A review by leviathandreamer
The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Neil Gaiman
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).