The Sandman: Worlds' End (The Sandman, #8)

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The Sandman: Worlds' End (Sandman Collection #8)

by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author), Michael Allred (Illustrator), Gary Amaro (Illustrator), Mark Buckingham (Illustrator), Dick Giordano (Illustrator), Tony Harris (Illustrator), Steve Leialoha (Illustrator), Vince Locke (Illustrator) , more…

4.48 of 5 stars 4.48 · rating details · 19,368 ratings · 317 reviews

THE SANDMAN is the most acclaimed and award-winning comics series of the 1990s for good reason: a smart and deeply brooding epic, elegantly penned by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by a rotating cast of comics' most sought-after artists, it is a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama, and legend are seamlessly interwoven. Th...more

Paperback, 166 pages

Published July 1st 1995 by Vertigo (first published 1993)

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Apr 17, 2012 Nicolo Yu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: collected-comics, summer-reading-2012

The first time I read this trade paperback, I went straight to the story pages, completely ignoring the wonderful Stephen King introduction. It was his thoughts and praise on Neil Gaiman and his work on Sandman that would make it worthwhile to pick this trade, even if you already have the issues that comprised this arc. King wrote in his introduction that Gaiman’s work was a filling meal even if it was served in bite sized chunks in a short story collection like this trade or as longer arc that...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

This book uses the convention of strangers telling each other stories, in the vein of The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, and more recently (but most likely not standing the test of time) Haunted. Neil Gaiman uses this device to the utmost and sometimes the stories are so deeply nested, one inside another inside another, it seems like you're reading Russian dolls.

While I'm not sure what exactly the theme was, beyond perhaps the power of stories and how everyone has something to tell. It was ver...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Kaethe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, faeries, feminism, fiction, gender, fantasy, humor, meta, stories, death

Oh, cool. A reality storm, and a group of random characters telling stories around the table at the inn to pass the time while they all wait it out. Gaiman's range is so broad it meets again on the other side.

The stories are diverse and intriguing, with all the satisfaction inherent in weird tales, and I enjoy the many different art styles. What I like most, of course, is having a character present my only criticism of the work, within the work.

Library copy.

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Jul 30, 2011 Airiz C rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gaimanic-disorder, graphic-novel, fantasy, lgbtq, mythology, paranormal, science-fiction, surreal, the-sandman-catalog

In the tradition of Dream Country and Fables and Reflections, World’s End is yet another omnibus of short tales where Gaiman utilized certain elements from the Sandman’s mythology to weave more accounts that tell us something more about the Endless. Apparently, after setting the whole Sandman universe’s mechanism in full motion, Gaiman would like to take a wee breather. Basically, all the tales in this volume are told by a bunch of travelers trapped in an inn called World’s End. They are, in one...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Worlds' End is another set of short stories, but what I really liked is how it was all woven together. It's a story about a group of people trapped in an inn at the Worlds' End during a "reality storm" - to pass time, they each share stories. Some of these stories contain other stories, so that the result is a bit like nesting dolls. It was very well crafted, and most of the stories involve characters we've met earlier. Therefore, not only are the stories enjoyable on their own, but it's nice to...more

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Jan 29, 2009 Shaun Baker rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-books

I'm tired of it. I mean, it's like reading six issues of Iron Man about Pepper Potts going shopping and having trouble with her mailman. It's boring and I don't want to read this kind of story anymore. The title of the book is 'The Sandman'. Thus, I expect stories about The Sandman. If not, I'm too annoyed and bored and disinterested to care about anything that's going on within it, even if it's decently crafted. The art has kind of sucked the entire series, too, by the way. I don't see where th...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Xirxe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, fantasy, graphic-novel, klassiker

Charlene Mooney and Brant Tucker are going by car from Seattle to Chicago, when in the middle of a night of June they get caught in a snowstorm. The car gets out of the road and crashes into a tree. Brant frees the unconscious Charlene and drags her with his last strength back to the road, as he believes. But he has lost his way completely and they ends up in the inn Worlds End. There, it is been taking care of the injured Charlene, while Brant is supplied with food and drink. It seems to be a s...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Alyssa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sandman Vol. 8: Worlds' End is another brief installment in the Sandman saga. Like volumes 3 and 6, Worlds' End is a series of loosely connected vignettes that explore more aspects of the character Dream, some of the characters who are loosely connected to his story, and the realm of Dreaming (and its connected worlds) where the story is set.

