Fables & Reflections
Jul. 30th, 2021 04:55 pmThis book. THIS FRICKIN BOOK. This is the reason why I should read the Absolute Sandmen instead of the ten trade paperbacks. (Sadly, as with the Lucifer trades, the Absolute Sandmen were Emily's, and I am not prepared to spend a zillion dollars getting my own copies. I will spend my zillion dollars on varied gorgeous Subterranean Press editions instead.)
Fables & Reflections is a batch of standalone issues, ranging from before A Game of You to after Brief Lives (next). I am not, quite, this time, obsessive enough to flip between four different books to make sure I read them in publication order, so I get to grumble about it here instead.
That's really the only grumble I have. I enjoyed all the stories herein, I didn't mind and in some cases actively enjoyed the art, and even Gene Wolfe's introduction made me smile. If you were going to pick up a random Sandman collection, you could do a lot worse than this one.
Of particular note: "The Hunt," a lovely Eastern European fairytale, with an ending that is no less well done despite being obvious from a mile away. "The Parliament of Rooks," the only story that feels like a continuation of the larger saga, featuring three stories-within-stories and Matthew the Raven, who I enjoy every time he appears; "Ramadan," which feels more like an illustrated tale from the Thousand Nights And A Night than a Sandman story until it abruptly becomes a very Sandman story indeed, maybe one of the best standalones Gaiman's done in the series.
And perhaps this will shake me back into the habit of a) writing things and b) reading things.
Fables & Reflections is a batch of standalone issues, ranging from before A Game of You to after Brief Lives (next). I am not, quite, this time, obsessive enough to flip between four different books to make sure I read them in publication order, so I get to grumble about it here instead.
That's really the only grumble I have. I enjoyed all the stories herein, I didn't mind and in some cases actively enjoyed the art, and even Gene Wolfe's introduction made me smile. If you were going to pick up a random Sandman collection, you could do a lot worse than this one.
Of particular note: "The Hunt," a lovely Eastern European fairytale, with an ending that is no less well done despite being obvious from a mile away. "The Parliament of Rooks," the only story that feels like a continuation of the larger saga, featuring three stories-within-stories and Matthew the Raven, who I enjoy every time he appears; "Ramadan," which feels more like an illustrated tale from the Thousand Nights And A Night than a Sandman story until it abruptly becomes a very Sandman story indeed, maybe one of the best standalones Gaiman's done in the series.
And perhaps this will shake me back into the habit of a) writing things and b) reading things.