Reviews

The Wake, by Neil Gaiman

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pixieprose's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sulfurandbrimstone74's review

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

perchance_a_tale's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

A re-read. Simply beautiful. And then we have the last two bits - first the desert story with hard to read text but beautiful art. And a call back to earlier stories. And then The Tempest - still my least favorite part - especially the play itself with the text unreadable in script. But revisiting Shakespeare, and epilogue upon epilogue.

An ending. And what an ending. Nostalgic and thoughtful. And oh so beautiful. Dream is dead, long live dream. And this volume makes much of the rest of the books make sense, almost like its worth starting over again. And then the Renn Fest story with the complaints of inauthenticity and Didi. The Shakespeare story was the weakest part and yet even that was necessary. And Destruction giving Daniel advice. What a great book and yet is giving a fan what they want right or wrong. Also the best of the intros, clearly written by a fan.

katybug25's review against another edition

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5.0

This title goes over the wake and funeral for Morpheus. The art was gorgeous! I thought the new design for Dream (what was once Daniel) was perfect. The new Dream has white hair and clothes which really fits with his character considering he has become kinder and less dark (or full of angst). The dreamers participating in the funeral was a nice touch, plus we got to see some familiar faces from earlier stories.
Three stories follow the wake and funeral. These stories are not chronological, but serve as the epilogue. The first story features Hob Gadling at a Renaissance Fair with his girlfriend. I loved Hob’s statements of historical inaccuracies at the fair (especially the one about adding shit everywhere to be factually correct, that one made me laugh). The second follows an exile who gets lost in a desert, and reaches a “soft place” in the Dreaming. The art in this one was different being non-colored. The black and white color scheme are eye catching the art looks like water color or ink painting. I really liked this approach for the story, as it added visual contrast to the overall story. (Plus I really love that style of art.) The third story is the conclusion of Shakespeare’s bargain with Morpheus where Shakespeare is writing his last play of his career for Morpheus. It was interesting to see the dynamics of Shakespeare’s household, and how his writing effected his family.