A review by andyc_elsby232
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman

5.0

This is an enormously powerful series. It's a beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, oftentimes horrifying treatise on the human condition, as well as love, forgiveness, and grace. How it constantly manages to be all of these things and so much more is what makes me love both Gaiman and The Sandman. I still have several more to go before I'm finished with the series as a whole, but something tells me I'll never be rid of it (in the best kind of this). For me, so far, the mind-boggling ambition of these stories are most evident here. Dream and company are capable of monstrous, horrible things, and yet I identify with them because they're more human than most characters I've encountered in any medium. They're vain, selfish, uncompromising entities that, in the most unpredictable, tender ways embrace selflessness, spirituality, and goodwill in their own unique ways. For all the times I'm frustrated with Dream, there is no shortage of chances I will give him--as a reader--to both right his wrongs and maybe be better for the next few lifetimes. It's the constant grab of "Just maybe, this time it'll go right," that so constantly pricks my heart for all its worth.

A goddamn masterpiece.