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A review by zarara
The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman
3.0
In the pale light of the Moon I play the game of you. Whoever I am. Whoever you are. All sense of where I am, of who I am and where I’m going, has been swallowed by the dark. And I walk through the stars and sky... a trinity of dreams beneath the moon.
I have mixed opinions about this one.
Sometimes you can really tell these were written in the 1990s because some of the language and illustrations just aren’t it but Gaiman’s really working towards fixing everything for the audiobook and Netflix adaptations and making it more applicable to the present day so I'm glad about that. But there’s definitely some problematic and stereotypical portrayals in here. On the other hand, most of Neil Gaiman’s work has extremely progressive representations of gender and sexuality considering this was mainstream 1990s media.
Onto the actual storyline: it was great to see some past characters in a more nuanced setting! I loved the whole idea of every person having rich, imaginative internal worlds. This also had the feeling of an inverted fairytale which I really enjoyed.
There was woefully little of the Endless but rather than the short unconnected stories in Dream Country this had a consistent cast of characters which made it so much better. I loved the dynamic between Barbie and Wanda (who absolutely did not have to die, I will revolt)- the concern Wanda had for Barbie was touching considering they haven’t even been friends for long. Then you had the rest of the chaotic apartment-dwellers. I really loved Thessaly’s characterisation: her dialogue was hilarious and genius and I really appreciated her sheer audacity (I totally understood why Morpheus fell for her):
George is in the bath. He’s taking a bath? He isn’t taking a bath; he’s in the bath. I killed him.
You’re a murder, you killed him! Sure. I told you that already.
Also, Neil Gaiman is sick for the amount of creepy dead babies in these comics. I am never recovering.
Overall, it was a bittersweet story that was satisfying in some regards but felt like it could have been improved. But I do agree:
We should take our goodbyes whenever we can.
I have mixed opinions about this one.
Sometimes you can really tell these were written in the 1990s because some of the language and illustrations just aren’t it but Gaiman’s really working towards fixing everything for the audiobook and Netflix adaptations and making it more applicable to the present day so I'm glad about that. But there’s definitely some problematic and stereotypical portrayals in here. On the other hand, most of Neil Gaiman’s work has extremely progressive representations of gender and sexuality considering this was mainstream 1990s media.
Onto the actual storyline: it was great to see some past characters in a more nuanced setting! I loved the whole idea of every person having rich, imaginative internal worlds. This also had the feeling of an inverted fairytale which I really enjoyed.
There was woefully little of the Endless but rather than the short unconnected stories in Dream Country this had a consistent cast of characters which made it so much better. I loved the dynamic between Barbie and Wanda (who absolutely did not have to die, I will revolt)- the concern Wanda had for Barbie was touching considering they haven’t even been friends for long. Then you had the rest of the chaotic apartment-dwellers. I really loved Thessaly’s characterisation: her dialogue was hilarious and genius and I really appreciated her sheer audacity (I totally understood why Morpheus fell for her):
George is in the bath. He’s taking a bath? He isn’t taking a bath; he’s in the bath. I killed him.
You’re a murder, you killed him! Sure. I told you that already.
Also, Neil Gaiman is sick for the amount of creepy dead babies in these comics. I am never recovering.
Overall, it was a bittersweet story that was satisfying in some regards but felt like it could have been improved. But I do agree:
We should take our goodbyes whenever we can.