In this volume, our protagonist is Brant Tucker, who is on a long road-trip with his co-worker Charlene. Although it is the middle of June, Brant and Charle...more Sandman Vol. 8: Worlds' End is another brief installment in the Sandman saga. Like volumes 3 and 6, Worlds' End is a series of loosely connected vignettes that explore more aspects of the character Dream, some of the characters who are loosely connected to his story, and the realm of Dreaming (and its connected worlds) where the story is set.

In this volume, our protagonist is Brant Tucker, who is on a long road-trip with his co-worker Charlene. Although it is the middle of June, Brant and Charlene get caught in a bad snowstorm and a vision of a huge beast causes them to accidentally run off the road and hit a tree. Severely wounded and fatigued, Brant ventures out into the snow with Charlene in his arms until they come upon an inn named Worlds' End (notice the fortuitous placement of the apostrophe there). In the inn are a multitude of strange travelers who, like Brant and Charlene, have been stranded at the inn until the storm passes. The only price required for taking shelter at the inn is that you must be prepared to tell a good story.

Beyond setting up (and foreshadowing) some of the exposition that will be necessary in the next volume of the saga, Worlds' End provides us with more pieces to the puzzle about Dream's back-story.

Reading this volume reminds me of one of the original movie posters for Citizen Kane (1941), which is, of course, considered a cinematic masterpiece. One of the posters features a picture of Kane in the middle of the poster with several of the other characters surrounding him. Some characters say, "I love him!" Some say "I hate him!" Another says, "He's a scoundrel!" Another says, "He's a saint!" (And so forth.) And that's essentially what Citizen Kane is all about: it's a character piece that provides us with little glimpses of the post-modern complexity of a human being. Kane is both a saint and a scoundrel at the same time. He's worthy of love and admiration at the same time he is worthy of contempt.

I think that's what Gaiman is trying to do here as well. Gaiman's Dream is a complex, enigmatic, mercurial character who is worthy of respect, while at the same time having just as much hamartia as any classical tragic hero. And Gaiman never tells us these things directly. He elliptically spins tales that give us tiny hints or glimpses into Dream's character and expects us to fill in the gaps ourselves. That's what the best art does and that's part of what makes this great art.

So, why did I give this only 4 stars instead of 5? Well, probably just because this volume felt a little bit more like an entr'acte than an actual fully-developed act in and of itself. Granted, I think this volume isn't trying to be more than an intercessory story and I still enjoyed it immensely. But the fragmented presentation of the narrative was a tad disorienting at times. Honestly, I think that's more of a reflection on me as a reader than on Gaiman as a writer. I'd still heartily recommend this series to anyone who's enjoyed reading the series so far.(less)

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Oct 21, 2012 Klytia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quando la macchina di Brant e Charlene va in panne nel bel mezzo di una tormenta di neve, la coppia è costretta a trovare rifugio in una piccola e misteriosa locanda che si chiama La fine dei Mondi.
Riuniti attorno a un focolare, viandanti provenienti da tempi e spazi diversi passeranno il loro tempo raccontandosi storie di città che sognano, dei segreti nascosti nella città di Necropoli dove la sepoltura è un modo di vivere, di nomi che segnano il destino degli uomini e dei misteri che si celan...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Ronyell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series!!!

Shelves: action-adventure, alternative-worlds, best-books-of-2012, book-series, cult-classic, books-i-want-to-own, drama, fantasy, favorites, fairy-tales-folktales, graphic-novels-comics, horror, my-blog-reviews, mystery, neil-gaiman, read-in-2012, reviewed-books, short-story-collection, surreal, vertigo-comics, young-adult-teen-books, ronyell-s-epinions-reviews

Now just looking at the title of this volume “The Sandman: Worlds’ End,” you might be thinking that this might be the last volume of Neil Gaiman’s fantastic “Sandman” series, but it is not the final volume! “The Sandman: Worlds’ End” is actually a series of stories woven by several characters in this volume who are stuck at an inn called Worlds’ End. Be prepared for some engaging storytelling from the great Neil Gaiman in this classic volume!

