scott plummer

in my last "my year of gaiman" post i promised another entry in roughly a month. that was over five months ago. sorry. the last five volumes were interrupted several times by a myriad of things that i won't go into right now.

as in the first five volumes the art is top notch. i've mentioned before that i've never been a fan of comics/graphic novels, but the beauty of the art and the shear quality of neil's story telling had me hooked.

the eigth volume, world's end, was one of the most challenging to read. it centered around an inn at the end of the world where many were gathered telling stories while waiting out a storm. it took me the longest to read because unlike the other collections, it just didn't hold my interest for long periods of time.

the ninth volume, the kindly one's, was the longest, but perhaps easiest read of the entire series. it dealt with dream's battle with, and ultimate demise at the hands of three witches. the whole collection is written as a greek tragedy and also deals with dream sending the corinthian to find the child daniel.

volume ten, the wake is hit or miss for me, the first half of the volume deals with the wake for dream. and ends with daniel becoming the newest incarnation of dream. the rest of the volume deals with seperate stories that, like world's end, were difficult for me to keep an interest in.

ultimately the sandman was an extremely rewarding read. like the novels that i've read of neil's, it took some time to get it's hooks into me but once it did, i found myself completely engrossed. i find it somewhat of an achievement that for a story, and collection that took seven years to complete, i finished it in a mere five months.

just for kicks, here are my top five favorite characters from the series.

5. merv pumpkinhead - the complaining, but loyal servant to dream
4. goldie - abel's pet baby gargoyle
3. dream - aka the sandman, morpheus, lord shaper
2. matthew - dream's raven. one of his most loyal servants
1. death - not personified as the grim reaper but as an attractive woman, dream's oldest sister.

well, that does it for the sandman, but not for gaiman. i've recently started smoke and mirrors, one of his collections of shorter works.

peace
~scott

it's been almost a month since my last post. i had thought about doing a post for each volume but i didn't want to interrupt the flow of the stories once i got into them.

i've never been a comic reader but this series has kept me engrossed from the very start. the story of dream and the rest of the endless is handled rather eloquently, and sometimes violently by neil and the immensley talented artists that were involved.

some of the stories are not for the faint of heart. from a masacre in a diner led by someone that i like to describe as "bat shit crazy" to convention of serial (cereal) killers to the skinning of a dead mans face.

the series is recommended for mature readers and for good reason the scenes described above are rendered uncomfortably beautiful. the depiction of hell by the artists are some of the most disturbing images i have laid eyes on. it seems the artists were in my head because that is what i picture hell to look like.

i've started with volume six so you can expect another post in this series in roughly a month.

i know i haven't posted since january 22nd when i posted about stardust, but worry not all, i am still reading.

i am currently reading the sandman series and the plan is to wrap them up in two seperate posts. i am reading the series in the 10 volume format. i am on volume 3 right now and will post my thoughts after i have finished up volume 5 and again after volume 10.

want to follow my progress? well you can follow me on twitter where i chat about it occassionally or you can check out goodreads profile, which also posts to twitter and facebook.

after being completely, and totally blown away by american gods and anansi boys, i couldn't wait to start neverwhere.

my verdict?

mind=BLOWN

i honestly didn't think i could be i completely and totally impressed and in love with three books in a row from the same author, but neverwhere along with american gods and anansi boys has proved me wrong. most of this is going to be a spoiler, so i'll just alert you now.

*spoiler(s)*

first of all, like charlie in anansi boys i thought richard was a bit of a push over at the beginning of the book, which i believe was neil's intention. i loathed his fiancee jessica and her over bearing mother. if it weren't for mr. croup, mr. vandemar, and islington, those two might have been the characters i detested the most.

i completely fell for the set up in neverwhere. i was completely convinced that the marquis de carabas was going to be the one that betrayed them and was really the one that hired croup and vandemar to kill door, not islington.

with that said i was completely shocked that hunter was in on the betrayal, although she gained some sympathy when she admitted her betrayal.

the idea of the "fallen" angel, islington in this case, is often a cliche, the idea was handled wonderfully as was the dispatching of the angel along with croup and vandemar. that was wonderfully written and one of my favorite parts of the story.

i was quite happy that in the end richard decided that he wanted to go back to "london below" and be where he really belonged

*end spoiler(s)*

next up is stardust which i have already made good progress on. if all goes the same as with neverwhere i should be done with it inside of a week. after that i am probably going to start on the sandman series.