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A review by missbryden
The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Neil Gaiman
3.0
Didn't read all of the stories, skimmed some of those I didn't read. Had to be reminded that it's a collection of short stories from authors of different styles and interests, even if they're all connected on the same concept. The concept of dream land and the characters responsible for them (Morpheus, Death, Desire...) didn't interest me that much - I haven't read Gaiman's Sandman stories.
Read:
"Preface" by Frank McConnell - read like academic prefaces: confusingly
"Masquerade and High Water" by Colin Greenland, because of his connection to Susanna Clarke, but I didn't care for the flavour.
"Chain Home, Low" by John M. Ford. Was sucked into this: it has a historical setting and it doesn't name the theme and personifications of Morpheus etc as all the others do. The concept worked well alongside all the mysteries and tragedies of the world wars.
"Stronger than Desire" by Lisa Goldstein. Interesting tale about love being different from and stronger than desire, and the wager between Desire and her lover being the reason for the medieval spread of troubadours and their love songs.
"Valosag and Elet" by Steven Brust. Short and snappy folk tale.
"Stopp't Clock Yard" by Susanna Clarke, she being the reason I sought out this book, because even before finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I wanted to read what else she'd written, and this was one of the only short stories not collected into her The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Another historical tale about magicians in London, but a couple hundred years earlier than JS&MN. The jumping around between characters and dream-states was a little hard to follow but I still really like her style and how its embedded in another time as if the reader is from and knows all about that time.
Read:
"Preface" by Frank McConnell - read like academic prefaces: confusingly
"Masquerade and High Water" by Colin Greenland, because of his connection to Susanna Clarke, but I didn't care for the flavour.
"Chain Home, Low" by John M. Ford. Was sucked into this: it has a historical setting and it doesn't name the theme and personifications of Morpheus etc as all the others do. The concept worked well alongside all the mysteries and tragedies of the world wars.
"Stronger than Desire" by Lisa Goldstein. Interesting tale about love being different from and stronger than desire, and the wager between Desire and her lover being the reason for the medieval spread of troubadours and their love songs.
"Valosag and Elet" by Steven Brust. Short and snappy folk tale.
"Stopp't Clock Yard" by Susanna Clarke, she being the reason I sought out this book, because even before finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I wanted to read what else she'd written, and this was one of the only short stories not collected into her The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Another historical tale about magicians in London, but a couple hundred years earlier than JS&MN. The jumping around between characters and dream-states was a little hard to follow but I still really like her style and how its embedded in another time as if the reader is from and knows all about that time.