In the eighth volume of the “Sandman” series which is...more Now just looking at the title of this volume “The Sandman: Worlds’ End,” you might be thinking that this might be the last volume of Neil Gaiman’s fantastic “Sandman” series, but it is not the final volume! “The Sandman: Worlds’ End” is actually a series of stories woven by several characters in this volume who are stuck at an inn called Worlds’ End. Be prepared for some engaging storytelling from the great Neil Gaiman in this classic volume!

In the eighth volume of the “Sandman” series which is called “Worlds’ End,” a young man named Brant Tucker and his friend Charlene Mooney ended up in a strange inn called “Worlds’ End” after they both get in a car crash during a snowstorm and tried to find shelter from the storm. It turns out that the inhabitants of the strange inn are all characters from mythical tales and all the characters ended up telling their stories that are either about their actual lives or dreams they would like to have come true. There are a total of seven stories in this volume and they are:

Worlds’ End: Sequences at the Inn – illustrated by Bryan Talbot and Mark Buckingham

A Tale of Two Cities – illustrated by Alec Stevens

Cluracan’s Tale – illustrated by John Watkiss

Hob’s Leviathan – illustrated by Michael Zulli and Dick Giordano

The Golden Boy – illustrated by Michael Allred

Cerements – illustrated by Shea Anton Pensa and Vince Locke

Worlds’ End – illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano, Steve Leialoha, Gary Amaro and Tony Harris

For the past few days, I have been reading most of the volumes from Neil Gaiman’s popular “Sandman” series and I have enjoyed every single one! I have also read the other volumes in the “Sandman” series that mainly contained short stories of the Endless’ adventures in exploring other people’s dreams which included “Dream Country” and “Fables and Reflections.” Even though both “Dream Country” and “Fables and Reflections” were enjoyable reads, I felt that “Worlds’ End” was the best out of all of the short story collections in the “Sandman” series! I loved the way that Neil Gaiman had woven each of the stories told by each character in the story into one story that involves the secrets of the inn that all the characters ended up at and how the stories that each character told reflected the dreams that everyone wished were to happen. My favorite stories in this volume were probably “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Cerements,” and “Cluracan’s Tale.” I loved the idea that Neil Gaiman presented in the story “A Tale of Two Cities” as the story implies that the cities can dream of what they want too and it was a bit interesting and a bit frightening hearing about what would happen if the cities wake up, although we were never told what would happen and it is that sense of mystery and yearning to know the answer that really grasped my attention in this story. I also loved both “Cluracan’s Tale” and “Cerements” because they were really creepy stories that dealt with the dead, especially in “Cerements” as the main characters actually dig up dead bodies! Michael Allred, Gary Amaro, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano, Tony Harris, Steve Leialoha, vince Locke, Shea Anton Pensa, Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, and Michael Zulli’s artwork were true works of masterpieces as each artist contributed dramatic artwork that flows nicely with each story. I especially loved the artwork done by Alec Stevens in the story “A Tale of Two Cities” as the artwork resembles an 80s artwork vibe as the characters look a bit blocky and there are only mainly black, white, yellow and blue colorings in the artwork, which gives the story a distinct feel.

Like the other volumes in the “Sandman” series, there is some disturbing content in this volume, especially in the story “Cerements” where there is a scene where a young man named Petrefax witnesses an air burial where birds peck at the innards of a dead man while Master Hermas, the man performing the burial, takes out the dead man’s innards and lay it out for the birds to feed on. This scene and the other scenes that deal with death might be a bit morbid for some readers to handle, so if you do not like scenes with blood and gore, then you might want to skim over these scenes.

Overall, “The Sandman: Worlds’ End” is easily one of the best short story collections to ever come out of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series and it is definitely worth reading over and over again!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
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Mar 13, 2012 Talia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first started reading it, this collection of short stories seemed to be a somewhat random installment in the Sandman series. The stories were excellent, though. Stranded at the World’s End Inn – a tavern for travelers caught in various “reality” storm – each stranded wayfarer shares a story of their choosing. One of the faery folk from past stories is stranded there, and he tells his tale, which allows us to see Dream. Although each tale is separate, they all incorporate characters from p...more

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Feb 21, 2012 John Kirk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This seems to just be an anthology of short stories, although the framing device is quite clever, with several layers of nested stories. However, you really need to read the surrounding volumes (The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives and The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake) to appreciate it properly.

