Scan barcode
A review by bigbookslilreads
The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman
3.0
This volume comprises seven stories, one for each of the Endless and representing their essence somehow. I would say it can be read at any time, whether before, in the middle, or after having read the 10 core Sandman volumes. They are not at all related in story to the others, so that made them quite refreshing. Some of these stories emerged as well from Gaiman's will to work with certain artists, so each issue has a different style that somehow connects to the spirit of the Endless approached. I did really appreciate this, and I enjoyed having bits and pieces of the Endless and what they represent. However, these issues varied widely in quality in my opinion, thus the average rating. Below, are some discriminated thoughts on each one.
Death in Venice - ★★★★☆
As the title suggests, it focuses on Death. It was a very good first issue for the volume, and I loved seeing the depiction of a "younger" Death, even though this seemed to be set in the 80s/90s for the most part. The inspiration from Poe's [b:The Masque of the Red Death|204779|The Masque of the Red Death|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172667858l/204779._SY75_.jpg|15568908] and the setting of Venice were all really intriguing, so I would greatly recommend this on that account (as well as the artist). The only thing I did not particularly like was the needless representation of a lover of death in the USA solider. I do not particularly condone that kind of message and I felt that if a character that was obsessed with death was needed, then perhaps something so militaristic didn't need to be included? Specially because it felt admired, not criticised.
What I've Tasted of Desire - ★★★★★
Now this was my favourite of the issues/stories. It appears to be set in the early Middle Ages, perhaps, and is the story of a woman that is hopelessly in love with a ladies' man from her village. She has a meeting with Desire and he helps her get her wish. This story is very familiar to me, and it might be an adaptation of an old tale. Nevertheless, the art, the subject, how the essence of Desire was portrayed, the emotion depicted... Felt very much raw and real and I loved it!
The Heart of a Star - ★★★☆☆
This was simply ok. I would expect Dream's story to stand out among the others, but I didn't really care for it, perhaps because Dream is now mostly boring to me. I didn't care to know about another of his dalliances, and his dispute with Desire felt very oversimplified and lacking in tension. Also, Gaiman just seems to want to personify any "entity" out there, and I felt that kind of unnecessary and repetitious. The art and setting, however, kind of made up for it, as well as some more world-building and exploration of the Endless.
15 Portraits of Despair - ★★☆☆☆
This was a very neat concept, though explored in a bit of a shallow and opaque way for me. It is not a singly story about Despair, but more of a representation of its essence, 15 cases of how people have encountered desperation (not Despair itself). In that, it was very interesting. However, most of the stories were written in a way as to leave you completely clueless as to what exactly they meant. Combined with the art (which sometimes made them near ineligible), this issue was quite a complicated and frankly tiring read.
Getting Inside - ★★☆☆☆
As for the previous issue on Despair, this story focusing on Delirium also suffers from being a really difficult reading experience at times, not because of its subject per se, but because of the writing and artistic style. I appreciated that Gaiman and the artists try to imbue each story with its own style and spirit, evocative of what each Endless represents. While this was strangely beautiful, at the same time so tiring and confusing, and I think the message was a bit lost this way.
On the Peninsula - ★☆☆☆☆
This was by far the most uninteresting story. A bit contrived as well, as I did not understand in which time it was set regarding the Sandman core volumes (Destruction is supposed to be gone for 300 years in the present time, but here he is and it seems to be in the late 1900s?) The plot also revolves around him and Delirium apparently causing remnants from the future to appear in an archaeological dig, and I ask... what? The Endless distorting views of time was never something set up in the other volumes. In fact, linearity is quite asserted (e.g. Destiny). We also follow this woman that has a meet up with Destruction, but her story-line was not interesting in the slightest. Nothing in this was interesting except for the fact that Destruction is taking care of Delirium.
Endless Nights - ★★☆☆☆
Just a short and not very substancial story about Destiny and his book of fate. Besides the beauty of the illustrations, there was nothing interesting in this either. We gained no further knowledge of who Destiny is, only that the book of fate has an end.
Death in Venice - ★★★★☆
As the title suggests, it focuses on Death. It was a very good first issue for the volume, and I loved seeing the depiction of a "younger" Death, even though this seemed to be set in the 80s/90s for the most part. The inspiration from Poe's [b:The Masque of the Red Death|204779|The Masque of the Red Death|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172667858l/204779._SY75_.jpg|15568908] and the setting of Venice were all really intriguing, so I would greatly recommend this on that account (as well as the artist). The only thing I did not particularly like was the needless representation of a lover of death in the USA solider. I do not particularly condone that kind of message and I felt that if a character that was obsessed with death was needed, then perhaps something so militaristic didn't need to be included? Specially because it felt admired, not criticised.
What I've Tasted of Desire - ★★★★★
Now this was my favourite of the issues/stories. It appears to be set in the early Middle Ages, perhaps, and is the story of a woman that is hopelessly in love with a ladies' man from her village. She has a meeting with Desire and he helps her get her wish. This story is very familiar to me, and it might be an adaptation of an old tale. Nevertheless, the art, the subject, how the essence of Desire was portrayed, the emotion depicted... Felt very much raw and real and I loved it!
The Heart of a Star - ★★★☆☆
This was simply ok. I would expect Dream's story to stand out among the others, but I didn't really care for it, perhaps because Dream is now mostly boring to me. I didn't care to know about another of his dalliances, and his dispute with Desire felt very oversimplified and lacking in tension. Also, Gaiman just seems to want to personify any "entity" out there, and I felt that kind of unnecessary and repetitious. The art and setting, however, kind of made up for it, as well as some more world-building and exploration of the Endless.
15 Portraits of Despair - ★★☆☆☆
This was a very neat concept, though explored in a bit of a shallow and opaque way for me. It is not a singly story about Despair, but more of a representation of its essence, 15 cases of how people have encountered desperation (not Despair itself). In that, it was very interesting. However, most of the stories were written in a way as to leave you completely clueless as to what exactly they meant. Combined with the art (which sometimes made them near ineligible), this issue was quite a complicated and frankly tiring read.
Getting Inside - ★★☆☆☆
As for the previous issue on Despair, this story focusing on Delirium also suffers from being a really difficult reading experience at times, not because of its subject per se, but because of the writing and artistic style. I appreciated that Gaiman and the artists try to imbue each story with its own style and spirit, evocative of what each Endless represents. While this was strangely beautiful, at the same time so tiring and confusing, and I think the message was a bit lost this way.
On the Peninsula - ★☆☆☆☆
This was by far the most uninteresting story. A bit contrived as well, as I did not understand in which time it was set regarding the Sandman core volumes (Destruction is supposed to be gone for 300 years in the present time, but here he is and it seems to be in the late 1900s?) The plot also revolves around him and Delirium apparently causing remnants from the future to appear in an archaeological dig, and I ask... what? The Endless distorting views of time was never something set up in the other volumes. In fact, linearity is quite asserted (e.g. Destiny). We also follow this woman that has a meet up with Destruction, but her story-line was not interesting in the slightest. Nothing in this was interesting except for the fact that Destruction is taking care of Delirium.
Endless Nights - ★★☆☆☆
Just a short and not very substancial story about Destiny and his book of fate. Besides the beauty of the illustrations, there was nothing interesting in this either. We gained no further knowledge of who Destiny is, only that the book of fate has an end.