Season of Mists

The Sandman

by Neil Gaiman

This volume, unlike the others I've read so far, is one straight storyline. It opens with Morpheus at a family meeting- which I appreciated, as I hadn't quite been clear on who all the other "Endless" were before, or their roles. The others convince Morpheus that his condemnation of Nada (a woman he once loved) to Hell was unjust, and he must set it right. So the Dream King goes to Hell to set her free, but he gives Lucifer due warning that he's arriving- and the devil has an interesting plan in store that he is sure will destroy Dream.

It was a good story. I am coming to really like the character of the Dream King. Even though he can be a bit haughty at times. And I recognize, in reading it, that all these volumes twine together in an intricate way that probably won't be fully realized until I get to the final volume. Here for example, we come across Hobb again briefly, and other characters and incidents are mentioned or related to in subtle yet important ways (or so it seemed to me). But still, this book didn't quite captivate me like the others were on the verge of doing. I find I prefer the short, stand-alone stories, or the ones that have dreams enmeshed in them. And some things are still unclear to me- what is with Dream's odd mask, for instance?  it's creepy-looking and I don't understand why he wears it sometimes when he travels. Was this explained somewhere in an early volume and I just missed it? Hm. I did like the artwork better in this book. The edition I read was an older one, not the newer copy like the three I borrowed before, which all proclaimed they had been recolored. Sometimes the art in those was so dark with heavy contrast it was hard to see. I find I like the lighter contrast of the older books better, where I can see exactly where the ink lies.

rating: 3/5 ........ 224 pages, 1990 

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