A review by tbr_the_unconquered
Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman by Christopher Golden, Hank Wagner, Stephen R. Bissette, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
3.0
I am a biased reviewer, I admit to it. I dig deep into the writings of most authors and make observations on them. But when it comes to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, I tend to drool and be led by the nose to wherever they lead me to. There is this zone of comfort which I have built around these two authors and I am rather lost at trying to play critic to what they write. I wanted a detailed look at Gaiman's literary oeuvre and chanced upon this title. The reason I wanted this was that I would not be able to find in India, a majority of the work Gaiman did in the field of Comics. What I wanted was wholesome and detailed view on the writer, his tone & style and a whole canon of literature he influenced. What I found was a book length fanboy work !
To the credit of the writers, they have come up with the details of almost every other piece of material Gaiman has ever created. There are articles and essays he has written, there are interviews with the artists he collaborated with, there is a detailed interview with him which is the best part of the book. I distinctly remember reading Gaiman's works and write glowing reviews about them, then I read all these amazing reviews other readers have come up with. Then I think Damn, how did I miss that part ? It never lessens my liking for his work but these occurences have made me realize that I would not probably be a good person to review his work. There was in me the need for reading a good dissection of his tales and which said what was good and what was bad. Unfortunately, I did not find it here.
If you are fan of the author, try it out. Be warned that there are plot spoilers for almost every single piece of his tales here. This book was created for his serious fan but I do not think I have reached those levels & I never probably will.
One and half stars for the massive amounts of research and detail that have been poured in & one and half stars for the interview with Gaiman. ( I have started explaining the rationale for my rating system !! What's next in line ? )
To the credit of the writers, they have come up with the details of almost every other piece of material Gaiman has ever created. There are articles and essays he has written, there are interviews with the artists he collaborated with, there is a detailed interview with him which is the best part of the book. I distinctly remember reading Gaiman's works and write glowing reviews about them, then I read all these amazing reviews other readers have come up with. Then I think Damn, how did I miss that part ? It never lessens my liking for his work but these occurences have made me realize that I would not probably be a good person to review his work. There was in me the need for reading a good dissection of his tales and which said what was good and what was bad. Unfortunately, I did not find it here.
If you are fan of the author, try it out. Be warned that there are plot spoilers for almost every single piece of his tales here. This book was created for his serious fan but I do not think I have reached those levels & I never probably will.
One and half stars for the massive amounts of research and detail that have been poured in & one and half stars for the interview with Gaiman. ( I have started explaining the rationale for my rating system !! What's next in line ? )