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A review by bluestjuice
The Sandman Vol. 11: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman
4.0
This is something of an epilogue to the Sandman canton - maybe more appropriately an appendix. Very little of it ties into the main storyline - it is instead a short anthology of single issues, one dedicated to each of the seven Endless (those would be Dream's siblings, who are anthropomorphized personifications of vast life forces which happen to begin with the letter D: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delight/Delirium). Each story has a different illustrator and a different style, and so like most anthologies my appreciation waxed and waned in turns.
Death and Venice: plays with time, and choices, and inevitability. Really pretty setting even though the artistic style is not my favorite. B.
What I've Tasted of Desire: I love every single thing about this. The art is great. The story is fantastic and fierce and relentless. A+.
Dream - the Heart of a Star: Possibly this tied the most into the storyline of the main series, or at least, it's meant to illuminate an episode in Dream's past that occurred a long time ago. Perhaps for that reason I didn't completely love it - I'd maybe forgotten the details of the context in which to place it. The art is a gorgeous style, and I liked the storyline, but I felt like maybe I didn't understand it well enough. Greatly enjoyed the glimpse of lil' Delight, though. B+.
Fifteen Portraits of Despair: This is art, and it is unpretty and true and not very likable. I did not much like it. That doesn't mean it's wrong. A.
Delirium - Going Inside: The art style was well matched to the subject matter, but neither one lit me up much, unfortunately. C.
Destruction on the Peninsula: Neat little compact story about Destruction-in-absentia and an archeological dig. I enjoyed it. B.
Destiny - Endless Nights: More an illustrated poem than an actual story, it's gorgeously drawn and evocative and does what it sets out to do extremely well. Also I liked it. A.
Death and Venice: plays with time, and choices, and inevitability. Really pretty setting even though the artistic style is not my favorite. B.
What I've Tasted of Desire: I love every single thing about this. The art is great. The story is fantastic and fierce and relentless. A+.
Dream - the Heart of a Star: Possibly this tied the most into the storyline of the main series, or at least, it's meant to illuminate an episode in Dream's past that occurred a long time ago. Perhaps for that reason I didn't completely love it - I'd maybe forgotten the details of the context in which to place it. The art is a gorgeous style, and I liked the storyline, but I felt like maybe I didn't understand it well enough. Greatly enjoyed the glimpse of lil' Delight, though. B+.
Fifteen Portraits of Despair: This is art, and it is unpretty and true and not very likable. I did not much like it. That doesn't mean it's wrong. A.
Delirium - Going Inside: The art style was well matched to the subject matter, but neither one lit me up much, unfortunately. C.
Destruction on the Peninsula: Neat little compact story about Destruction-in-absentia and an archeological dig. I enjoyed it. B.
Destiny - Endless Nights: More an illustrated poem than an actual story, it's gorgeously drawn and evocative and does what it sets out to do extremely well. Also I liked it. A.