Litharge. Litharge devotes itself to the practice of various methods of burial. Destiny, Destruction, and Despair show up.
The ending though. Sigh. We get to the end and we see something that shows us something big is coming and we can guess at who it involves.
I loved the illustrations (per usual) and I liked the bigger resolution to the frame story of this one with Brant and Charlene. And we get to see that in the end Brant is telling this story to someone at another type of inn (bar) in our real world.
"World's End" follows a pair of colleagues (Brant and Charlene) who get in a car accident on their way to Chicago. Finding themselves in the middle of a snowstorm (or a reality storm) they find themselves an inn with a ton of other travelers. To pass the time, they start to tell stories. I honestly found myself bored by some of the stories and some I went okay then. There's only one that seems at all connected to the larger arc of this series. Dream per usual appears in all of the stories.
"A Tale of Two Cities" (3 stars)-What if cities slept, and then one day they could or do awaken? I don't know. This story felt like it was trying way too hard.
"Cluracan's Tale" (2.5 stars)-Readers will remember him from Season of Mists. Look this story made barely any sense to me. Dream does appear in this one and helps out Cluracan due his sister Nuala (who is living with Dream in his castle) asking for him to intercede.
"Hob's Leviathan" (4 stars)-A traveler named Jim speaks of a mysterious serpent he found in the sea during his travels. There's also a story within a story in this one, and the character Hob appears.
"The Golden Boy" (3.5 stars)-Sorry, any alternative tales of Presidents of the United States just are not going to work for me right now.
"Cerements" (5 stars)-This one has a bunch of different parts to it, but we also get to see Petrefax tell a story which revolves around the city of Litharge. Litharge devotes itself to the practice of various methods of burial. Destiny, Destruction, and Despair show up.
The ending though. Sigh. We get to the end and we see something that shows us something big is coming and we can guess at who it involves.
I loved the illustrations (per usual) and I liked the bigger resolution to the frame story of this one with Brant and Charlene. And we get to see that in the end Brant is telling this story to someone at another type of inn (bar) in our real world.
Oh man, so even thought I thought that Vol 7. was my favourite Sandman collection I then moved onto World's End!
Now technically I'd read World's End before, but quite a while ago, and also out of order in the series and missed like 9/10 of the important parts of it!
The premise of World's End is several characters gathering at the World's End in the middle of a 'reality storm.' While on the basics it seems similar to the other Volume's that gather standalone stories - World's end has some recurring characters, with connections to past stories and importance for the next stories and of course has a pretty devastating finale (spoilers I guess, I don't know how well known the conclusions to Sandman are)
I confess I'm already 1/2 way through Vol. 9 already before getting around to this review and HOLY MOLY my mind is already disintegrating! When is the Netflix Series coming?
Now technically I'd read World's End before, but quite a while ago, and also out of order in the series and missed like 9/10 of the important parts of it!
The premise of World's End is several characters gathering at the World's End in the middle of a 'reality storm.' While on the basics it seems similar to the other Volume's that gather standalone stories - World's end has some recurring characters, with connections to past stories and importance for the next stories and of course has a pretty devastating finale (spoilers I guess, I don't know how well known the conclusions to Sandman are)
I confess I'm already 1/2 way through Vol. 9 already before getting around to this review and HOLY MOLY my mind is already disintegrating! When is the Netflix Series coming?
Tedious to have yet another anthology of story's that have very little to do with the actual story. I guess this was more of a complete story, but it's hard to see how it remotely ties into sandman aside from him and his sister appearing. Hopefully this was the last of these and we get some actual substance in the next volumes
Not my favorite collection, but I did love the coloring in this one.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated