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4.51 AVERAGE
4.51 AVERAGE
The Endless are a disfunctional bunch. Especially Dream. But they are still full of profound insight as to the nature of reality. I liked this book.
Dream upsets his sister, Delirium, so badly she briefly turns into Kathy Acker (which, I thought was a brilliant, original reaction on my part while reading, only to discover Peter Straub makes that very same observation in the intro that the volume places at the end of the book in order to avoid spoilers).
This volume follows the siblings as they go in search of their brother Destruction, who left the family 300 years ago, abdicating both his realm and his responsibilities. Their quest engages mortals and semi-immortals and delves fascinatingly into the nature of change, permanence, and fate, sprinkled with some delightful "associates" providing comic relief and support for this supernatural family.
This volume follows the siblings as they go in search of their brother Destruction, who left the family 300 years ago, abdicating both his realm and his responsibilities. Their quest engages mortals and semi-immortals and delves fascinatingly into the nature of change, permanence, and fate, sprinkled with some delightful "associates" providing comic relief and support for this supernatural family.
Dream and Delirium search for long-absent Destruction. This is a melancholy, introspective interlude that explores the Endless themselves; it's also a roadtrip that visits some reoccurring characters. All elements I appreciate, so I should like it--but this series just hasn't made me invested enough to recall the context for minor characters, and Delirium is a missed opportunity when it comes to exploring the Endless. Her gimmicks in character design and dialog styling are fantastic, but she fails to feel truly, well, delirious--she's indistinct and shallow, too cogent, weird like a magic pixie dream girl rather than weird like a god of weirdness. This series still has yet to click for me, and the halfhearted strangeness of Delirium is part of why: The Endless need to be more distinctive, more strange, and larger than human; without that, the core of this series is hollow.
This was very good. We follow Dream and Delirium as they go off and try to find their lost brother, Destruction. But it also nicely ties up the story of Orpheus. Brief Lives in this one definitely seems to not only refer to humans, but also to the Endless themselves.
"Brief Lives" has Delirium coming more undone than usual and is determined to find Destruction. She thinks if she can find him, he can come back to the family and things will be better. I also kind of want to ask her has she met her other siblings cause some of them are pretty crappy. She goes off to ask first Desire who says no. Then she goes and asks Despair who in a surprise (to me) also says no. Only when Delirium goes and asks Dream does he say yes. This story follows the duo as they retrace a list that Delirium has of people who may know where Destruction is. Entwined with this is also Orpheus.
So at times I did laugh at certain people talking crap about Dream. He has another bad love affair that ends. When he was outside in the rain I maybe started snickering about the conversation about him was going on. He does feel a bit dramatic at times. Him helping Delirium is about taking his mind off of the bad love affair, and he is sure they won't find Destruction. When things start going south though I liked how Dream decided that he was going to find Destruction, and make amends for all the people that got hurt along the way. The ending between him and his son was so sad though.
Delirium we get to see different versions of her. We see her as she first was, and then we even see a part of her put back together mostly (sane) and out of the siblings, I think I like her the most next to Death.
Desire is exhausting. The end.
Despair and Destiny at times make me shake my head. Destiny also gives a prophecy to Dream and I was initially confused by what it meant til we get to the end.
The other characters in this one were interesting, we get to meet a version of the goddess Ishtar (former lover of Destruction) and a lawyer with ties to Destruction.
The writing and illustrations were very good. The overall flow of this volume works too.
The ending was heartbreaking and you have to worry about what comes next for Dream. It feels like nothing good.
"Brief Lives" has Delirium coming more undone than usual and is determined to find Destruction. She thinks if she can find him, he can come back to the family and things will be better. I also kind of want to ask her has she met her other siblings cause some of them are pretty crappy. She goes off to ask first Desire who says no. Then she goes and asks Despair who in a surprise (to me) also says no. Only when Delirium goes and asks Dream does he say yes. This story follows the duo as they retrace a list that Delirium has of people who may know where Destruction is. Entwined with this is also Orpheus.
So at times I did laugh at certain people talking crap about Dream. He has another bad love affair that ends. When he was outside in the rain I maybe started snickering about the conversation about him was going on. He does feel a bit dramatic at times. Him helping Delirium is about taking his mind off of the bad love affair, and he is sure they won't find Destruction. When things start going south though I liked how Dream decided that he was going to find Destruction, and make amends for all the people that got hurt along the way. The ending between him and his son was so sad though.
