The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads author!)
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Read in February, 2008
Estos libros tienen tanto éxito en la biblioteca que tengo que conformarme con el que queda en el estante, si es que queda alguno, y leerlos desordenados. En los primeros me molestaba que se cambiara de dibujante en cada capítulo, ahora ya le he cogido el punto, e incluso le intuyo un sentido.
Este me ha tocado bastante más que los otros dos (2, 4). Copio (y tal vez sea un spoiler, si os importan ésas cosas):
"Los niños y las niñas son distintos, ¿sabes? Los niños fantas...more
Este me ha tocado bastante más que los otros dos (2, 4). Copio (y tal vez sea un spoiler, si os importan ésas cosas):
"Los niños y las niñas son distintos, ¿sabes? Los niños fantas...more
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Read in June, 2007
This came into my bookstore and I hadn't read it in a couple years, plus it's the one with the transwoman in it, and I was feeling emotionally vulnerable. So bring it on!
So... yeah. So when I was a little kid I read this and it was like, I was a baby transsexual and all I knew about it was that I'd better not talk about it or admit it to myself or to anybody else. So this book touched me in kind of a weird place and I was SUPER stoked that it treated a transwoman as a human being and, y'kno...more
So... yeah. So when I was a little kid I read this and it was like, I was a baby transsexual and all I knew about it was that I'd better not talk about it or admit it to myself or to anybody else. So this book touched me in kind of a weird place and I was SUPER stoked that it treated a transwoman as a human being and, y'kno...more
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Read in February, 2005
Hmm. I am divided on this one. I didn't like it as much as I did Season of Mists, for all that this is in many ways a more intelligent and incisive book. It's dark and it's often gruesome (Hazel's dream about her baby attacking Foxglove's was possibly one of the more disturbing things I've ever seen), and the dual storyline meant that the reader is often left questioning which one is reality and which fantasy, if such a concept can ever be attached to a work by Gaiman at all. Wanda was fabulous,...more
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Read in March, 2006
While this story arc is linked to the rest of the series, it is also one of the most self-contained of the story arcs and stands alone very well. Barbie, who was a marginal character in A Doll's House, has separated from her husband and is living in a small New York apartment building with a cast of rather odd characters. There's Wanda, a transwoman who is Barbie's best friend and protector; Hazel (who might be pregnant) and Foxglove, the punk lesbian couple; Thessaly, a bespectacled witc...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
Everyone
I used to stubbornly think that graphic novels had no intellectual merits other than for amateur entertainment (I know, pedestal). This series not only blew me away visually, but caused me to see graphic novels in a new light. Everyone should read this series.
Here's what i want to say, but someone else said it first and better than i could:
"Erudite, allusive, complex and ambitious, SANDMAN is undoubtedly the finest writing the mainstream comic book industry has ever seen. It dares to ...more
Here's what i want to say, but someone else said it first and better than i could:
"Erudite, allusive, complex and ambitious, SANDMAN is undoubtedly the finest writing the mainstream comic book industry has ever seen. It dares to ...more
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Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in July, 2008
I'm still working my way through the series (as of this writing, I'm on Vol. 9, which is shaping up very nicely), but this is so far the most engaging, most complex, and most rewarding of the Sandman series. Gaiman had been working with a rich mythology already, drawing in every pantheon and legend and scripture he can find in the library, and though his success at blending these is uneven, here the stories he weaves around--or out of--or into--his various allusions and his previous tales are pe...more
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Read in June, 2008
Barbie, a New York divorcée (introduced in The Doll's House), travels to the magical realm that she once inhabited in her dreams, only to find that it is being threatened by the forces of the Cuckoo. This series introduces the character of Thessaly, who will play a key role in Morpheus' eventual fate.
In a way, this volume recalls that of The Doll's House. In the Doll's House, the borders of the Dreaming are threatened from a "real" life event. In this volume it is ...more
In a way, this volume recalls that of The Doll's House. In the Doll's House, the borders of the Dreaming are threatened from a "real" life event. In this volume it is ...more
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In the A Game of You, we find Barbie, who we first met in the The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House, living in a grungy city apartment building with a colorful cast of eccentric neighbors. The story would have been interesting enough just following the lives of this motley crew, but it also moves us back and forth from the warped world of this urban apartment to a dream realm of talking animals, a mystical stone, and an the evil Cuckoo. A bird? Perhaps. We do see glimpses of the Dream Lord, Morph...more
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"In the pale light of the moon I play the game of you. Whoever I am. Whoever you are." Of all the volumes of the Sandman series, A Game of You was by far my favorite. It made me uncomfortable, it unsettled me, and in the end it made me cry, and the final lines and images have stuck with me. I can see why this book offends some trans women but on the whole I admire Gaiman for making choices that aren't safe in this story, and I think that the way it deals with issues of identity is rich...more
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Read in March, 2003
I will forever maintain that Sandman is the best comic ever written. Gaiman was originally given the task of resurrecting a not particularly interesting golden age DC superhero, and instead, managed to change comics forever.
