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A review by smithjasont01
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
"Witches astride ghetto blasters crowd the moon, then land on the heath their naked flanks aglisten."
The last of Gaiman's short story collections that I had to read and in my opinion the weakest. It wasn't until a good way into the second half of the collection before I found one I really enjoyed and in total only had four that stood out to me. My favorite being Murder Mysteries as I felt it was the most complete story.
This collection was themed around the dark and macabre. Quite a few reference or add to the Lovecraft mythos, with characters trying to resurrect the old gods in different ways. Many however felt like he had an idea but didn't really know where to take it, with plenty just ending or trailing off.
The first one I enjoyed was a short tale about a man looking to hire a hitman but wanting to get the best deal possible and inso doing setting off the apocalypse. The absurdity of the hitman saying "Yes but if you go with the deluxe package we can get that price down to 5 bucks a person, but you will just need 10,000 people you want killed."
My favorite, Murder Mysteries, was about a murder taking place among angels and the angel Raguel sent to investigate and submit God's vengeance on the killer. He plays with the concepts of love, death, and jealousy amongst angels and we see events that would start to set Lucifer down his path all while God watches his will play out.
Snow, glass, and apples as well as The Sweeper of dreams were the others that I enjoyed.
Overall an okay collection with a few standout stories
The last of Gaiman's short story collections that I had to read and in my opinion the weakest. It wasn't until a good way into the second half of the collection before I found one I really enjoyed and in total only had four that stood out to me. My favorite being Murder Mysteries as I felt it was the most complete story.
This collection was themed around the dark and macabre. Quite a few reference or add to the Lovecraft mythos, with characters trying to resurrect the old gods in different ways. Many however felt like he had an idea but didn't really know where to take it, with plenty just ending or trailing off.
The first one I enjoyed was a short tale about a man looking to hire a hitman but wanting to get the best deal possible and inso doing setting off the apocalypse. The absurdity of the hitman saying "Yes but if you go with the deluxe package we can get that price down to 5 bucks a person, but you will just need 10,000 people you want killed."
My favorite, Murder Mysteries, was about a murder taking place among angels and the angel Raguel sent to investigate and submit God's vengeance on the killer. He plays with the concepts of love, death, and jealousy amongst angels and we see events that would start to set Lucifer down his path all while God watches his will play out.
Snow, glass, and apples as well as The Sweeper of dreams were the others that I enjoyed.
Overall an okay collection with a few standout stories