false 13881992 844382 25106 1563891069 9781563891069 72 <![CDATA[The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167577137m/25106.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25106.The_Sandman_Vol_6_Fables_and_Reflections 4.46 5848
Three other issues appearing in Fables and Reflections, published as the Convergence story "arc", are also single-issue short stories in which Morpheus appears very little. Each of these issues details various characters' meetings with one another, and each is structured as a story within a story (this is a theme to which Gaiman will return in the Worlds' End arc). "Convergence" appeared between the "A Game of You" and "Brief Lives" story arcs.

The collection also includes the Sandman Special, retelling the Greek myth of Orpheus, and a brief piece from a Vertigo promotional comic.

Because Fables and Reflections partakes of so many elements, some believe it lacks the thematic or artistic consistency that is present even in the other short story collections. Perhaps in an effort to make these differences less apparent, DC has shuffled the issues in the volume instead of presenting them chronologically with "Distant Mirrors" at the front and "Convergence" at the back. Some readers may choose to read this volume cover-to-cover after "A Game of You", while others read individual stories in their place as originally published.

Due to its nature as a collection of short stories, Fables & Reflections is probably the least essential volume of the series in terms of the surface plot of The Sandman (with the exception of "Orpheus"), but perhaps the most accessible as the reader can dip in and out without needing a thorough grounding in the characters and previous stories. That said, some of the stories in Fables and Reflections provide key subtext that is invaluable to the close reader attempting to understand Morpheus' motivations in the rest of the series.]]> 1221698 4.13 284417 26323 2896679 4.46 5849 72 92725 4.46 17578 330 2568404 4.45 11291 139 55811 4.30 26725 923 9931 4.42 13641 392 723222 4.43 6153 110 321799 4.43 69804 1640 38328 4.36 21440 811 430044 4.44 12281 177 81221 4.47 25137 476 264213 4.45 23071 447 330166 4.43 12142 192 4 0 false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jan 28 18:13:41 -0800 2008 Sun Jun 07 04:30:56 -0700 2009 2