I particularly liked the artwork in the Sea Witch story: the double-splash page is very effective in comparison to the previous pages with 8 panels each. I think that splash pages are often overused, but they w...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Eva Nickelson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic

Stephen King's introduction to this work highlighted that what I was about to read was drawing on a number of literary sources to retell old stories in a new way. The reader follows in two Americans on a car trip into the Worlds' End Inn (and I do love the placement of that apostrophe) where the charge for staying is a story. Thus, each character starts telling stories about their world. And thus starts stories within stories (within the overarching story).
I found the Americans at the start bori...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Tancredi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel

Sul volume in particolare:
Ad esser sincero, è il volume che mi è piaciuto di meno, perché rispetto agli altri non ha nulla di straordinario. Ciò non toglie sia comunque all'altezza di tutta la serie. Più che altro, è stata l'assenza dei soliti personaggi che mi ha colpito, perché questo volume è una raccolta di storielle che sì, si iscrivono nel mondo di The Sandman, ma che non ne coinvolgono direttamente i personaggi. Rimane comunque un volume godibilissimo, che mostra come Gaiman sia tremendam...more Sul volume in particolare:
Ad esser sincero, è il volume che mi è piaciuto di meno, perché rispetto agli altri non ha nulla di straordinario. Ciò non toglie sia comunque all'altezza di tutta la serie. Più che altro, è stata l'assenza dei soliti personaggi che mi ha colpito, perché questo volume è una raccolta di storielle che sì, si iscrivono nel mondo di The Sandman, ma che non ne coinvolgono direttamente i personaggi. Rimane comunque un volume godibilissimo, che mostra come Gaiman sia tremendamente bravo a "narrare delle storie" (che, non a caso, è esattamente ciò che lui dichiara di fare).

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Sulla serie in generale:
Parlare di "The Sandman" mi mette imbarazzo e non solo, perché di fronte ad un'opera mastodontica e superiore come questa non posso che sentirmi un mero ammasso di carne pensante per sbaglio, per una malata frizione casuale tra i miei neuroni.

La verità è che "The Sandman" è l'opera di un genio fuori dal comune, che non si può comprendere mai del tutto, nemmeno leggendolo mille volte. Per la profondità della sua scrittura, per la finezza dellle sue citazioni letterarie, per la cura paziente e poetica con cui ogni singola parola pausa e virgola viene scelta, per il modo oserei dire "chirurgico" con cui si intrufola nell'animo umano, mettendolo a nudo.
"The Sandman" è un'opera che sostanzialmente è una rappresentazione di ciò che siamo, una rappresentazione dell'essere umano, con tutte le sue pieghe, le sue contraddizioni e le zone nascoste, in ombra.
La finezza della sua analisi dell'uomo la si può vedere ad esempio nella creazione dei sette Eterni: Sogno, Morte, Destino, Distruzione, Disperazione, Desiderio, Delirio. Sette personificazioni di sette elementi che scuotono gli uomini, che ne plasmano la crescita.
Parlando della trama, che qui è veramente l'intreccio invisibile e complesso di mille fili narrativi, "The Sandman" è fondamentalmente la storia di una crescita morale, quella di Sogno, il protagonista, che sceglie un percorso forzato con lo scopo di redimersi completamente, viaggiando tra dimensioni più o meno allegoriche, contattando e interagendo con una miriade di personaggi (ed è STRAORDINARIA la caleidoscopia varietà di personalità secondarie che Gaiman crea, arricchendo la storia).
"The Sandman" è soprattutto la prova che il fumetto, o meglio, la "graphic novel" è un'opera d'arte degna della qualità di letteratura. Non a caso un episodio di questa serie di fumetti è riuscito a vincere un premio riservato alle opere letterarie.
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Dec 29, 2010 Karissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and have been slowly working my way through his Sandman graphic novels. Slowly because I want them to last as long as they can. This book was lots of fun. It was less pilosophical than the last book and more fun; but there are still deep underlying messages woven into the stories that are told.

