Reviews

A lot of these stories were hit or miss for me, or didn't really add anything to the Sandman canon that wasn't already there, but it was interesting to interact with the Sandman universe via prose, which is a first for me.

Random stories to talk about: "Stopp't Clock Ward" is probably my favorite story, and a reminder to me that I need to read Susanna Clarke's books. The end of "Mender of Broken Dreams" made me extremely uncomfortable as an autistic person, and I worry about why a story that uncritically sells autistic people as broken is in this collection. Out of the stories about Wanda, "An Extra Smidgen of Eternity" is my favorite. "The Witch's Heart" was just so well-written, I didn't think I'd like it at first but it got me eventually.

alfgaba's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

missbryden's review against another edition

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3.0

Didn't read all of the stories, skimmed some of those I didn't read. Had to be reminded that it's a collection of short stories from authors of different styles and interests, even if they're all connected on the same concept. The concept of dream land and the characters responsible for them (Morpheus, Death, Desire...) didn't interest me that much - I haven't read Gaiman's Sandman stories.
Read:
"Preface" by Frank McConnell - read like academic prefaces: confusingly
"Masquerade and High Water" by Colin Greenland, because of his connection to Susanna Clarke, but I didn't care for the flavour.
"Chain Home, Low" by John M. Ford. Was sucked into this: it has a historical setting and it doesn't name the theme and personifications of Morpheus etc as all the others do. The concept worked well alongside all the mysteries and tragedies of the world wars.
"Stronger than Desire" by Lisa Goldstein. Interesting tale about love being different from and stronger than desire, and the wager between Desire and her lover being the reason for the medieval spread of troubadours and their love songs.
"Valosag and Elet" by Steven Brust. Short and snappy folk tale.
"Stopp't Clock Yard" by Susanna Clarke, she being the reason I sought out this book, because even before finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I wanted to read what else she'd written, and this was one of the only short stories not collected into her The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Another historical tale about magicians in London, but a couple hundred years earlier than JS&MN. The jumping around between characters and dream-states was a little hard to follow but I still really like her style and how its embedded in another time as if the reader is from and knows all about that time.

tamingofthedew's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny 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

3.5

nomadtla's review against another edition

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4.0

Some good some just ok

A decent collection of short stories set around the characters from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman universe. Definitely worth a read for those who are fans of Gaiman or the Sandman. For those who are not there may be a story or two that interests you but it would be better to go to the graphic novels first.

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