andrea_perez28's review against another edition
3.0
Algunas historias me gustaron muchísimo, otras me aburrieron y otras no entendí absolutamente nada. Creo que debí conocer más acerca de este universo que crea Neil Gaiman para poder disfrutarlo, no sentí conexión con ningún personaje o no entendía la relación que había en las historias con "The Endless", muchas partes solo fueron de skim reading. Tal vez si conocieran más de estos personajes me daría cuenta que es un buen libro pero la verdad al final me aburrió, las 3 estrellas es por las historias que me gustaron, pero ninguna fue muy relevante.
wheresthebirds's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
leviathandreamer's review against another edition
3.0
As with (almost) every anthology, this collection is somehow unbalanced. I basically didn't care for any of the stories from the first half of the book and I've enjoyed a fair bit of the second half - so I guess there's a balance in a sense, although this is entirely subjective.
The stories are of course connected by theme (sometimes very loosely, but the majority of them feature Morpheus or his siblings) and they're all within the same genre, which was to be expected, but to be honest, I'd welcome more diversity/experimentation. Not saying every short story was the same, but they weren't that different either; although each author had their own specific style and take on the dream realm, there wasn't anything that would hugely stand out, which ultimately leads to the unavoidable - juxtaposing the stories with Gaiman's own writing, which of course makes them a bit pale in comparison. It's almost as if the authors were too afraid to diverge from the lore, which is another reason why it's such a shame Harlan Ellison didn't contribute in the end, as he surely wouldn't treat Sandman as untouchable, and would write something jaw-dropping (for better or worse).
Finally, my favourites: Splatter (serial killer convention from the Doll House p. II), Escape Artist (Alvin's/Wanda's backstory which I can pretty well imagine as being canon), The Witch's Heart (dark and heartbreaking Brothers Grimm type of fairy-tale).
The stories are of course connected by theme (sometimes very loosely, but the majority of them feature Morpheus or his siblings) and they're all within the same genre, which was to be expected, but to be honest, I'd welcome more diversity/experimentation. Not saying every short story was the same, but they weren't that different either; although each author had their own specific style and take on the dream realm, there wasn't anything that would hugely stand out, which ultimately leads to the unavoidable - juxtaposing the stories with Gaiman's own writing, which of course makes them a bit pale in comparison. It's almost as if the authors were too afraid to diverge from the lore, which is another reason why it's such a shame Harlan Ellison didn't contribute in the end, as he surely wouldn't treat Sandman as untouchable, and would write something jaw-dropping (for better or worse).
Finally, my favourites: Splatter (serial killer convention from the Doll House p. II), Escape Artist (Alvin's/Wanda's backstory which I can pretty well imagine as being canon), The Witch's Heart (dark and heartbreaking Brothers Grimm type of fairy-tale).
lastcabtonowhere's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
lauren_cox98's review against another edition
I knew the Sandman was originally a graphic novel, and I thought this was a book based off that. Which it is, but it isn’t written by Neil Gaiman and there’s some context of you having already read the graphic novels – which I have not.
lisaroystoj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
It's hard to rate a book like this. Some of the stories were wonderful, others fell flat.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of Sandman stories by other authors. As befits a collection, the stories are a bit uneven, especially towards the end. But in general the stories are fantastic. And in the first half of the book, the amount of love of the author's for the Sandman universe seems pretty clear. These do not come across as hacks. They come across as filling out the nooks and crannies that were just obviously the way they always should be. A capstone on the series rather than a footnote. 4.5 of 5.
jsmithborne's review against another edition
3.0
I liked [a:Caitlín R. Kiernan|4798562|Caitlín R. Kiernan|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1304526440p2/4798562.jpg]'s story, and read one or two others, but I think that it's been so long since I read Sandman that I felt like I was not getting a lot of it. So I didn't bother with the rest of the stories. And a bad reason for giving up a book did influence me, I must admit--my library copy smelled weird. Sigh.