In this book a guy and girl get into a car accident and find themselves taking shelter from a June snowstorm at a strange inn. In the inn a number of fantastical people from var...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Mkeirsbi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: r-52-books

After some great stories in which Morpheus was central to the story, we're treated to another collection of stories in which Morpheus (and indeed all of the Endless) only play a marginal role. I can't help it, but those collections just don't stick with me. Don't get me wrong: it's a very clever collection indeed. This one is set up as a frame story, just like The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron. A nod to the old classics always can count on my approval. Some travelers get stuck in a freak sto...more After some great stories in which Morpheus was central to the story, we're treated to another collection of stories in which Morpheus (and indeed all of the Endless) only play a marginal role. I can't help it, but those collections just don't stick with me. Don't get me wrong: it's a very clever collection indeed. This one is set up as a frame story, just like The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron. A nod to the old classics always can count on my approval. Some travelers get stuck in a freak storm, and have to look for shelter at the inn named Worlds' End.
The price for their stay is a story. So we get some stories by the guests that all are connected in one way or another to one of the Endless.
In itself they are great stories, and the symbolism that is woven in those stories does relate to the overall Sandman story. And, I have a feeling some of these symbols will become important themes in the next installments.

This last point is why I wasn't as blown away by this book in comparison to earlier installments. It's a clever and fun read, but you constantly have the feeling it's an excuse for building up to something. And indeed, at the end of this book we know the storm was caused by the death of one of the Endless. Just like in classic literature, like The Decameron or The Canterbury Tales, the weather is a foreshadowing of the times to come. Stormy weather means trouble is brewing. (Mostly death) And this is such a freak storm it affects all the worlds that are normally separated from each other.
You kinda had the feeling that something bad was predicted by the storm. In the end we see this funeral procession where Destiny leads the way. We don't know who or what is killed, but it's clear that just as the weather forecasted the funeral procession, the procession itself will forecast the faith of the next installment.

So World's end is in fact nothing more than the foundations for the rest of the series. Again, it's cleverly done, and I'm sure all the threads will tie in a perfect knot. But, from a series that has been this thought-provoking, and (at least to me) turned the conventions of literature upside down, this particular installment is a bit of a disappointment. Apparently, there's been a discussion about this being literature. To me, that was a non-issue to begin with. Of course it's literature. And it could even open up layers of interpretation that a conventional novel can't do. Yet, with this one, I have the feeling it's just a conventional story. A crooked attempt at concealing the fact that this one is just quickie that had to build the foundations for the rest to come.
This sounds harsh, I know. Yet, The Sandman series has set the bar so high in terms of narrative layering, one can not be but disappointed when there's one book in the series that as an odd one out almost slavishly tries to conform to the classical narrative modes.

So yeah, a clever and fun read, yet it misses the depth and the layering the other books in the series have in abundance.
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Feb 17, 2011 D.M. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is certainly my least favourite of the Sandman short-story collections, which is odd because I usually prefer a framing device and this is an inventive one. I don't know why this one falls short for me. There are some solid artists here, and some entertaining stories, but for me the whole does not cohere somehow.
The framing sequence is with Bryan Talbot and Mark Buckingham (again), this time working more on the Talbot side for the most part. It sets up not just the tales within, but also fo...more This is certainly my least favourite of the Sandman short-story collections, which is odd because I usually prefer a framing device and this is an inventive one. I don't know why this one falls short for me. There are some solid artists here, and some entertaining stories, but for me the whole does not cohere somehow.
The framing sequence is with Bryan Talbot and Mark Buckingham (again), this time working more on the Talbot side for the most part. It sets up not just the tales within, but also foresees a huge event in the coming climax to the series (and therein gives further meaning to this volume's title). As happens sometimes, though the main characters (Charlene and Brant?!) are meant to be American, they often come across as British. Still, they're believable as they are and give us a nice 'real' in to the stories. Their car crashes, they end up in the World's End Inn, swapping stories with a strange handful of characters.
'A Tale Of Two Cities' may be my favourite story here, and that's in no small part due to the Alec Stevens art. He captures the frenetic, nightmarish tone of the story perfectly, and as usual Gaiman works at his strongest with the right artist.
'Cluracan's Tale' with John Watkiss (previously on 'Soft Places') puts him to work again on a period piece of sorts. The story manages to never get bogged down in the details of how the region works where Cluracan is visiting, and gives a good solid fairy-borne punchline as it should.
'Hob's Leviathan' should have been a visual marvel, but Dick Giordano's workmanlike inking masks the masterful pencil of Michael Zulli, and the only time we get a glimpse of Zulli as he can be (and surely the reason he was on this tale) is the two-page beasty spread. I understand Giordano's been at this a long time, and he's good at what he does, but putting him with someone as light a touch as Zulli just makes them both look bad. For me, this sea story loses a lot for the art, but it's still a fun read (and of course it's always pleasant to see Hob Gadling again).
'The Golden Boy' with Michael Allred is the one story I always remember most fondly from this collection. Perhaps it's because I'm a bit of a lapsed patriot, but the revised/reviewed story of Prez Rickard really plucks at my dusty heartstrings. It doesn't hurt that I'm a huge geek for Allred from the beginning, but his art is perfect here. And he's come up with the sexiest Death so far (not to be confused with the flat-out definitive version from Bachalo).
'Cerements' with Shea Anton Pensa & Vince Locke is my least favourite piece here. Learning about the funerary rites of various fictional cultures and the megalopolis (country?) that pulls them off should be fascinating, but it just isn't. I don't care for Pensa's style, and Locke's inks don't really help it; Pensa is just too stiff to pull off a complicated story-within-story (within story) sort of thing, so it just ends up looking amateurish. That, in turn, reflects poorly on some very interesting stories of a very interesting place.
'World's End,' the story, has Talbot & Buckingham, Giordano, Steve Leialoha, Gary Amaro and Tony Harris all pitching in to wrap things up, as well as to tell us why we're all here (at the inn, that is, not Here here). Unfortunately, we end up with a very wordy pinup book that's a bit of a mess, portending the massive end to come.
The introduction for the collection was by Stephen King, in his most annoying reg'lar guy pastiche. It doesn't add or subtract from the book, it just sits there.
One big plus was contributor portraits from Dave McKean, who also did another sterling (well, bronze, technically) job on book design.(less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Ross rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though I've given it the same amount of stars, it's a better read than Sandman Vol.1. But I accept this book with reservations.

