The Sandman: Book of Dreams

I quite enjoyed some of the stories in this collection, but no one does the Sandman quite like Gaiman so I was left feeling a bit unfulfilled. ( )

For eight years, Gaiman mined this rich vein, only to stop at the height of the series' popularity, at a point in time when he felt the story he had in mind from the beginning had reached its natural conclusion. Gaiman's creations live on however, in DC's new series "The Dreaming", and in this anthology, written by several mainstream writers. Although the stories are uniformly well crafted, they fail to break any new ground or provide novel insights into the rich cast of familiar characters. Most of the writers here seem content pursuing themes Gaiman has already visited rather than developing their own.

Didn't finish this one; am not counting this as being read this year for that reason.

I like the Sandman universe very well, I just wasn't feeling it too powerfully under other people's direction. Might be my problem, rather than a problem with the stories directly as I didn't read them all.

Oh well, at least there are some graphic novels I haven't read in the series. ( )

The Sandman: Book of Dreams contains short stories from authors Clive Barker, Susanna Clarke, Lisa Goldstein, Gene Wolfe, Delia Sherman, and others involving the Endless and their realms. Some of the stories only touch on the Endless, with minor cameos or references, but most build on the characters as established by Neil Gaiman during his run in The Sandman. A few stories are set during the comic, but it's not necessary to have read those stories to understand the plot. Gaiman's introductions serve to background the short stories and offer funny anecdotes about how he met each of the authors. That said, of all the Sandman-titled works, this one is the weakest as it's not written by Gaiman himself. Of course, it's still a wonderful collection of short fiction and will entertain the reader. ( )

Some stories were better than others, as with any collection. Will Shetterly's "Splatter" was especially jolting. The stories make me curious to know more about the comic they are based on or spawned from. ( )