He created the Endless- Destiny, Death, Destruction, Dream, Desire, Despair, and Delirium (who used to be delight), created a whole new mythology based on so many sources- Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Norse mythology, fairy tales, fables, DC comic book characters, and of course,...more
He created the Endless- Destiny, Death, Destruction, Dream, Desire, Despair, and Delirium (who used to be delight), created a whole new mythology based on so many sources- Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Norse mythology, fairy tales, fables, DC comic book characters, and of course,...more
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Read in November, 2001
So this book gets mixed reviews, obviously. I'm a Sandman nut, and I really enjoyed it. Yes, it doesn't jive with most of the traditional volumes - but it's also just as important to the storyline as any of the other books. So if you want to get the full impact of the Sandman storyline, read this book! It's considerably dark, like a fair amount of Sandman, and has some of that fun horror of the earlier volumes mixed in. Also, if you want to enjoy and understand the characters that show up i...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
science fiction / fantasy fans
This volume of the Sandman is odd. I'd have to say it's only required reading if you're either a woman, or the "must collect them all" type.
Basically it focuses on Barbie and her vivid dream life (which was briefly visited in 'A Doll's House'), where she is on a quest to save an enchanted land from the Cuckoo.
The way the Cuckoo fits into the story is well thought out. Personally, I enjoyed the character of Wilkinson (a talking rat in a trenchcoat) and am a bit disappointed th...more
Basically it focuses on Barbie and her vivid dream life (which was briefly visited in 'A Doll's House'), where she is on a quest to save an enchanted land from the Cuckoo.
The way the Cuckoo fits into the story is well thought out. Personally, I enjoyed the character of Wilkinson (a talking rat in a trenchcoat) and am a bit disappointed th...more
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This is definitely the best title of the series. This one's kind've wacky. I was going to say that I've never read anyone make this comparison, but I just read someone's comments on Amazon who finally did, so I guess I've been scooped. But at least someone agrees with me - if you've ever read Jonathan Carroll's Bones of the Moon, there are a few parallels. I'm not saying they're exactly the same, so don't throw in the towel if you didn't like that book - but there is some similar wacky weirdness...more
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Read in February, 2008
i like it. the artwork was totally different than the other Sandman books that i've read. i was actually pleased with the change, surprisingly. it worked very well with the story. the story almost didnt fit with the rest of the series (in its feel, at least), and almost had a Alice in Wonderland/Narnia theme to it. overall, i thought it was on par with the rest of the series, but still wasnt as great as the first two. i thought Dream looked the COOLEST in this book.
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recommends it for:
necro-nerds, the literati, the literate
Some of my favorite Sandman stories are in this collection, and that's saying something. This book consists of self-contained stories, where you don't have to be familiar with the mythos of Dream and his Endless siblings, but it can only help.
Particularly good are the chilling "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the latter being the only comic to have won a World Fantasy Award.
Particularly good are the chilling "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the latter being the only comic to have won a World Fantasy Award.
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One star off for his bizarre portrayal of the lesbian couple in the story. Are there any women aware enough of their own sexuality to know that she's a lesbian so unaware of their own bodies that they have preposterous superstitions about the reproductive process? Gaiman's seems to have figured out women a little better by the time he get's to Rose in the later books.
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Read in October, 1995
This is my favorite arc from the entire Sandman series. It's freaking amazing, and I think about it all the time. I'm also haunted by some of the panels still--especially the one where Barbie sees her room filled with black birds. And I can't look at sunlight sparkling on water without thinking of the Cuckoo. Oh holy crap, now I need to go back and read it again.
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Read in June, 2004
Graphic Novel. This is a sturdy self-contained story about magic and other realms. Barbie's Cuckoo didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I liked the teamwork and the striking out into new lands. Also Wanda the transsexual. I was sad to see her go.
Four stars -- the art is super ugly, but the story makes it one of my two favorite Sandman volumes.
Four stars -- the art is super ugly, but the story makes it one of my two favorite Sandman volumes.
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Fans of Gaiman and mythology
Another hit from Gaiman and Sandman. This one is very interesting since it calls up a side character from a previous Sandman tale. I hold back from giving it 5 stars mainly because for my money, I didn't get to see enough of the Sandman in this one. But props for a severed face nailed to the wall and talking, that is always interesting.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.42 (3246 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.43 (2766 ratings) number of reviews: 52popular shelves
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"And if there's a moral there, I don't know what it is, save maybe that we should take our goodbyes whenever we can."
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