Gaiman's editor wrote in the first volume that the author's early comics work lacked a certain amount of passion, as if he were distanced from his material. I can say the same thing about at least one story in this more recent collection.

The good news is the majority of the stories (and stories within stories) in this volume are, at the very least, well told. "A Tale of...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Andrew Reimann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book exemplifies everything about why The Sandman comics are leagues ahead of everything else in the genre. While other comics are bending over backwards to come up with new reasons why you should care about their world after destroying it over and over again, The Sandman demonstrates that a really good story is in the telling, not the stakes.
Having said that, this is a comic about the end of the world. It's set concurrently with DC's Zero Hour, which had something to do with the Green Lant...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: neil-gaiman, reviewed

I will say that this part of the series I had some different thoughts. It's different because the characters that are focused are not the Endless themselves or people to do with the endless (although they are brought up in the stories that are told at World's End Inn).

For the first half, I was doubting if I should continue this part of the series and skip on ahead. However, since I brought it I thought I should at least finish it.

Luckily it picked up by the second half, and I enjoyed the stories...more

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May 08, 2011 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-horror, epic, fiction, five-stars, graphic-novel

After a brief period of disillusionment with Neil Gaiman, this restored my opinion of him. I read American Gods between the last volume of Sandman and this, and that totally killed it for me. I was not impressed, and I felt like I was able to see through Gaiman as a writer of mostly style, not much substance, in that particular novel (I hadn't been impressed by Stardust, but I hadn't been ANNOYED by it). Sandman, however, is still awesome, and this is one of the best volumes of it I've read so f...more

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Sep 18, 2009 Greenland rated it 2 of 5 stars

I like Neil Gaiman's short story collections more than anyone else's, but this was a fairly tedious affair. The stories range in quality, but none of them hit the heights that his previous stand-alones have, and I found the first short story snippet to be extraordinarily broad, leaving me with no desire to continue forward aside from the obligation to finish the series. Not a great sign, when you're nearing the finish line! Especially not after Vol. 7's meandering plot.

This volume contains some...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Charlie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Where do you take refuge from a reality storm? Answer, in the Inn at the World's End. A wide variety of folks have had to take refuge from the storm. Whilst sheltering, they tell each other tales. Some of the tales involve stories that are being told and some of those stories... I see a Russian doll approaching from the West.

Did I mention somewhere how I felt about short stories? I find they are rarely as good as the longer kind. However this is possibly the best ever short story book *ever*. Th...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, faerie-magic, fantasy

Another excellent volume by Neil Gaiman. My partner has told me that another comic book series that he reads, House of Mystery, Vol. 1: Room and Boredom, seems to be based on this edition of Sandman, and I have to agree.

