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arianappstrg's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
halfmanhalfbook's review
3.0
The tenth in the Sandman series is a conclusion of what went before. One of the Endless, Morpheus, has ceased to be, and there is to be a gathering of his family, dreamers and other mourners to commemorate his life. As preparations for the funeral begin, Daniel Hall, who has become the new Sandman, meets with Morpheus’s family. He has already started to look like the previous Dream.
The mourners are an eclectic bunch, mot only are there the family, but there are a smattering of superhero’s and characters that have appeared in many previous episodes have come to pay their last respects. His family choose to speak at the funeral, and the last to speak is his sister Death. Their eulogies acknowledge his place in the other world and speak of his uniqueness.
The is a short story about an adviser to the Emperor of China, he is exiled because of his sons political alignments, but his life is spared after showing that he can care. It concludes with The Tempest, a deal had been reached between Morpheus and William Shakespeare long ago, and this is a fitting conclusion to it.
Whilst this was still classic Sandman, it didn’t seem to have the flow and continuity of the earlier books, feeling a bit disjointed and like it was stories dragged from hither and thither. That said it was still and enjoyable read with excellent artwork and the dark edgy storyline.
The mourners are an eclectic bunch, mot only are there the family, but there are a smattering of superhero’s and characters that have appeared in many previous episodes have come to pay their last respects. His family choose to speak at the funeral, and the last to speak is his sister Death. Their eulogies acknowledge his place in the other world and speak of his uniqueness.
The is a short story about an adviser to the Emperor of China, he is exiled because of his sons political alignments, but his life is spared after showing that he can care. It concludes with The Tempest, a deal had been reached between Morpheus and William Shakespeare long ago, and this is a fitting conclusion to it.
Whilst this was still classic Sandman, it didn’t seem to have the flow and continuity of the earlier books, feeling a bit disjointed and like it was stories dragged from hither and thither. That said it was still and enjoyable read with excellent artwork and the dark edgy storyline.
jorybear's review
4.0
This volume is split into two parts. The first is the wake and funeral for Morpheus and is a wonderful, touching way to wrap up the series. The art style is more serious and strong, which fits perfectly. In fact, this first part of the volume had me feeling that everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be. The second half of the volume is a little strange for me. It is meant to be a wrap-up of the Hob and Shakespeare plotlines, which it is. I can't help but feel that they were a little bit unnecessary, or that they should have come first. It seems a great injustice that the series didn't end with that perfect feeling I had after the wake. Perhaps that's the point, however, since The Sandman has always felt real, and real life is rarely that clean.
arizona's review
5.0
4.5 stars
I’ve got to say, I think the Shakespeare part (“The Tempest”) went over my head too much for it to be particularly enjoyable. Nonetheless, this was a great conclusion to a fantastic series, and I’m looking forward to reading other related works.
Michael Zulli’s art blew me away, and I say this wholeheartedly. He did an amazing job in my opinion. I was glad to see a lot of really cool characters back. Jon Muth’s part was quite interesting, both artistically and in terms of the story, although I had troubles reading the font while I was reading this on the bus.
I’d recommend this, but it’s probably best to read the first nine volumes before this, and if you have, what are you waiting for??
I’ve got to say, I think the Shakespeare part (“The Tempest”) went over my head too much for it to be particularly enjoyable. Nonetheless, this was a great conclusion to a fantastic series, and I’m looking forward to reading other related works.
Michael Zulli’s art blew me away, and I say this wholeheartedly. He did an amazing job in my opinion. I was glad to see a lot of really cool characters back. Jon Muth’s part was quite interesting, both artistically and in terms of the story, although I had troubles reading the font while I was reading this on the bus.
I’d recommend this, but it’s probably best to read the first nine volumes before this, and if you have, what are you waiting for??
macklin's review
5.0
This was wonderful. I am from the generation that grew up with Gaiman as a novelist, but the Sandman has taken its place as my favourite work by him.
romination's review
3.0
Ending a story is always difficult. It's difficult because it's so hard to find some way that's going to really feel satisfying, like it's tied up enough things. The two ends of the spectrum are the sort of "answer it all!" type of things like Parks and Rec did with its time-jumping final episode, or you can do a throw-up-your-hands "introduces more mysteries and more bizarre character motivations and then end the book by stressing lol, there's still more stories and I just won't tell you!" like Series of Unfortunate Events did.
Sandman definitely falls in the middle. You get enough answers, there's a couple you don't really get to see all of, and I definitely feel like that's a good middle ground to find itself in. Sandman is the kind of thing that definitely needs to have a little mystery or it'll get too bogged down in rules and weird contradictions.
The Wake part is basically just characters from the rest of the series kinda meeting each other and talking and going "so sure am sad huh?" "Yep sure sad. Anyways is this a dream?" "Yep yep seems like it." That part's not particularly AMAZING but serves as a good counterpoint to the rest of the wake part, which deals with Daniel becoming the new Dream, and we see the ways he's already different. They're subtle, but many, like the way he hangs out and pets the door guards, the way he immediately forgives Daniel's mother and puts protection over her, even while he's still all "duty! dream duty!!!!!" and thinking he's still the same guy.