Delirium we get to see different versions of her. We see her as she first was, and then we even see a part of her put back together mostly (sane) and out of the siblings, I think I like her the most next to Death.
Desire is exhausting. The end.
Despair and Destiny at times make me shake my head. Destiny also gives a prophecy to Dream and I was initially confused by what it meant til we get to the end.
The other characters in this one were interesting, we get to meet a version of the goddess Ishtar (former lover of Destruction) and a lawyer with ties to Destruction.
The writing and illustrations were very good. The overall flow of this volume works too.
The ending was heartbreaking and you have to worry about what comes next for Dream. It feels like nothing good.
Revisiting Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is already one of the most rewarding and creatively enriching things I've ever done for myself. This particular volume only builds on the excellent work collected in "Fables & Reflections," and I found myself utterly enraptured by every turn in this tale.
Gaiman strikes the perfect balance here between his remarkable facility for conjuring brilliant short stories and his largely peerless ability to craft long-form narratives capable of incorporating so many disparate strands into a cohesive whole. Volumes 6 and 7 of the "Sandman" series officially stand alongside Volume 4 as the best of the bunch so far, and - while I can't wait to read the rest of this run - I dread the day when there's no simply more of it to read.
Gaiman strikes the perfect balance here between his remarkable facility for conjuring brilliant short stories and his largely peerless ability to craft long-form narratives capable of incorporating so many disparate strands into a cohesive whole. Volumes 6 and 7 of the "Sandman" series officially stand alongside Volume 4 as the best of the bunch so far, and - while I can't wait to read the rest of this run - I dread the day when there's no simply more of it to read.
Man, after a while it gets pretty hard to review Volumes of Sandman other than just throwing a brief synopsis and saying ‘this was great’ buuuut, Sandman Vol 7 is particularly great.
Why so?
I guess: Volume Seven does contain a lot of resolution building up in the series, featuring a heavy focus on The Endless (including Destruction), Sandman’s ongoing change. In saying resolution Gaiman likes to play around with implied emotions and events, even though Vol 7. has a lot more plot progress than earlier volumes there is even more brought up unrevealed and probably more questions than answers.
That said the mood/tension/setting are all intense and perfect for Sandman – alongside all the above points there is also space for minor characters who are just as interesting and compelling as our Endless MCs.
Vol 8. is still on route in the mail and I can’t wait.
Why so?
I guess: Volume Seven does contain a lot of resolution building up in the series, featuring a heavy focus on The Endless (including Destruction), Sandman’s ongoing change. In saying resolution Gaiman likes to play around with implied emotions and events, even though Vol 7. has a lot more plot progress than earlier volumes there is even more brought up unrevealed and probably more questions than answers.
That said the mood/tension/setting are all intense and perfect for Sandman – alongside all the above points there is also space for minor characters who are just as interesting and compelling as our Endless MCs.
Vol 8. is still on route in the mail and I can’t wait.
This was a bit of a disappointment. Still lots of arresting imagery - Ishtar's final dance stands out - but the conclusion to the quest to find Destruction fell flat for me (especially as the blurb really builds it up). It was all a bit wordy, pseudo-philosophical and pretentious. I'm also not sure what I think about the characterisation of Delirium.
This was a really nice little contained story, following Dream and Delirium as they travel to try and find their brother, Destruction, who apparently turned away from the family and his role within the Endless and asked them to never come for him.
It was interesting to see the relationships between the different siblings and how there are always little games being played out between them but how they can come together when they do need it. Even though there are pairings between the siblings, such as Desire and Despair, Delirium is able to move between the siblings without any real impact to her.
I would like to know more about how Delirium was able to change from her previous form of delight, but I shall have to wait and see if that is something Mr Gaiman is going to expand on in other issues. Also, a sad little cameo from Orpheus but at least he is at peace now? I know I would be after thousands of years being a head without a body!
It was interesting to see the relationships between the different siblings and how there are always little games being played out between them but how they can come together when they do need it. Even though there are pairings between the siblings, such as Desire and Despair, Delirium is able to move between the siblings without any real impact to her.
I would like to know more about how Delirium was able to change from her previous form of delight, but I shall have to wait and see if that is something Mr Gaiman is going to expand on in other issues. Also, a sad little cameo from Orpheus but at least he is at peace now? I know I would be after thousands of years being a head without a body!