Of the tales that were told, I think the one about the sleeping cities is what I enjoyed the most. Also the story of Prez, the youngest president, was interesting with Boss Smiley. And then there was the story of the young woman on the Sea Witch... and the idea that the fruit of...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Paul Hamilton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, graphic-novel

Unlike previous Sandman volumes that featured side-stories, Worlds' End is the first that I didn't find to be, at least comparatively, just a little lacking. Fables & Reflections has been (by a small margin) my least favorite volume so far; Dream Country was 75% fantastic with one story that wasn't quite as amazing as the others. But in Worlds' End, Neil Gaiman manages to weave tales that flirt with the Endless, particularly Dream, without necessarily featuring him and still feels cohesive a...more Unlike previous Sandman volumes that featured side-stories, Worlds' End is the first that I didn't find to be, at least comparatively, just a little lacking. Fables & Reflections has been (by a small margin) my least favorite volume so far; Dream Country was 75% fantastic with one story that wasn't quite as amazing as the others. But in Worlds' End, Neil Gaiman manages to weave tales that flirt with the Endless, particularly Dream, without necessarily featuring him and still feels cohesive and unified. The stories that are told are within a larger pseudo-narrative, and sometimes those stories have stories within themselves. It is less confusing to read than it sounds here, but Gaiman returns to a device he's used before of characters sitting around entertaining each other with tales to marvelous effect.

What I think really sets this book apart from the others is the sudden elevation of the art. Most of the tales are illustrated by a specific artist in a distinctive style, and this, I think, is perhaps the only thing that has sometimes been missing from earlier Sandman works. Plenty of the artists who contributed to Sandman prior to this point were (and are) excellent, but I think what feels right for this book—which is really about stories and stories being told (perhaps part of why Worlds' End is so dang good, as it crystalizes everything that The Sandman By Neil Gaiman represents)—is the variance of styles. Sandman's own nebulous appearance, the shifting nature of The Dreaming, the fantastic concepts that are presented, sort of demand several different interpretations.

It is perhaps also the fact that, unlike Fables & Reflections and/or Dream Country, Worlds' End eventually intertwines directly with the main story arc, and in a wonderful, impressive fashion. While Dream Country was more of an interlude and Fables was kind of a cobbled-together volume happening outside of the chronological continuity, Worlds' End feels deliberate. Interestingly, I suspect this sort of side-step, this manner of examining the significance of events from Brief Lives through eyes far removed from the central cast, and with heavy digression, is not going to appeal to all readers. But for me, it worked brilliantly.(less)

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Nov 13, 2011 Meredith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, series, short-stories

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 04, 2010 Reenie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comic, fantasy, short-stories

Even though it's a collection composed of six single issues of a comic which feature new characters telling self-contained stories, this definitely isn't a convenient jumping on point. The title character features only peripherally in only a couple of the stories, and in the framing sequences at the Inn at Worlds' End his brief presence is more inferred than actual, but with the exception of the first story, about cities (excellently creepy), and maybe also The Golden Boy (excellent too... and a...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, age-adult, graphic-novels

This was an interesting story/stories. There are lots of stories in this volume, even though it was probably one of the shorter ones. I started reading the intro by Stephen King, but stopped before I read about the stories I hadn't read yet, but I did finish reading it afterwards. His intro was far less dry than some of the other volumes' intros.

It was interesting to see some of the characters from other volumes make their way to the inn at World's End, either as themselves or as characters in...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Eileen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I always find it hard to give my opinion on the Sandman books; partly because I think I will sound like an idiot, but also because it's hard to find the right words to adequately describe them. In World's End, a whole bunch of people/supernatural beings find themselves stranded in an inn because of a reality storm and they share their tales with one another while waiting for the storm to pass. I really liked this volume, which effectively was a collection of short stories, with Dream (and Death)...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Margot rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel-comics

I liked the artwork in this collection better than previous volumes, and the individual stories entwined into an overarching storyline were pretty fun to watch, some going three deep down the rabbit hole (If you want to read some great story-within-story stuff, check out The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine). The connecting thread of these tales takes off from a Canterbury Tales tip, with the road replaced by an inn at the end of the world (suitably names World's End). Weary travelers rest their bon...more

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So excited to find there are more books and spin-off series!	3	19	Nov 07, 2011 03:08pm

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