So I was pretty surprised when that ended and there was still half the book to go, but I was glad the very next thing was a story about Hob. Ah, Hob. I'm glad he got a sort of ending, even if it was a kind of cringey one as he spends all his time explaining to a black woman about slavery. Like I get that he was ACTUALLY there, but it really feels like he's there to stand in for Gaiman's white guilt.
The best part of this story is for sure when he meets Death and they talk about Dream's death and he knows that even though Dream's dead, his only friend who was able to survive all this time with him, Hob still wants to keep going. It feels in fitting with the character in a good way, that he's not just living for and because of Dream, that he has his own motivations, and what while Dream might not be there for their next beer, there's still a lot he has to see and do. It also adds a little character to Death, showing she's kind of lost after Dream's funeral, and so she's glad to talk to one of the few other people who actually seemed to know him at all.
It's a pretty good send-off for Hob as well, who was the best character in the series, I will not be taking any questions.
Exiles is alright, a better version of the rather awful Soft Places, that does a bit more to show the differences between Sandmens old and new. Though it's still, at best, a little unmemorable, and as I'm sitting here I'm trying to remember what happened in it, I really can't, and I read it a month ago.
And then it ends with The Tempest and I hate hate hate the Shakespeare stories. They're just such fan fictiony self-inserts going "weheheh I can make my characters interact with my favorite historical figures!!!" and I've been on about this before so I don't want to go on too much. I at least like that this one did a better job of tying it in with making parallels between the play and the story of Dream than Midsummer Night did.
I know everyone probably disagrees with me here but every time this series has been "time to interact with a real historical figure!" it's lost me and so I think actually ending the entire series on this is basically ending the series on a big wet fart.
If it had ended on the Hob story then I would have probably rated this higher but it all kinda comes together to be a sort of shrug of "good enough." It's not a horrible ending, but it at least does a good job of putting to bed the previous Dream we'd been following that whole time while while still leaving the door open for more stories in the universe for when Gaiman wants to come back.
It's a fine send-off for the series and the character, a series that itself was good in fits and starts, so in the end the final collection does a perfect job of encapsulating all of that. It's flawed but the moments that hit you REALLY hit you. So Farewell, mainline Sandman.
Sandman definitely falls in the middle. You get enough answers, there's a couple you don't really get to see all of, and I definitely feel like that's a good middle ground to find itself in. Sandman is the kind of thing that definitely needs to have a little mystery or it'll get too bogged down in rules and weird contradictions.
The Wake part is basically just characters from the rest of the series kinda meeting each other and talking and going "so sure am sad huh?" "Yep sure sad. Anyways is this a dream?" "Yep yep seems like it." That part's not particularly AMAZING but serves as a good counterpoint to the rest of the wake part, which deals with Daniel becoming the new Dream, and we see the ways he's already different. They're subtle, but many, like the way he hangs out and pets the door guards, the way he immediately forgives Daniel's mother and puts protection over her, even while he's still all "duty! dream duty!!!!!" and thinking he's still the same guy.
So I was pretty surprised when that ended and there was still half the book to go, but I was glad the very next thing was a story about Hob. Ah, Hob. I'm glad he got a sort of ending, even if it was a kind of cringey one as he spends all his time explaining to a black woman about slavery. Like I get that he was ACTUALLY there, but it really feels like he's there to stand in for Gaiman's white guilt.
The best part of this story is for sure when he meets Death and they talk about Dream's death and he knows that even though Dream's dead, his only friend who was able to survive all this time with him, Hob still wants to keep going. It feels in fitting with the character in a good way, that he's not just living for and because of Dream, that he has his own motivations, and what while Dream might not be there for their next beer, there's still a lot he has to see and do. It also adds a little character to Death, showing she's kind of lost after Dream's funeral, and so she's glad to talk to one of the few other people who actually seemed to know him at all.
It's a pretty good send-off for Hob as well, who was the best character in the series, I will not be taking any questions.
Exiles is alright, a better version of the rather awful Soft Places, that does a bit more to show the differences between Sandmens old and new. Though it's still, at best, a little unmemorable, and as I'm sitting here I'm trying to remember what happened in it, I really can't, and I read it a month ago.
And then it ends with The Tempest and I hate hate hate the Shakespeare stories. They're just such fan fictiony self-inserts going "weheheh I can make my characters interact with my favorite historical figures!!!" and I've been on about this before so I don't want to go on too much. I at least like that this one did a better job of tying it in with making parallels between the play and the story of Dream than Midsummer Night did.
I know everyone probably disagrees with me here but every time this series has been "time to interact with a real historical figure!" it's lost me and so I think actually ending the entire series on this is basically ending the series on a big wet fart.
If it had ended on the Hob story then I would have probably rated this higher but it all kinda comes together to be a sort of shrug of "good enough." It's not a horrible ending, but it at least does a good job of putting to bed the previous Dream we'd been following that whole time while while still leaving the door open for more stories in the universe for when Gaiman wants to come back.
It's a fine send-off for the series and the character, a series that itself was good in fits and starts, so in the end the final collection does a perfect job of encapsulating all of that. It's flawed but the moments that hit you REALLY hit you. So Farewell, mainline Sandman.
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