Book Review: A Game of You - Sandman Volume 5

From Goodreads: Volume Five of New York Times best selling author Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed creation THE SANDMAN collects one of the series’ most beloved storylines.Take an apartment house, add in a drag queen, a lesbian couple, some talking animals, a talking severed head, a confused heroine and the deadly Cuckoo. Stir vigorously with a hurricane and Morpheus himself and you get this fifth installment of the SANDMAN series. This story stars Barbie, who first makes an appearance in THE DOLL’S HOUSE and now finds herself a princess in a vivid dreamworld.

Thoughts: Definitely my favourite Sandman so far. In this volume Gaiman and his band of incredibly talented artists follows Barbie, a character who briefly appeared in The Doll's House. Barbie is now living in an old house divided into apartments with an assortment of people. Wanda, a transgender undergoing treatment to make her body match her feelings, a lesbian couple, a strange, quiet girl and an old man. Each of these people have a role to play in Barbie's dreams, but they may not all make it out alive. Gaiman lifts that very thin veil between Morpheus's Dream Country and the real world. Are our dreams truly our own, or do we simply move into abandoned dreamscapes and make them ours? What happens to the pieces of us that we leave behind in those dreamscapes and who can we rely on to save us when we can't save ourselves?

A Game of You gets 4 stars.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing 

Book Review: Season of Mists - Sandman Volume 4

From Goodreads: Volume Four of New York Times best selling author Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed creation, with updated coloring and new trade dress.Ten thousand years ago, Morpheus condemned a woman who loved him to Hell. Now the other members of his immortal family, The Endless, have convinced the Dream King that this was an injustice. To make it right, Morpheus must return to Hell to rescue his banished love — and Hell’s ruler, the fallen angel Lucifer, has already sworn to destroy him. 

Thoughts: So have you ever wondered what would happen if Lucifer decided to abdicate his throne in Hell? Not only abdicate, but evict everyone and close the doors? Welcome to the Season of Mists, where Lucifer has left the building and handed the keys to Morpheus. What follows is the story of the other deities and entities who believe they should be given the keys. They all arrive at the Dream Castle to try and convince (bribe, threaten, cajole)  Morpheus to hand over the keys to, in the words of Morpheus sister, Death, "The most desirable plot of psychic real estate in the whole order of created things." 
One of Gaiman's strengths is he makes it completely believable that Odin, the Trickster , Faeries, Demons, a Japanese deity, Bast and Anubis, and angels would all want the keys and sit down to a banquet together to petition the lord of dreams to hand them over. Can you think of many writers who can gather such a stellar cast of big characters and make it work? Gaiman does, and all in a graphic novel format where he has to trust the artists to flesh out his words. And that in itself is a good point to make about these books - there are so many more people involved than just Gaiman. Yes, he gives it a great framework to build on with an excellent story line, but the illustrators, letterers and colourists all contribute to make it the excellent production it is. Once again, well worth the read.

Season of Mists gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: Dream Country - Sandman Volume 3

From Goodreads: The third book of the Sandman collection is a series of four short comic book stories. In each of these otherwise unrelated stories, Morpheus serves only as a minor character. Here we meet the mother of Morpheus's son, find out what cats dream about, and discover the true origin behind Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. The latter won a World Fantasy Award for best short story, the first time a comic book was given that honor. This volume includes issues 17-20 of the original series and features completely new coloring, approved by the author, of issues 17 and 18.

Thoughts: Dream Country is the third Sandman volume. It has 4 self contained stories that involve the Sandman. The first is about the imprisonment of a muse - Calliope who also happens to be the mother of the Sandman's son. The second is What Cat's Dream about and I don't believe a word of it! The third explore the other world origins of A Mid Summer's Nights Dream and the last is about the façade we present to the world.
I think I prefer the continuous stories presented volumes 1 and 2. There was a little disjointed for me, although Gaiman's explanation at the beginning was interesting.

Dream Country gets 3 stars.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing 

Review: The Doll's House - Sandman Volume 2

From Goodreads: New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman's transcendent series SANDMAN is often hailed as the definitive Vertigo title and one of the finest achievements in graphic storytelling. Gaiman created an unforgettable tale of the forces that exist beyond life and death by weaving ancient mythology, folklore and fairy tales with his own distinct narrative vision. 
During Morpheus's incarceration, three dreams escaped the Dreaming and are now loose in the waking world. At the same time, a young woman named Rose Walker is searching for her little brother. As their stories converge, a vortex is discovered that could destroy all dreamers, and the world itself. Features an introduction by Clive Barker. 
This volume includes issues 9-16 of the original series and features completely new coloring, approved by the author.

Thoughts: There is a dream vortex. An entity that threatens to rip apart the dreamworld and the Sandman's only choice is to find and destroy it. However, the dream vortex is a young woman who has no idea of the damage or danger she is causing. 

The Doll's House takes us through some very scary territory. A boy kept in a locked basement, a convention of serial killers and the death of a young woman. This second Sandman volume was stranger than the first -  more story telling, less scene setting. Again, the proof of the strength of the story is it took me 3 days to read, not 3 hours. I'm still amazed at the depth of these graphic novels. I wonder if I will ever read another graphic novel which will impress me as much.